'We have a new major number purely because I'm easily confused and not good with big numbers' says Linus Torvalds about Linux 7.0

‘We have a new major number purely because I’m easily confused and not good with big numbers’ says Linus Torvalds about Linux 7.0 | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Linux After Microsoft couldn’t keep its AI hands to itself, a notoriously complex Linux distro has started its long march away from GitHub Linux My favourite thing about Linux gaming will now automagically apply crucial fan patches to your Metal Gear installs, making it even easier than on Windows Roguelike To celebrate 2 years of Balatro, creator LocalThunk reflected on dropping out of an engineering program to make games: ‘Even if I could warn myself I’m not sure what I could have said to prepare for the insanity’ Operating Systems Rufus developers have been blocked from downloading Windows ISOs, and believe there to be ‘active intentional involvement from Microsoft’ PC Cases Don’t ask ‘why?’ but this tech tinker turned the audio jack on their PC into a power button. 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They’re just relaxing!’ Platforms Steam Proton will no longer forget the entire reason it exists if you have a humungous library, as of the most recent client beta Linux CachyOS isn’t joining new Linux gaming distro collab, says it doesn’t think a ‘collective with strings attached’ is necessary Linux 2025 might have been the year for Linux gaming, but there’s still a way to go until I switch from Windows RPG Square Enix says a ‘new version’ of Final Fantasy 7 is coming to Steam, but doesn’t say what’s actually new or when it’s coming PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Arc RaidersBest PC gearFalloutGame Quizzes Software Operating Systems Linux ‘We have a new major number purely because I’m easily confused and not good with big numbers’ says Linus Torvalds about Linux 7.0 News By Andy Edser published 24 February 2026 Totally relatable, carry on. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter I’ve never been particularly number-inclined, and apparently I’m in good company, as Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds has a similar issue. In a post announcing Linux 7.0 rc1, Torvalds is quick to point out that the major number release version doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most exciting version of the Linux kernel yet.”We have a new major number purely because I’m easily confused and not good with big numbers”, says Torvalds (via The Register).”We haven’t done releases based on features (or on “stable vs unstable”) for a long long time now. So that new major number does *not* mean that we have some big new exciting feature, or that we’re somehow leaving old interfaces behind. It’s the usual ‘solid progress’ marker, nothing more.” Related articles The Linux community now has a succession plan for when Linus Torvalds checks out, after an apparently uplifting discussion about ‘our eventual march toward death’ The father of the Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds, says the reason why Windows has a rep for bugs and blue screens isn’t down to bad code but bad memory Linux researcher and developer says ‘there are bugs in your kernel right now that won’t be found for years. I know because I analyzed 125,183 of them’ However, Torvalds has performed some back-of-a-matchbook maths to work out the rough release cadence, and predicts that “With our normal release schedule of 5-6 releases per year and my antipathy to