1. The letter was to a user of the compiler, not to its author.

2. Linus is a Finn, their culture is a bit different, people who post on LKML know this.

Well, for one thing a C compiler is a considerably more utilitarian creation - "Hey, McDonalds, Big Macs taste like shit".

And of course even purely artistic creations have always been subject to quite blunt appraisals - you won't have to look far to find them about, say, Jackson Pollock's paintings.

Pollack and others were funded through CIA programmes to demonstrate the power of the creative free thinking West.

Listening to the God-awful Jazz they play at my local coffee shops makes me wonder just how effective this campaign of psychological warfare was.