Torvalds is on a 3-day visit to Korea, his first, having arrived on Wednesday. More than 1,000 Koreans, mostly students, crowded in to hear his speech.

In the speech, the inventor said that Linux technology has been steadily developing, braving through the recent downturn in the global IT industry.

Torvalds added that the development of the Linux program has become a gigantic project, involving several million volunteers who work to further develop the program. He said he is trying to have more fun in his life, by working to create something meaningful.

The designer said that the barriers to the world software market have been increasing, as only a few software giants have dominated the market.

Torvalds created the world-famous computer operating system at the age of 21, when he was a student at Helsinki University in 1991. Since then, he has moved to the United States and is currently working for Transmeta Corp. a Santa Clara, California-based software-based microprocessors and technology development firm. (Kim Ki-hong, darma90@chosun.com )