Just for Fun
GPL makes defection costly: use Linux, but contribute back. Like cleaner fish reciprocity—cheat once, lose all future partners. Cooperation-enforcement at ecosystem scale.
A 21-year-old's hobby project became infrastructure for billions of devices—not because Torvalds was the best programmer, but because GPL licensing enforced cooperation. This autobiography documents the pivotal decision to use copyleft: any derivative work must share source code under the same terms. Like cleaner fish relationships where reciprocity is enforced by reputation (cheat once, lose all future grooming partners), GPL makes defection costly—you can use Linux, but you must contribute back. Torvalds describes this as 'viral'—the terms self-propagate through every modification. The result: cooperation-enforcement at scale. IBM, Google, and Microsoft all contribute to Linux kernel development because the alternative (forking and maintaining a private version) costs more than cooperation. David Wheeler argues GPL was crucial to Linux's success, giving programmers assurance their contributions wouldn't be privatized. The book also documents Torvalds' theory of motivation: survival → social order → entertainment—arguing that open source thrives because it reaches the 'entertainment' stage where creation is its own reward.
Key Findings from Torvalds & Diamond (2001)
- Torvalds wrote Linux in 1991 at age 21 as a hobby project in his mother's Helsinki apartment
- GPL copyleft requires derivative works to share source code under same terms—making defection costly
- Linux kernel now runs billions of devices; IBM, Google, Microsoft all contribute to development
- 'Viral' licensing: terms self-propagate through every modification, enforcing ecosystem-wide cooperation
- Torvalds' motivation theory: survival → social order → entertainment—open source reaches entertainment stage