There's no pat answer, but technological innovations must necessarily build on previous works, or they'd be so alien nobody would use them. In fact, from the time computer science became a discipline, developers have used much of the same code to write very different programs. It's the way the algorithms and data structures interact that makes them unique. This was Torvalds' genius--and his creation.
If Torvalds didn't invent Linux, then Microsoft didn't invent Windows because it, too, is based on another operating system, DOS, and many of its concepts were taken directly from Apple OSs. Or as one colleague puts it: "Saying Linus didn't invent Linux is like saying the guys who invented color TV stole from the guys who invented black-and-white TV."
Meantime, Torvalds is sensitive to the heightened scrutiny. Under a new Linux submission process announced amid the ADTI ruckus, code for the 2.6 kernel will be accepted only from individuals who vouch for their right to make the contribution under an appropriate open-source license, whether they're submitting their own, adapted or someone else's code. "We're trying to document the process," Torvalds says. "We want to make it simpler to link submitted code to its contributor. It's like signing your own work."
Let's now hope there isn't a chilling effect on Linux innovation.
Rob Preston is editor in chief of NETWORK COMPUTING. Write to him at [email protected].
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