What has the IT industry learned from Linus Torvalds?

Jim Zemlin (Jim Zemlin), executive director of the Linux Foundation, is probably one of those few people who were in the thick of things when Linux appeared and developed, the largest joint development in the history of computing technology. He understands that the speed of innovation and the quality of software development is dictated by those who look forward and work in collaboration with each other. That's why he was invited to the recent TEDx, with a story about what the IT industry has learned from Linix, and especially from the founder of this project, Linus Torvalds .

Linux development is an amazingly successful project and TEDx visitors wanted to hear how such success could be achieved and how they could apply the experience of the Linux community in their work. Jim, in his characteristic style, spoke about the lessons they learned in their work.
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These lessons turned out to be a bit unexpected at first glance, but after Jim explained each of them, it became clearer to TEDx listeners that made Linux the most widely used technology in the history of mankind. Today, Linux is used in the work of the Internet, our smart phones, televisions, the most high-performance computing systems and eight of the world's ten largest exchanges. “This is literally the foundation for our global economy,” he explained.

Jim explains the success of Linux in his speech with four basic principles:

Do not "roll lip"
Jim Zemlin quoted David Frost: “Do not make it your goal to succeed. Just do what you like and believe in your work, then success will come to you. ”This is exactly what Linus Torvalds did when he uploaded the first version of the Linux kernel to the Internet in 1991. He did not think that this project should become something big, he just did what he liked.

Share with others
Jim Zemlin made an important observation that many companies make money on software that is available for free. By sharing the results of their work with others, Linus Torvalds and the entire Linux community have created more value than even the largest companies can develop on their own.

Today, the cost of development, comparable in scale to the Linux kernel, is estimated at over $ 10 billion. Companies involved in the development of Linux, such as IBM and Red Hat, continue to see price increases in stocks, and companies that use mostly closed development models do not see the influx of new shareholders.



Jim Zemlin said that even Apple benefits from Linux and Open Source. Inside every iPhone and iPad there is free software. He said: “Apple knows what many people do not realize. When you stand on the shoulders of giants, you can get innovation at a higher level. ”

Not always need a plan.
He continued the story by saying that the Linux development plan is “the absence of a development plan” and explained that the developer community independently decides what needs to be done. This is faster and more consistent. Every hour, seven commits occur in Linux, 24 hours a day, because people do what they themselves lack for their tasks.

Sometimes you can be rude.
The latter principle is perhaps the most interesting and provocative. Jim talks about the value of disputes, defending his ideas and ridiculing bad code. What's the point? As a result, we all get quality software. He cites a study by the University of Berkeley, where they found that groups that offered to criticize others and defend their ideas came up with better solutions than groups that used traditional brainstorming, where each idea is a good idea.

In general, Jim's speech is centered around a simple thought - you can make money and at the same time share the fruits of your work with others. Surprisingly, if each of us gives a little bit into a common “technological piggy bank,” then we all will become richer.

Here is a full video of the performance.

UPD: A post appeared in Habré with translation and voice acting of this video.