From: hpa@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin N9ITP) Subject: Re: Paying off Linus' PC (was: Linux Standards) Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 16:48:37 GMT
In article <1992Aug21.065950.8463@klaava.Helsinki.FI> of comp.os.linux,
torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds) writes:
> I hate to follow up to a thread that might actually be profitable for
> me, but I felt I had to clarify a few points - especially if there are
> new linux users out there reading the thread.
>
> If people feel they want to send me money (indirectly or directly) as a
> token of appreciation, that's very much ok by me (surprise, surprise),
> but a token of appreciation is all it is going to be. Yes, I'll be able
> to pay off my machine more quickly or even get a bigger harddisk or
> whatever, but sending me money won't get you any better service - this
> is definitely not a "registration fee" or anything like that.
>
> The above just means that (a) even if you don't send any money I won't
> mind in the least that you use linux, and when I answer questions etc I
> won't check if you sent me money first. And (b) even if you sent me
> money, any features you propose/want will get no extra priority. In
> fact, trying to make me feel guilty over money ("after all, I paid you
> $20 for this") is likely to get the exact opposite reaction.
>
> Finally, I won't give any guarantees of what the money will be used for:
> if you add some kind of message giving preferences ("use it to pay off
> your computer"), I'll naturally follow them within reasonable limits,
> but I might just use them to pay off my "beer&pizza"-debts (*), which
> might be against your religion or whatever.
I am *glad* to hear this... and as I said before, I am *not* going to ask
*at all* what the money is being used for. Still, being a student and
being from Scandinavia I know it is not that easy all the time to stay
liquid. In short, DON'T SEND MONEY IF YOU EXPECT ANYTHING IN RETURN. I
would refuse to have anything to do with this if Linus were to start
treating Linux like shareware.
/hpa
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