Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds [Full-length]
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it for individual clips: the Nvidia moment, his views on C and his blunt communication style. Some commenters say the whole talk is worth watching.
What it is
Linus Torvalds is interviewed at Aalto University in 2012, followed by an audience Q&A. He talks about Linux, kernel development and the desktop, and about Nvidia support. The Q&A has a well-known moment where he is blunt about Nvidia.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2012 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends jcfrei · 2012-08 · on “What killed the Linux desktop”
in a q&a round at aalto university in finland linus adressed the question why linux never took off on the desktop: the lack of being a pre-installed os. he mentions that without preinstalled operating systems there's now way to gain a significant market share in the desktop segment. the whole talk by itself is very recommendable: [this video]
Recommends dmiladinov · 2013-03 · on “An Open Source Author's Lament”
I'd like to piggy-back on your mention of Linus. It reminds me of a recent video I saw wherein he talked about how the work on the kernel works within a natural hierarchy. The whole video, IMHO is worth a watch, but the relevant snippet is here, you can watch from about 15:57 to about 18:20 to get the idea: [this video] I especially liked his comment at the end of this section: "The way people work ... is inherent in our brains ... the whole development process ... works really well ... we used the hierarchy that just worked on its own, and that turns out to be the right hierarchy."
Recommends mreiland · 2015-11 · on “Software development: do good manners matter?”
That's a caricature of his actual position, please be more honest than that. edit: Here's another video that does a better job of conveying his reasons for being the way he is. [this video] He's also been on record as saying multiple times that a lot of it is because he comes from a culture that's much more abrasive than US.
Cites SkyMarshal · 2012-06 · on “Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds ”
TLDR: Linus at a Q&A, a woman asks why Nvidia still isn't providing any support for Optimus on Linux, Linus responds that Nvidia is being really difficult about that without good reason and "Fuck You Nvidia!" (flicks off the camera). Her question actually starts a minute earlier than the link: [this video] PS - Bravo Linus. This is issue is a real PITA, and a bit incongruent considering the historically awesome driver support Nvidia has provided for Linux.
Cites bingbing · 2012-06 · on “Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds ”
Your link didn't quite work for me, starting in the 49th minute somewhere, Using a fragment identifier to demarc the time offset works better for me: [this video]
Cites kennywinker · 2012-06 · on “Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds ”
if you skip ahead to 1:00:30 a guy in the audience who works at Nvidia responds during Q&A, ever so politely. Linus responds, quite politely as well. [this video]
Cites jofer · 2012-06 · on “Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds ”
Linking to a specific time over 1 hour isn't working correctly for some reason, for whatever it's worth. (Or at least it hasn't been for me, anyway...) Nevermind, we were both just doing it wrong. This should work: [this video]
Cites AlexDanger · 2012-06 · on “Aalto Talk with Linus Torvalds ”
Later in the talk someone says they are working for nVidia and doing something with Tegra. I couldnt quite make it out, what is he saying? [this video]