Theo de Raadt Quotes

Linux has more than satisfied any small initial expectations I had. It's simply incredible how successful Linux has been, and how good a time I've had developing it and leading the project. It does take a lot of my time, but it's time I really enjoy spending, and Linux has continued to be challenging both technically and from a managing standpoint.

There is no schedule. We are all volunteers, so we get it done when we get it done. Perl 5 still works fine, and we plan to take the right amount of time on Perl 6.

Ubuntu is doing amazing things, and I think it's going to change the face of the desktop.

The interesting thing about Android's design is how little we modified the kernel.

There are lots of Linux users who don't care how the kernel works, but only want to use it. That is a tribute to how good Linux is.

What commercialism has brought into Linux has been the incentive to make a good distribution that is easy to use and that has all the packaging issues worked out.

Many people think that open source projects are sort of chaotic and and anarchistic. They think that developers randomly throw code at the code base and see what sticks.

Part of doing Linux was that I had to communicate a lot more instead of just being a geek in front of a computer.

I think Linux is a great thing, in the big picture. It's a great hacker's tool, and it has a lot of potential to become something more.

Microsoft loves Linux.

I don't think I've ever worked on anything that wasn't way bigger than we expected. That's all the way back to working on fighting games at Paradox. Everything seems to balloon when more and more people get involved.

Complexity control is the central problem of writing software in the real world

On a purely technical side, I'm really very happy with how Linux gets used in a very wide set of different areas. It's important for development.

I started Linux because I wanted to see it on the desktop... I do hope that the desktop people would try to work together ... and work more on the technology than trying to make the login screen look really nice.

The more money Automattic makes, the more we invest into Free and Open Source software that belongs to everybody and services to make that software sing.

If you don't have the best product, you're not going to make it in open-source.

Linux has never been about quality. There are so many parts of the system that are just these cheap little hacks, and it happens to run.

I started working on OpenBSD, and many earlier projects, because I have always felt that vendor systems were not designed for quality.

With film, I have to be a team player; it's a whole different thing. I can't just be a one-man show. I have to learn how to use people to the best of their ability and motivate them to be as passionate about the project as I am.

I don't have any authority over Linux other than this notion that I know what I'm doing.

I was surprised about vi going in, though, I didn't know it was in System V.

In open source, you really have to be near the watershed to have an impact on the source code. Customers want to be near the key contributors to the code, not a level removed.

Leadership means forming a team and working toward common objectives that are tied to time, metrics, and resources.

We're not done yet, but two things WordPress has been able to exemplify is that open source can create great user experiences and that it's possible to have a successful commercial entity and a wider free software community living and working in harmony.

I very seldom worry about other systems. I concentrate pretty fully on just making Linux the best I can.