Why Chase a One Minute Linux Install?

David Heinemeier Hansson wants an operating system that installs in less than 60 seconds. He thinks the one minute barrier was broken only about three weeks earlier, or even two, and he got crazy about it.

The drive can already transfer seven gigabytes per second, and until the install gets down to that bar, the limit is still ahead, so he kept pushing. Every second he could shave off was an excitement, and the chase became a game of its own. A swarm of agents ran auto research loops: change one thing, cut a step, do work in parallel, and start preloading packages into memory while the username is typed so they fire in faster.

Product development should be fun and frivolous, overshooting what it needs to be, because agents make it possible to move quickly and try many approaches. He thinks the greatest Mercedes-Benz of all time was the W126. A guy who had worked for years in Mercedes' department for safety took charge of the whole S-Class and put everything in, including auto-retending seatbelts and washers on the headlights. The car was so overbuilt for the market it was unbelievable. A mechanical watch can go down to 100 meters, and he thinks Rolex has one that can go down to 4,000 meters, yet no one outside of three people who buy that watch will ever put it to the test. He still wants the fastest car breaking the speed limits and the diver watch that can go down the Mariana Trench. Pursuit of excellence, even when the metrics seem frivolous, brings other excellences, discoveries, and innovations that have nothing to do with the speed.