Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently met Linux creator Linus Torvalds for the first time at a dinner organized by Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich. “I had the thrill of a lifetime, hosting dinner for Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds and David Cutler,” wrote Russinovich on LinkedIn. “Linus had never met Bill, and Dave had never met Linus. No major kernel decisions were made, but maybe next dinner ;)”
This is especially notable since Microsoft and Linux represent two software paradigms that have been opposed to each other — proprietary, commercial software (Windows) versus open source (Linux).
Windows, as a closed source proprietary software has become the most popular operating system globally. In contrast, Torvalds created Linux, a free and open-source alternative that invited community collaboration. Linux was once described as one of Microsoft’s biggest threats, especially during the early 2000s when open-source adoption surged.
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Microsoft campaigned intensely against Linux in the past. In 2001, Steve Balmer, the then-CEO of Microsoft expressed his disdain, saying “Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.” Microsoft’s stance has softened since then. In 2-16, Balmer said he believed his comment was correct at the time, the open-source threat was now “in the rearview mirror.” Today Microsoft contributes to the Linux kernel and uses it extensively in its Azure cloud infrastructure.
This meeting between the Linux and Microsoft founders has triggered a variety of reactions on the internet. A number of people responded with jokes and memes about this historic meeting.
While Microsoft and Linux might not be as much at odds with each other as earlier, Gates and Torvalds do have contrasting opinions on some topics, AI for instance. Gates has said that over the next decade, advances in artificial intelligence will mean that humans will no longer be needed “for most things” in the world. Torvalds, on the other hand called AI 90% marketing and 10% reality.
“I think AI is really interesting and I think it is going to change the world and at the same time I hate the hype cycle so much that I really don’t want to go there, so my approach to AI right now is I will basically ignore it,” he said. He added that while OpenAI’s ChatGPT “makes great demonstrations and it’s obviously being used in many areas, for graphic design and things like that, but I really hate the hype cycle.”