The Perils of Linux Maturity: Torvalds Fakes Emerge in Twittersphere

Rolex, movies, Gucci, and even Sharpie pens, among other consumer goods, are well known for reaching a level of ubiquity where people start producing fakes or knock-offs. From our industry, even Steve Jobs’ personal brand warranted a knock-off in the form the FakeSteveJobs blog. Linux, too, has reached that level of ubiquity and maturity. We all use Linux every day via our bank ATMs, our cars, our netbooks, the Internet (Google, Facebook and more), and the list goes on.

Thus, the Linus Torvalds knock-offs have naturally come forth.

For the next few weeks, four FakeLinusTorvalds (#flt1, #flt2, #flt3 and #lft4) will be tweeting from our Identi.ca (linuxfoundation) and Twitter feeds (www.twitter.com/linuxfoundation), posing as the real Linus. I expect some of them to be dangerously outrageous, while others will just be downright funny. And, the real Linus has given them his blessing. No infringements here, folks!

Two weeks before LinuxCon, we’ll invite you to vote for your favorite FLT. By voting, you can win free admission to the event and be present for the official unveiling of the four FLTs. We’ll reveal their identities and present the favorite with the “Silver Penguin” directly after the Linux Kernel Roundtable featuring the real Linus.

If you’ve seen me present recently, you know that I like to show IBM’s notable Linux commercial with the genius kid who gets advice about the world from people across industries and cultures. Then, I like to speculate about where that kid is today and I slap up a snapshot of Eminem.

Taking from this theme, we’ve put this kid back to work (in the form of Eminem) with a rap parody to kick things off: “Will the Real Linus Torvalds please stand up?”

Take a look and you can start guessing the real identities of these four fakes. I suspect a few identities to be scooped before we get to Portland. I challenge you to be the spoiler!