He's not a giant asshole, he just doesn't sugar-coat everything he says.

It's sort of a defining trait in people where he is from. If we say something we tend to say it straight. He might be a more extreme example than most, but I had a good friend from the same neighborhood and he was the same.

We grew up a few years later when he had already moved to the US, but we used to sneak smokes in the park right outside where he first made Linux. My friend lived in the same building as he had done, but he was so computer illiterate that he had no idea who Linus was. I did, though, because Linus described that place pretty well in what I believe was his first book.