Chris Anderson: This is such a strange thing. Your software, Linux, is in millions of computers, it probably powers much of the Internet. And I think that there are, like, a billion and a half active Android devices out there. Your software is in every single one of them. It's kind of amazing. You must have some amazing software headquarters driving all this. That's what I thought -- and I was shocked when I saw a picture of it. I mean, this is -- this is the Linux world headquarters.
Chris Anderson: Isto é raro. O teu software, Linux, está en millóns de ordenadores, e probablemente sostén unha boa parte de Internet. E creo que hai como un millón e medio de dispositivos Android activos por aí. O teu software está en cada un deles. É abraiante. Debes ter unha central de software impresionante dirixindo isto. Iso é o que pensei. E quedei perplexo cando vin unha foto. Quero dicir, isto é... isto é a sede central do mundo Linux.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
Linus Torvalds: It really doesn't look like much. And I have to say, the most interesting part in this picture, that people mostly react to, is the walking desk. It is the most interesting part in my office and I'm not actually using it anymore. And I think the two things are related.
Linus Torvalds: Realmente, non parece gran cousa. E teño que dicir, a parte máis interesante da foto, a que provoca máis reaccións é o escritorio coa cinta de camiñar. É a parte máis interesante da miña oficina e, en realidade, xa non a uso. Penso que as dúas cousas están relacionadas.
The way I work is ... I want to not have external stimulation. You can kind of see, on the walls are this light green. I'm told that at mental institutions they use that on the walls.
A forma en que traballo é... Eu non quero ter estímulos externos. Podedes velo, as paredes son de cor verde clara. Dixéronme que a usan nas paredes das clínicas de saúde mental.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
It's like a calming color, it's not something that really stimulates you.
É unha cor calmante, non é algo que te estimula.
What you can't see is the computer here, you only see the screen, but the main thing I worry about in my computer is -- it doesn't have to be big and powerful, although I like that -- it really has to be completely silent. I know people who work for Google and they have their own small data center at home, and I don't do that. My office is the most boring office you'll ever see. And I sit there alone in the quiet. If the cat comes up, it sits in my lap. And I want to hear the cat purring, not the sound of the fans in the computer.
O que non podes ver é o ordenador, só vemos a pantalla, pero o que máis me interesa do meu ordenador é --non ten que ser grande e potente, aínda que me gusta iso-- ten que ser completamente silencioso. Coñezo persoas que traballan para Google e teñen unha pequena central de datos na casa, eu non fago iso. A miña oficina é a máis aburrida que podedes imaxinar. Sento alí só en silencio. Se o gato aparece, senta no meu colo. E quero oír o gato ronronar, non o son dos ventiladores do ordenador.
CA: So this is astonishing, because working this way, you're able to run this vast technology empire -- it is an empire -- so that's an amazing testament to the power of open source.
CA: Isto é asombroso, porque traballando así es capaz de xestionar este grande imperio tecnolóxico, é un imperio. É un testemuño abraiante do poder do código aberto.
Tell us how you got to understand open source and how it lead to the development of Linux.
Dinos como chegaches a pensar no código aberto e como iso levou ao desenvolvemento de Linux.
LT: I mean, I still work alone. Really -- I work alone in my house, often in my bathrobe. When a photographer shows up, I dress up, so I have clothes on.
LT: Eu aínda traballo só. Realmente, eu traballo só na miña casa, a miúdo en bata. Cando aparece un fotógrafo, vístome e levo roupa posta.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
And that's how I've always worked. I mean, this was how I started Linux, too. I did not start Linux as a collaborative project. I started it as one in a series of many projects I had done at the time for myself, partly because I needed the end result, but even more because I just enjoyed programming. So it was about the end of the journey, which, 25 years later, we still have not reached. But it was really about the fact that I was looking for a project on my own and there was no open source, really, on my radar at all.
E así é como traballei sempre. É dicir, así tamén é como iniciei Linux. Non iniciei Linux como un proxecto colaborativo. Inicieino como un entre varios proxectos que fixen no seu momento para min mesmo. En parte, porque precisaba o resultado pero aínda máis porque o pasaba ben programando. Así que tiña que ver coa fin da viaxe que, 25 anos máis tarde, aínda non atinximos. Pero, realmente, o feito é que buscaba un proxecto pola miña conta e non había ningún código aberto no meu radar.
And what happened is ... the project grows and becomes something you want to show off to people. Really, this is more of a, "Wow, look at what I did!" And trust me -- it was not that great back then. I made it publicly available, and it wasn't even open source at that point. At that point it was source that was open, but there was no intention behind using the kind of open-source methodology that we think of today to improve it. It was more like, "Look, I've been working on this for half a year, I'd love to have comments."
E o que ocorreu é... o proxecto medrou e chegou a ser algo que ti queres mostrarlle á xente. Realmente, isto é algo do tipo "Uau, mira o que fixen!" E creme, non era tan estupendo daquela. Eu fíxeno público pero daquela aínda non era código aberto. Nese momento, era código que estaba aberto pero sen intención de usar o tipo de metodoloxía de código aberto en que pensamos hoxe para melloralo. Era máis do tipo: "Mirade, estiven traballando nisto durante medio ano, gustaríame que o comentásedes."
And other people approached me. At the University of Helsinki, I had a friend who was one of the open source -- it was called mainly "free software" back then -- and he actually introduced me to the notion that, hey, you can use these open-source licenses that had been around. And I thought about it for a while. I was actually worried about the whole commercial interests coming in. I mean, that's one of the worries I think most people who start out have, is that they worry about somebody taking advantage of their work, right? And I decided, "What the hell?" And --
E houbo xente que se achegou a min. Na Universidade de Helsinki, tiña un amigo que era un dos do código aberto. Daquela, chamábase principalmente "software libre". De feito, foi el quen me suxeriu a idea de "Ei, podes usar estas licenzas de código aberto que andan por aí". E estíveno pensando. Eu estaba preocupado de verdade sobre os intereses comerciais. Quero dicir, esa é unha das preocupacións que penso que a maioría da xente ten, a preocupación de que alguén saque partido do seu traballo, non? E decidín: "Que diaños?" E...
CA: And then at some point, someone contributed some code that you thought, "Wow, that really is interesting, I would not have thought of that. This could actually improve this."
CA: E nun momento dado, alguén achegou algún código e pensaches: "Uau, isto é moi interesante, a min non se me ocorrería. Pode ser unha mellora."
LT: It didn't even start by people contributing code, it was more that people started contributing ideas. And just the fact that somebody else takes a look at your project -- and I'm sure it's true of other things, too, but it's definitely true in code -- is that somebody else takes an interest in your code, looks at it enough to actually give you feedback and give you ideas. That was a huge thing for me.
LT: Nin sequera comezou cando a xente achegou código, foi máis ben cando a xente comezou a achegar ideas. E o feito de que alguén lle bote un ollo ao teu proxecto --estou seguro de que tamén é así noutras cousas, pero sen dúbida éo no código-- significa que alguén máis ten interese no teu código, mírao abondo como para facer observacións e achegar ideas. E iso resultoume impresionante.
I was 21 at the time, so I was young, but I had already programmed for half my life, basically. And every project before that had been completely personal and it was a revelation when people just started commenting, started giving feedback on your code. And even before they started giving code back, that was, I think, one of the big moments where I said, "I love other people!" Don't get me wrong -- I'm actually not a people person.
Eu tiña 21 anos, así que era novo pero xa levaba programando a metade da miña vida. E todos os proxectos antes diso foran completamente persoais e foi unha revelación que a xente comezase a comentar e a facerme observacións sobre o código. E mesmo antes de que comezaran a enviar código de volta, ese foi, penso, un dos grandes momentos en que dixen: "Encántanme as persoas!" Non me entendades mal, en realidade, non son sociable.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
I don't really love other people --
A verdade é que non me encantan as persoas.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
But I love computers, I love interacting with other people on email, because it kind of gives you that buffer. But I do love other people who comment and get involved in my project. And it made it so much more.
Pero encántanme os ordenadores, encántame interactuar por correo electrónico, porque che dá unha especie de protección. Pero tamén me encanta que a xente comente e se involucre no meu proxecto. E iso fíxose moito máis grande.
CA: So was there a moment when you saw what was being built and it suddenly started taking off, and you thought, "Wait a sec, this actually could be something huge, not just a personal project that I'm getting nice feedback on, but a kind of explosive development in the whole technology world"?
CA: Houbo un momento, cando viches que todo o construido de súpeto empezaba a despegar, en que pensaches: "Espera, isto pode ser algo moi grande, non só un proxecto persoal no que recibo interesantes observacións senón unha especie de desenvolvemento explosivo no mundo da tecnoloxía?
LT: Not really. I mean, the big point for me, really, was not when it was becoming huge, it was when it was becoming little. The big point for me was not being alone and having 10, maybe 100 people being involved -- that was a big point. Then everything else was very gradual. Going from 100 people to a million people is not a big deal -- to me. Well, I mean, maybe it is if you're --
LT: A verdade é que non. É dicir, o importante para min non foi cando se converteu en algo enorme, foi cando se converteu en algo pequeno. O importante para min foi non estar só, foi ter 10, quizais 100 persoas involucradas. Iso foi algo grande. Todo o resto foi gradual. Pasar de 100 persoas a un millón non é gran cousa, para min. Ben, quero dicir, quizais o sexa se es...
(Laughter)
(Risos)
If you want to sell your result then it's a huge deal -- don't get me wrong. But if you're interested in the technology and you're interested in the project, the big part was getting the community. Then the community grew gradually. And there's actually not a single point where I went like, "Wow, that just took off!" because it -- I mean -- it took a long time, relatively.
se o que queres é vender os resultados entón é un gran negocio, non me entendades mal. Pero se estás interesado na tecnoloxía e estás interesado no proxecto, a parte importante é chegar á comunidade. Despois, a comunidade medrou gradualmente e non houbo un momento concreto en que eu dixese: "Uau, isto acaba de despegar!" porque lle levou bastante tempo, relativamente.
CA: So all the technologists that I talk to really credit you with massively changing their work. And it's not just Linux, it's this thing called Git, which is this management system for software development. Tell us briefly about that and your role in that.
CA: Todos os técnicos cos que falo atribúenche os méritos de mudar drasticamente o seu traballo. E non é só por Linux, tamén é por iso chamado Git, que é un sistema de xestión para o desenvolvemento de software. Fálanos brevemente diso e do teu papel.
LT: So one of the issues we had, and this took a while to start to appear, is when you ... When you grow from having 10 people or 100 people working on a project to having 10,000 people, which -- I mean, right now we're in the situation where just on the kernel, we have 1,000 people involved in every single release and that's every two months, roughly two or three months. Some of those people don't do a lot. There's a lot of people who make small, small changes.
LT: Un dos problemas que tiñamos, que tardou un tempo en aparecer, é cando ti... Cando medras desde 10 persoas ou 100 traballando nun proxecto ata 10 000 persoas, é dicir, agora mesmo estamos nunha situación onde só no núcleo hai 1 000 persoas involucradas en cada lanzamento e iso ocorre cada 2 meses, uns 2 ou 3 meses. Algunhas desas persoas non fan moito. Hai moita xente que fai cambios moi pequenos.
But to maintain this, the scale changes how you have to maintain it. And we went through a lot of pain. And there are whole projects that do only source-code maintenance. CVS is the one that used to be the most commonly used, and I hated CVS with a passion and refused to touch it and tried something else that was radical and interesting and everybody else hated.
Pero para manter isto, a escala cambia o xeito de mantelo. E pasámolo moi mal. Hai proxectos enteiros que só fan código de mantemento. O CVS adoitaba ser un dos máis usados, e eu odiaba o CVS apaixonadamente e rexeitei tocalo, intentei outra cousa que era radical e interesante e o resto da xente odiouna.
CA: (Laughs)
CA: (Risos)
LT: And we were in this bad spot, where we had thousands of people who wanted to participate, but in many ways, I was the kind of break point, where I could not scale to the point where I could work with thousands of people.
LT: E estabamos nun mal momento, con miles de persoas que querían participar pero de moitos xeitos eu era o punto de equilibrio e non podía multiplicarme para poder traballar con miles de persoas.
So Git is my second big project, which was only created for me to maintain my first big project. And this is literally how I work. I don't code for -- well, I do code for fun -- but I want to code for something meaningful so every single project I've ever done has been something I needed and --
Así que Git é o meu segundo gran proxecto, que creei só para manter o meu primeiro gran proxecto. E así, literalmente, é como traballo. Non programo para, ben, eu programo por diversión, pero quero programar para algo que teña sentido así que cada proxecto que fixen tiña que ver con algo que eu precisaba e...
CA: So really, both Linux and Git kind of arose almost as an unintended consequence of your desire not to have to work with too many people.
CA: Así que, en realidade, tanto Linux como Git xurdiron case como unha consecuencia involuntaria do desexo de non traballar con xente.
LT: Absolutely. Yes.
LT: Totalmente. Si.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
CA: That's amazing. LT: Yeah.
CA: É abraiante. LT: Si.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
And yet, you're the man who's transformed technology not just once but twice, and we have to try and understand why it is. You've given us some clues, but ... Here's a picture of you as a kid, with a Rubik's Cube. You mentioned that you've been programming since you were like 10 or 11, half your life.
E aínda así, es a persoa que transformou a tecnoloxía non só unha vez senón dúas, e queremos intentar entender por que. Déchesnos algunhas pistas, pero... Aquí hai unha foto túa de neno cun cubo de Rubik. Mencionaches que estiveches programando desde que tiñas 10 ou 11 anos, a metade da túa vida.
Were you this sort of computer genius, you know, übernerd, were you the star at school who could do everything? What were you like as a kid?
Eras unha especie de xenio dos ordenadores, un cerebriño? a estrela da escola capaz de facer calquera cousa? Como eras de pequeno?
LT: Yeah, I think I was the prototypical nerd. I mean, I was ... I was not a people person back then. That's my younger brother. I was clearly more interested in the Rubik's Cube than my younger brother.
LT: Si, penso que era o "nerd" prototípico. É dicir, era... Non era sociable daquela. Este é o meu irmán pequeno. Eu estaba claramente máis interesado no cubo de Rubik que no meu irmán pequeno.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
My younger sister, who's not in the picture, when we had family meetings -- and it's not a huge family, but I have, like, a couple of cousins -- she would prep me beforehand. Like, before I stepped into the room she would say, "OK. That's so-and-so ..." Because I was not -- I was a geek. I was into computers, I was into math, I was into physics. I was good at that. I don't think I was particularly exceptional. Apparently, my sister said that my biggest exceptional quality was that I would not let go.
A miña irmá pequena, que non está na foto, cando tiñamos reunións familiares, e non é unha familia grande pero teño un par de primos, ela preparábame con antelación. Antes de que entrara na sala, ela dicía: "Ben. É así e así..." Porque eu non era... Eu era un "geek". Andaba con ordenadores, andaba coas matemáticas, andaba coa física. Dábanseme ben. Non creo que fora algo excepcional. Polo visto, a miña irmá dixo que a miña calidade máis excepcional era a de non renderme.
CA: OK, so let's go there, because that's interesting. You would not let go. So that's not about being a geek and being smart, that's about being ... stubborn?
CA: Ben, imos aí porque é interesante. Ti non te rendes. Así que non ten que ver con ser un "geek" e ser intelixente, vai de ser... teimudo?
LT: That's about being stubborn. That's about, like, just starting something and not saying, "OK, I'm done, let's do something else -- Look: shiny!"
LT: Vai de ser teimudo. Vai de... simplemente, comezar algo e non dicir: "Vale, déixoo, imos facer outra cousa... Mira, unha mosca!"
And I notice that in many other parts in my life, too. I lived in Silicon Valley for seven years. And I worked for the same company, in Silicon Valley, for the whole time. That is unheard of. That's not how Silicon Valley works. The whole point of Silicon Valley is that people jump between jobs to kind of mix up the pot. And that's not the kind of person I am.
E véxoo en moitas outras partes da miña vida, tamén. Vivín en Silicon Valley durante 7 anos. E traballei para a mesma compañía, en Silicon Valley durante todo ese tempo. Iso é inaudito. Silicon Valley non funciona así. O punto de Silicon Valley é que a xente salta de traballo para vivir experiencias diferentes. E eu non son ese tipo de persoa.
CA: But during the actual development of Linux itself, that stubbornness sometimes brought you in conflict with other people. Talk about that a bit. Was that essential to sort of maintain the quality of what was being built? How would you describe what happened?
CA: Pero durante o desenvolvemento de Linux, esa teimosía, ás veces, levoute ao conflito con outra xente. Fálanos diso un pouco. Era esencial para manter a calidade do que se estaba a construír? Como describirías o que ocorreu?
LT: I don't know if it's essential. Going back to the "I'm not a people person," -- sometimes I'm also ... shall we say, "myopic" when it comes to other people's feelings, and that sometimes makes you say things that hurt other people. And I'm not proud of that.
LT: Non sei se é esencial. Volvendo ao de "non son unha persoa sociable", ás veces, tamén son..., como diriamos, "miope" no que se refire aos sentimentos doutras persoas. e iso, ás veces, faiche dicir cousas que as feren. E non estou orgulloso diso
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
But, at the same time, it's -- I get people who tell me that I should be nice. And then when I try to explain to them that maybe you're nice, maybe you should be more aggressive, they see that as me being not nice.
pero, ao mesmo tempo, é... Hai xente que me di que debería ser agradable. E cando intento explicarlles que quizais ti es agradable pero quizais deberías ser máis agresivo, ven que non son agradable.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
What I'm trying to say is we are different. I'm not a people person; it's not something I'm particularly proud of, but it's part of me. And one of the things I really like about open source is it really allows different people to work together. We don't have to like each other -- and sometimes we really don't like each other. Really -- I mean, there are very, very heated arguments. But you can, actually, you can find things that -- you don't even agree to disagree, it's just that you're interested in really different things.
O que intento dicir é que somos diferentes. Non son unha persoa sociable; non é algo do que estea particularmente orgulloso pero é parte de min. E unha das cousas que me gustan do código aberto é que permite que xente distinta traballe xunta. Non temos que gustarnos e, ás veces, realmente, non nos gustamos. Quero dicir, hai discusións moi moi acendidas. E, de feito, podes atopar cousas en que nin sequera estás de acordo en estar en desacordo, é só que estás interesado en cousas moi diferentes.
And coming back to the point where I said earlier that I was afraid of commercial people taking advantage of your work, it turned out, and very quickly turned out, that those commercial people were lovely, lovely people. And they did all the things that I was not at all interested in doing, and they had completely different goals. And they used open source in ways that I just did not want to go. But because it was open source they could do it, and it actually works really beautifully together.
E volvendo ao punto onde dixen antes que temía que persoas con intereses comerciais se aproveitaran do meu traballo, resultou, e demostrouse rapidamente, que esas persoas eran xente encantadora. E fixeron todas as cousas en que eu non estaba nada interesado e tiñan obxectivos totalmente diferentes. E usaron o código aberto de xeitos que eu non o faría. Pero podían facelo porque era código aberto e, en realidade, funcionou moi ben.
And I actually think it works the same way. You need to have the people-people, the communicators, the warm and friendly people who like --
E penso que funciona do mesmo xeito. Tes que ter xente sociable, os comunicadores, a xente cálida e acolledora que
(Laughter)
(risos)
really want to hug you and get you into the community. But that's not everybody. And that's not me. I care about the technology. There are people who care about the UI. I can't do UI to save my life. I mean, if I was stranded on an island and the only way to get off that island was the make a pretty UI, I'd die there.
quere darche unha aperta e incluírte na comunidade. Pero non todo o mundo é así. E eu non son así. A min impórtame a tecnoloxía. Hai a quen lle importa a interface de usuario [IU] Eu non podo facer unha IU nin para salvar a vida. Quero dicir, se estivese varado nunha illa e a única maneira de saír dela fose facer unha boa IU morrería alí.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
So there's different kinds of people, and I'm not making excuses, I'm trying to explain.
Así que hai diferentes tipos de xente, e non estou poñendo escusas, Estou intentando explicarme.
CA: Now, when we talked last week, you talked about some other trait that you have, which I found really interesting. It's this idea called taste.
CA: Cando falamos a semana pasada, falaches dalgún outro trazo que tes bastante interesante. Esa idea chamada gusto.
And I've just got a couple of images here. I think this is an example of not particularly good taste in code, and this one is better taste, which one can immediately see. What is the difference between these two?
E teño un par de imaxes aquí. Seica, creo, este é un exemplo de código de non bo gusto precisamente e este ten mellor gusto, o que se pode ver inmediatamente. Cal é a diferenza entre estes dous?
LT: So this is -- How many people here actually have coded?
LT: Isto é... Canta xente aquí programou?
CA: Oh my goodness.
CA: Oh, meu deus.
LT: So I guarantee you, everybody who raised their hand, they have done what's called a singly-linked list. And it's taught -- This, the first not very good taste approach, is basically how it's taught to be done when you start out coding. And you don't have to understand the code.
LT: Eu garántoche que todo o mundo que levantou a man, fixo o que se chama unha lista ligada simple. E ensínase... Este, o primeiro enfoque que non ten moi bo gusto é, basicamente, como se ensina a facer cando comezas a programar. E non tes que entender o código.
The most interesting part to me is the last if statement. Because what happens in a singly-linked list -- this is trying to remove an existing entry from a list -- and there's a difference between if it's the first entry or whether it's an entry in the middle. Because if it's the first entry, you have to change the pointer to the first entry. If it's in the middle, you have to change the pointer of a previous entry. So they're two completely different cases.
A parte máis interesante para min é a última condición if. Porque o que ocorre nunha lista ligada simple, isto é, ao eliminar un elemento existente dunha lista e... Hai unha diferenza dependendo de se é o primeiro elemento ou se é un elemento da metade. Porque se é o primeiro elemento, tes que cambiar o punteiro para o primeiro elemento. Se está na metade, tes que cambiar o punteiro dun elemento anterior. Así que son casos totalmente diferentes.
CA: And that's better.
CA: E ese é mellor.
LT: And this is better. It does not have the if statement. And it doesn't really matter -- I don't want you understand why it doesn't have the if statement, but I want you to understand that sometimes you can see a problem in a different way and rewrite it so that a special case goes away and becomes the normal case. And that's good code. But this is simple code. This is CS 101. This is not important -- although, details are important.
LT: E este é mellor. Non ten a condición if. E, realmente, non importa. Eu non quero que entendas por que non ten a condición if, quero que entendas que, ás veces, podes ver un problema doutra forma e reescribilo para que desapareza un caso especial e se converta nun caso normal. E iso é bo código. Pero é código simple. Este é CS 101. Non é importante, aínda que os detalles son importantes.
To me, the sign of people I really want to work with is that they have good taste, which is how ... I sent you this stupid example that is not relevant because it's too small. Good taste is much bigger than this. Good taste is about really seeing the big patterns and kind of instinctively knowing what's the right way to do things.
Para min, o que marca as persoas coas que quero traballar é que teñen bo gusto, que é como... Envieiche este estúpido exemplo que é irrelevante porque é moi pequeno. O bo gusto é moito máis grande que isto. O bo gusto trata de ver realmente os grandes patróns e saber instintivamente cal é a mellor forma de facer as cousas.
CA: OK, so we're putting the pieces together here now. You have taste, in a way that's meaningful to software people. You're --
CA: Ben, estamos aquí xuntando as pezas. Ti tes gusto, dun xeito que ten sentido para a xente do software. Ti es...
(Laughter)
(Risos)
LT: I think it was meaningful to some people here.
LT: Penso que tivo sentido para algunha xente aquí.
CA: You're a very smart computer coder, and you're hellish stubborn. But there must be something else. I mean, you've changed the future. You must have the ability of these grand visions of the future. You're a visionary, right?
CA: Ti es un programador moi intelixente e es soberanamente teimudo. Pero ten que haber algo máis. Cambiaches o futuro. Debes ter a capacidade desas grandes visións do futuro. Es un visionario, non si?
LT: I've actually felt slightly uncomfortable at TED for the last two days, because there's a lot of vision going on, right? And I am not a visionary. I do not have a five-year plan. I'm an engineer. And I think it's really -- I mean -- I'm perfectly happy with all the people who are walking around and just staring at the clouds and looking at the stars and saying, "I want to go there." But I'm looking at the ground, and I want to fix the pothole that's right in front of me before I fall in. This is the kind of person I am.
LT: En realidade, sentinme un pouco incómodo no TED estes últimos dous días porque hai moita visión por aquí, non? E eu non son un visionario. Eu non teño un plan a 5 anos. Son enxeñeiro. E penso que realmente é... Alégrome moito polas persoas que pasean mirando para as nubes ollando as estrelas e dicindo "Eu quero ir aí." Pero eu miro para o chan e quero arranxar a focha que hai en fronte de min antes de caer nela. Este é o tipo de persoa que son.
(Cheers)
(Aclamacións)
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
CA: So you spoke to me last week about these two guys. Who are they and how do you relate to them?
CA: Faláchesme a semana pasada deses dous tipos. Quen son e que relación tes con eles?
LT: Well, so this is kind of cliché in technology, the whole Tesla versus Edison, where Tesla is seen as the visionary scientist and crazy idea man. And people love Tesla. I mean, there are people who name their companies after him.
LT: Ben, este é unha especie de clixé na tecnoloxía, o tema Tesla contra Edison, onde Tesla sempre se ve como o científico visionario e de ideas tolas. A xente adora a Tesla. Hai xente que lle pon o seu nome ás empresas.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
The other person there is Edison, who is actually often vilified for being kind of pedestrian and is -- I mean, his most famous quote is, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." And I'm in the Edison camp, even if people don't always like him. Because if you actually compare the two, Tesla has kind of this mind grab these days, but who actually changed the world? Edison may not have been a nice person, he did a lot of things -- he was maybe not so intellectual, not so visionary. But I think I'm more of an Edison than a Tesla.
A outra persoa é Edison, que a miúdo é desprezado por ser máis corrente e é... é dicir, a súa cita máis famosa é: "O xenio é 1 % de inspiración e 99 % de transpiración." Eu estou do lado de Edison, mesmo se á xente non lle cae ben. Porque se os comparas, Tesla ten unha mente que atrae nestes tempos, pero quen cambiou realmente o mundo? Pode que Edison non fora unha persoa agradable, fixo moitas cousas... quizais non era tan intelectual nin tan visionario. Pero eu penso que son máis un Edison que un Tesla.
CA: So our theme at TED this week is dreams -- big, bold, audacious dreams. You're really the antidote to that.
CA: O tema do TED esta semana son os soños: soños grandes, valentes, audaces. Ti es un auténtico antídoto.
LT: I'm trying to dial it down a bit, yes.
LT: Intento desinchalo un pouco, si.
CA: That's good.
CA: Iso está ben.
(Laughter) We embrace you, we embrace you.
(Risos) Apoiámoste, apoiámoste.
Companies like Google and many others have made, arguably, like, billions of dollars out of your software. Does that piss you off?
Empresas como Google e moitas outras gañaron, podería dicirse, millóns de dólares grazas ao teu software. Moléstate?
LT: No. No, it doesn't piss me off for several reasons. And one of them is, I'm doing fine. I'm really doing fine.
LT: Non. Non, non me molesta por varias razóns. E unha delas é que me vai ben. Vaime moi ben.
But the other reason is -- I mean, without doing the whole open source and really letting go thing, Linux would never have been what it is. And it's brought experiences I don't really enjoy, public talking, but at the same time, this is an experience. Trust me. So there's a lot of things going on that make me a very happy man and thinking I did the right choices.
Pero a outra razón é... Se eu non fixera o do código aberto e deixara pasar a cousa, Linux nunca sería o que é. E trouxo experiencias que non me gustan, falar en público... pero, ao mesmo tempo, é unha experiencia. Crédeme. Hai un montón de cousas que me fan moi feliz e me fan pensar que fixen as escollas correctas.
CA: Is the open source idea -- this is, I think we'll end here -- is the open source idea fully realized now in the world, or is there more that it could go, are there more things that it could do?
CA: A idea do código aberto --e penso que rematamos aquí--, a idea do código aberto está totalmente implantada no mundo ou hai máis cara a onde andar, hai máis cousas que se poden facer?
LT: So, I'm of two minds there. I think one reason open source works so well in code is that at the end of the day, code tends to be somewhat black and white. There's often a fairly good way to decide, this is done correctly and this is not done well. Code either works or it doesn't, which means that there's less room for arguments. And we have arguments despite this, right? In many other areas -- I mean, people have talked about open politics and things like that -- and it's really hard sometimes to say that, yes, you can apply the same principles in some other areas just because the black and white turns into not just gray, but different colors.
LT: Aí teño dúas visións contrapostas. Penso que unha razón pola que o código aberto funciona tan ben é que, á fin e ao cabo, o código tende a ser branco ou negro. A miúdo, hai unha maneira bastante boa de decidir, isto está ben feito e isto está mal. O código ou funciona ou non, o que significa que hai menos espazo para as discusións. E temos discusións a pesar disto, vale? En moitas outras áreas... é dicir, a xente falaba de cousas como política aberta e así... e é difícil, ás veces, dicir que é posible aplicar os mesmos principios noutras áreas porque o branco e o negro non só se transforman en grises senón noutras cores distintas.
So, obviously open source in science is making a comeback. Science was there first. But then science ended up being pretty closed, with very expensive journals and some of that going on. And open source is making a comeback in science, with things like arXiv and open journals. Wikipedia changed the world, too. So there are other examples, I'm sure there are more to come.
Obviamente, o código aberto está reaparecendo na ciencia. Na ciencia foi onde comezou. Pero despois a ciencia acabou por ser moi pechada, con revistas moi caras e esas cousas. E o código aberto está reaparecendo na ciencia, con cousas como arXiv e revistas de acceso aberto. Wikipedia tamén cambiou o mundo. Hai outros exemplos e estou seguro de que han vir máis...
CA: But you're not a visionary, and so it's not up to you to name them.
CA: Pero ti non es un visionario e non che corresponde imaxinalos.
LT: No.
LT: Non.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
It's up to you guys to make them, right?
Correspóndevos a vós facelo, non?
CA: Exactly.
CA: Exactamente.
Linus Torvalds, thank you for Linux, thank you for the Internet, thank you for all those Android phones.
Linus Torvalds, grazas por Linux, grazas por Internet, grazas por todos eses teléfonos Android.
Thank you for coming here to TED and revealing so much of yourself.
Grazas por vires ao TED e revelarnos tanto de ti.
LT: Thank you.
LT: Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)