Why Linus Torvald said “NVidia, Fuck You”

By 9 Comments

In a dramatic event at Aalto University in Finland, Linux’s founder Linus Torvald could not suppress his frustration with NVidia and showed the middle finger to the chip manufacturing giant NVidia with praising (pun intended) words of “NVidia fuck you”. It happened when a girl asked him about the poor support of the Graphics chip sets from NVidia for Linux.The interesting part of the Linus’ conversation is as follows:

I am very happy to say that …its the exception rather than the rule. And I am also happy to very publicly point out that NVidia has been one of the worst trouble spot we had with hardware manufacturers… and that is really sad because NVidia tries to sell chips.. a lot of chips into the Android market and NVidia has been the single worst company we ever dealt with… So NVidia Fuck Yeah..(middle finger gesture).

You can see the video here:

Why the “middle digit” for NVidia?

It’s not a secret that Linux operating systems have troubles with a number of hardware manufacturers. Most of the hardware manufacturers focus more on Windows and Mac rather than the Open Source OS. Driver issues are one of the most common problem one faces while using Linux. In fact the most common issue comes with wireless itself.

But while there has been at least some support from other manufacturers, NVidia has been a big pain in a**. A simple Google “” will show you the condition. Forums are flooded seeking help on the graphics issue but NVidia has paid no heed to years of requests, complaints and threats of Linux users. And this is specially surprising when NVidia is pushing hard in Android market (Android OS is based on Linux kernel).

Linus is surely justified in his frustration towards the apathy shown by NVidia to Linux. As a Linux fan, I have great admiration for Linus Torvald and I stand in solidarity with him.

Your views?

Do you think Linus’ outburst is justified against NVidia in such a manner or the chip-giant NVidia is right in their decision for the selective support to various OS? Do let us know your views. Cheers :)