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What's The Linux Kernel Worth?

Posted by timothy on from the tree-falls-in-forest-makes-sound dept.

schneelocke writes "What's the value of the Linux kernel? After an offer by one Jeff V. Merkey to pay 50K USD for a BSD-licensed copy of Linux, David Wheeler does some calculations and comes up with an estimate of 612M USD." Wheeler has come up with a number of interesting software-worth estimates and other quantified facts about Free software; since some aspects involve ineffables and hypotheticals, the details can be argued, but he provides a good framework with SLOCCount.

2 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. Poll! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 0, Offtopic


    My favorite kernel is:

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Klink
    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  2. $600 M is ridiculous by neonstz · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    When people buy commercial 3rd party libraries, they do that because it is cheaper to buy the 3rd party library than to develop everything themselves. I'm pretty sure Qt/Win32 is worth more than the ~$2000 or something you have to pay for a single Enterprise lisence.

    (I assume the guy who posted on the linux kernel list didn't mean that those who paid $50 K for a snapshot get the rights to distribute the source with a "BSD style" lisence).