[stcredzero]

But that would rather understate Linus' substantial contribution to thinking about version control differently and better.

That paradigm of version control existed previously. (Monticello in Smalltalk, for example.) However, Linus had the programming chops and name recognition to start it off down the road to what it is today.

[davidgerard]

Most important, I think, was a great big urgent real-life use case (Linux) to optimise git toward. That's why it's really good at managing a Linux-sized codebase.

(Most of what is annoying and difficult about git makes much more sense when you realise it was literally invented for Linus to handle his email, and anyone else having use for it is a serendipitious happenstance.)