From a linked page:

> Thanks to Linus Torvalds, we not only have a consensus on architecture, but we've come pretty close to having a consensus on the input output mechanism by which programs communicate with their host machines, via the SYSCALL instruction. He accomplished that by sitting at home in a bathrobe sending emails to huge corporations, getting them to agree to devote their resources to creating something beautifully opposite to tragedy of the commons.

Could someone explain this to me?