The fact that Linus didn't take offense to the criticism of his abrasive nature shows that he expects it to be a two-way street. He really does have a thick skin.
Linus told a story about a guy, that wrote something for the kernel and
Linus thought in the first place that it was more or less bullshit, but
didn't told it directly to the guy, so when the guy was finished and
wanted to get his stuff merged, Linus had to tell him that he will never
merge this.
I don't know how mucher later, but this guy killed himself afterwards.
Linus told that he doesn't feel guilty about this or thinks that he was
the main cause for the killing, but well, I don't think that such an
experience has no effect on your behaviour, but I can't tell if Linus'
behaviour was different before this event.
I think that Linus told this story in the talk where he showed nvidia the finger.
Is it really so hard to believe that a man who is abrasive has no problem dealing with other people who are abrasive? There do exist different cultural attitudes and standards for abrasiveness, tact, manners, and respect. The standards currently used in corporate America are not universal; some people have stronger standards, others have looser.
> Is it really so hard to believe that a man who is abrasive has no problem dealing with other people who are abrasive?
That would be a classic symptom of narcissism. I'm not saying Linus is a narcissist, if anything I'm saying the opposite -- if he accepts the same treatment from others that he puts out, that argues against narcissism.
Now Steve Jobs, on the other hand ... I couldn't stand working with Steve because of his obvious and unbearable narcissism. He is why I never worked directly at Apple for more than a few weeks during many years of professional association on a number of software projects.
