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Not that Torvalds has made a penny of profit from his creation. For him it's been strictly a labor of love--although even love can grow cold after a while. "There are days when I get into technical arguments with people and I say, 'Screw you! I am taking a vacation for a week; I don't need this,'" he says. "But after a few days I always come back, because it's the most fun thing I do."
It is not, however, the only thing he does. Last February Torvalds moved his family from Finland to Silicon Valley. He now pulls down a six-figure salary as a full-time programmer for Transmeta Corp., a top-secret, high-tech start-up backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The combination of Allen and Torvalds has fueled wild speculation about what Transmeta might be up to in its Santa Clara, Calif., skunk works. Is it building a new microprocessor that will compete with Intel's x86 chip set? Is it using, as some seem to believe, technology borrowed from visiting aliens to develop hush-hush projects for the government? Torvalds delights in the rumors and will neither confirm nor deny anything.
Meanwhile, juggling his job at Transmeta and his ongoing obligations to Linux--which he continues to manage as it changes and grows--leaves him little free time. If he is not sitting in front of computers, he is talking about them--to the press, industry conference attendees or like-minded souls on the Net. When pressured, Torvalds concedes that Linux is unlikely to dethrone Microsoft Windows, at least in the short term. Technical merits aside, it is still largely a programmers' tool; it doesn't offer a lot of programs for the office or home, and it isn't backed by Microsoft's marketing muscle. For Torvalds these are merely obstacles that can be overcome in time. After all, he has millions of loyal programmers on his team, some of whom call him god.
How does it feel to be an idol? Torvalds shyly dips his head and averts his gaze. "It's not like I have 15-year-old girls throwing their underwear at me," he says, with a small laugh. "I think the 15-year-old geek inside me is still disappointed about that."