I think C++ bashing is getting old. It's like Microsoft bashing: everybody does it but 99% don't really know what they are talking about.
Meanwhile, lots of high-level alternatives are getting better and are becoming more and more suitable in more places where C++ once reigned, so as C++ programmers get experience in more languages, the blub paradox is no longer keeping us as happy.
I work in games, and I don't see C++ going away anytime soon, though other languages are getting more and more use even now. But C++, as a language, is painful to use, especially when it's as restricted as it is for performance and portability reasons.
It does not seem like C++ is on top of the priority list for Microsoft.
Same with the XBox: serious development is done in C++.
On the evidence of this article, he's a guy who likes to make ad hominem attacks, unjustified generalisations, and unsupported (and demonstrably wrong) accusations based on proof by raw ego. This much is obvious to numerous people who actually use C++ to do the sort of things Torvalds criticises.
C++ has plenty of flaws, to be sure. And yes, it's being steadily overtaken by newer tools for many purposes, too. But Torvalds didn't make a reasoned argument based on those things. He wrote a rant, and not even a very good one.
As far as I can tell, everything Linus writes that sounds like a provocative "religious" statement about programming is really just a statement about his world of Kernel development. He just isn't concerned about with other space so "C++ is a horrible language.." yes, for Kernel program, sure.