In my opinion, a legacy like that of Linus means that he's produced a piece of software that has positively impacted the lives of people.
It's important because he's actually delivered on the famous SV con-artist promise of "making the world a better place".
Not directly, as in curing diseases or revolutionizing energy production or consumption, but in ways that help people in developing countries access information due to falling costs of computers (Linux) and phones (Linux through Android) and people in business can thrive because of the diversity it brings to the table (versus the Microsoft quasi-monopoly we had before).
That's what I put under the umbrella term "legacy", something that has, in a way and ever so slightly, changed the world for the better.
Then again, we might say "it's just software", but in a software-centric world, I reckon it does matter.
That's besides the point. My point is that working without selling is not a viable strategy for 99% of people. Hell it barely worked for him in terms of earnings, and he's one of the most impactful people in tech history.
It's not besides THE point, it's besides YOUR point, big difference.
Suppose that what matters is to monetize your work. Then by that metric, Linus is immensely successful (personal worth of over 100 million dollars, which likely puts him in the high brackets).
Now suppose (like I do) that the metric that actually matters is sharing the result of your work so that others will build upon that and end up creating even greater things. Well, by that other metric, Linus is still a HUGE winner.
So we're basically both right (unless of course we're ready to discuss obvious falsehoods such as "Having 100 million dollars means it barely worked for you").
It's important because he's actually delivered on the famous SV con-artist promise of "making the world a better place".
Not directly, as in curing diseases or revolutionizing energy production or consumption, but in ways that help people in developing countries access information due to falling costs of computers (Linux) and phones (Linux through Android) and people in business can thrive because of the diversity it brings to the table (versus the Microsoft quasi-monopoly we had before).
That's what I put under the umbrella term "legacy", something that has, in a way and ever so slightly, changed the world for the better.
Then again, we might say "it's just software", but in a software-centric world, I reckon it does matter.