Just as Windows 7 was hitting stores and buyers in North America were complaining that it seemed to cost less in parts of Asia than in the West, an unexpected face showed up at a software shop in Tokyo: Linus Torvalds.
The scene was tied to the Japan Linux Symposium, which Linus was attending at the time. According to accounts circulating around the event, Microsoft scheduled the Windows 7 release on the very same day as the symposium. During a break, Linus and some colleagues decided to have a little fun and went over to a store promoting the new Windows release.
The joke was simple. The staff at the shop apparently had no idea who he was. As soon as Linus stepped in, he crouched down and flashed a big thumbs-up, while one of his coworkers quickly snapped the now-famous photo. For anyone wondering: no, they did not actually buy a copy of Windows 7.
There was also a blog post said to be from the photographer, confirming the basic story and describing the moment as a bit of Linus-style humor. The post even added a small cultural footnote: the writer thought a V-sign might have fit the setting better than a thumbs-up, suggesting Linus was not especially familiar with that bit of Eastern photo etiquette.
It is a small moment, but a pretty funny one: the creator most closely associated with Linux stopping by a Windows 7 launch display in Tokyo just to pose for the camera.