As I understand it the problem was not that he "looked" but that he allegedly then incorporated what he saw into a rival product.
Also http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/14/torvalds_attacks_tri...
Also http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/14/torvalds_attacks_tri...
Don't expect people to be bound by forced promises.
If I was in a different societal context where I could say 'No', and you know, shoot someone if they got pushy about it, then I'd be truer to my word. But given that I can't there's no choice but to lie - I'm certainly not going to stop learning just because someone told me to to preserve his market share.
Also, the same thing applies to DRM removal, etc. Once I buy a product it's mine - be thankful I didn't just warez it in the first place.