LCA2009: Torvalds turns barber for a while

By Sam Varghese
Friday, 23 January 2009 09:56

Opinion and Analysis

One doubts whether there have ever been more people watching a man's beard being clinically removed, first by trimmer and then by razor, than there were at the Australian national Linux conference today.


But this wasn't just any man and any beard - this was HP's chief open source and Linux technologist Bdale Garbee. And the barber was a man by the name of Linus Benedict Torvalds. (slideshow)

The reason for this hair-raising episode was pledges made by people at the conference's penguin dinner on Wednesday when a painting was being auctioned to raise money for research into saving the Tasmanian devil.

The final sum is expected to be in the region of $40,000.

There was no end of wisecracks as the process of de-bearding was being arranged. (Update Jan 25: The great shave has even inspired an open-source game.)

First up, though, was Australia's former MySQL representative, Arjen Lentz, who had his head shaven by Torvalds, the latter showing surprisingly good skills in removing what little hair Lentz had on his head.

The number of photographers surrounding Lentz was quite high  but the number almost doubled as Garbee came and sat in what was to be literally the executioner's chair.

Co-organiser Ben Powell had obtained all the accessories needed - a plastic sheet to be draped around Lentz and Garbee; a can of shaving foam, one of the best razors going and a trimmer that worked without a hum. There was no after-shave though.