> I'm almost certain if it weren't Torvalds, it would be someone else who creates something like Git. He just had the need and skills to create it. Like Bill Gates he was just a competent person, at the right place and time.
I think it's fair to point out that Torvalds didn't come up with Git on his own - he was influenced by a good amount of prior art, not the least of which was Bitkeeper.
However, I think calling him a "competent person, at the right place and time" undersells him to a substantial degree.
1. He's a world class software developer.
2. He's a world class tech lead (There are certainly criticisms about his communication style, which I don't think are unfair. Here, I am judging him by the artifacts created under his leadership).
3. He was the write lock for an extremely large distributed team for more than a decade.
It is not surprising to me that the 2nd most famous distributed source control tool - Mercurial - was also initially created by a Linux kernel developer.
I think it's fair to point out that Torvalds didn't come up with Git on his own - he was influenced by a good amount of prior art, not the least of which was Bitkeeper.
However, I think calling him a "competent person, at the right place and time" undersells him to a substantial degree.
1. He's a world class software developer.
2. He's a world class tech lead (There are certainly criticisms about his communication style, which I don't think are unfair. Here, I am judging him by the artifacts created under his leadership).
3. He was the write lock for an extremely large distributed team for more than a decade.
It is not surprising to me that the 2nd most famous distributed source control tool - Mercurial - was also initially created by a Linux kernel developer.