Quotes from the Kernel Panel at LinuxCon in San Diego

A highlight of yesterday’s excellent LinuxCon and CloudOpen conference was definitely the kernel panel featuring Sarah Sharp, Ted Ts’o, Greg K-H, Linus Torvalds and moderator James Bottomley. Some quotes:

Sarah: “There are misconceptions about the kernel community. Younger people don’t see linux as sexy, but perhaps Android makes it more of interest. Some people have the misconception that we yell all the time. That depends on what mailing list you are on.” 

Greg: “When I started at the Linux Foundation, Jim told me there was one rule: you have to shower by 11 a.m.” 

James: “Since Twitter joined the Linux Foundation, I decided to join Twitter. I got 100 new friends and precisely four questions.”

Ted: “Linux works on everything from wristwatches to mainframes. At the beginning, I had no conception that it would be used on cellphones. Did we even have cell phones back then?” 

Linus: “What would happen if I get hit by a bus? I won’t care.”

James: “Email and IRC are our forms of social networking.”

Linus: “I have not written my own code in five years.” 

Ted: “We are much less likely to blame each other if we’ve hoisted a beer over the bar. That helps us when we exchange emails.” 

Linus: “ARM has gone from a constant headache every merge window to an outstanding Linux citizen.”

Sarah: [Little known fact] “I like to automate my garden watering system with Arduino.”

Linus: “We’ll probably do version 4.0 in 3 years or so.”