Fresh Air, Linus Torvalds

Computer programmer Linus Torvalds on this edition of Fresh Air. He is the creator of Linux, a computer operating system intended to improve upon Unix. When Torvalds wrote the original code in 1991, he sent it out on the Internet to allow anyone to make changes and improvements. So, Linux was developed by a committee of thousands. In the past few years, investors backed Linux, thinking it an alternative operating system to Microsoft's. However, with the recent crash in tech stocks, Linux suffered. Torvalds has just written a new memoir, called Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary. (Broadcast Date: June 4, 2001)