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The creator and leading advocate of the Linux open source operating system told a conference in Australia that while OS X Leopard is a better OS than Windows Vista, it leaves a lot to be desired.

"OS X in some ways is actually worse than Windows to program for," he said. "Their file system is complete and utter crap, which is scary."

Torvalds deplores the way that new versions of Windows and OS X are marketed.

"An operating system should be completely invisible," he said, not "a way to control the whole environment ... to force people to upgrade their applications and hardware."

Torvalds then turned to the growing role of Linux as an alternative to Windows on new ultraportable laptops, such as the sub-£200 Eee PC, and extolled the software's green credentials in the interview with The Age.