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Linux To Ring Up $35B By 2008
al@opensourcebrowser.com pastes "For a theoretically free operating system, Linux is -- and will continue to be -- a cash cow, a research firm said Wednesday as it predicted the OS will bring in more than $35 billion in revenues by 2008. Framingham, Mass.-based IDC said that overall revenue for servers, desktops, and packaged software running on Linux will reach $35.7 billion in the next four years."
Maybe FF were making sure they released a patch that worked. How many patches for patches have MS released. Oh yeah, I chew my male chicken, it's quicker.
--Sir_-_Jeff--
Microsoft will earn $38 bn in 2005.
IBM received $23.2 bn in 2004.
How will those figures look in 2008?I think his point is that while Linux may be making a lot of money, the actual developers rarely see any of it. Yes, some open source is funded, but most of it is not. Imagine of some of these millions were to go to a project like KDE? Geezus, the whole thing would be done by now.
I don't know who is getting all of this "Linux money", but it certainly isn't affecting the projects I care about. I'm not saying that developers should be jealous of these companies that have taken their products and made money with them. After all, that's part of the freedom that has been given to them. But it is depressing that not much of this money goes back to the community. I don't say this because the developers should be rewarded or get rich, I say it because the money would speed up development.
Many of us probably can name many OSS projects we'd like to see completed. These Linux sales numbers won't impress me one bit until I see my favorite programs being sponsored.
That's a nice number, Note that in comparison, Microsoft's 2004 revenue is about $36 billion. Apple is around $10 billion.
Why is anyone taking this seriously?
Help fight continental drift.
Yes, and Openoffice.org rings up significantly less because... it's free.
It does most of what the higher priced software for "Office Productivity" users need.
Comparisons between closed, propreitary, for profit, software and sales of prepackaged support releases are not a benchmark of quality or popularity.
Excellent point. How do we define "completed" in terms of software, though? Bug-free? Feature-complete? Both either moving targets or chimeras, depending on the project. Even time-tested tools like grep get updated.
You are not the customer.
I don't know who is getting all of this "Linux money", but it certainly isn't affecting the projects I care about.
As always, the money goes to the entrepeneurs. Forget about your favorite projects, if you want to see the money from linux, you need to create something of value to those who have money to spend. I do it by upgrading small and medium businesses to linux and becoming their permanent linux guy, you might do it by writing the killer linux program that small business wants.
One thing ought to be crystal clear at this point, however, even to the most challenged of us - and that is, there is a lot of money to be made in connection with this whole linux thing if you keep your skills sharp, and your eyes open.
Take note, mcses who consider themselves linux savvy because they managed to install redhat inside vmware on their windows pc 2 years ago and learned how to type "ps -ef" just aren't going to cut it. The demand out there is for the real deal, genuine linux talent, which can be earned by anyone willing to work hard and apply themselves.
Hey now, dont start falling for it. If you really think about it, this could be a big wedge set up between the lone developer and the big community. The big guys waving fat wallets and the little guys waving bug fixes. The self-healing nature of the OSS community probably wont let that happen, but it woulndt hurt to be wary because it seems like a weak link in the chain that holds it all together.
Sure we dont get paid, but we do love what we do. The whole satisfaction bit comes from the sense of accomplishement and contribution to a greater good.
Besides, there is a big demand for linux pro's out there and nobody can fill a gap in a big company doing serious migration like the lone developer.
Cheer up!
You are about to give someone a piece of your mind, something which you can ill afford...
timothy post
How about some DISCUSSION on Linux related stocks? It seems the only serious player is IBM who markets both SUSE and RedHat. SUSE DB2 IBM power 720, whipped the pants off SUN recently in TP benchmarks. There has been speculation that Sun will make a play for either RedHat or Novell. Even though market caps of Novell and Redhat are similar, I doubt Sun's 6billion cash will be enough to buy Novell and S.M. won't give up more than cash. If Redhat folks don't have some decent takeover protection built in, they'd likely be the target if rumors are true.
"- IBM OpenPower Systems Combine with Novell's SUSE(R) LINUX Enterprise Server and DB2 Universal Database to Set World Records on TPC-H Performance Benchmark", read more.
Face it, Novell and RedHat are the only serious players and Novell has been playing the game a lot longer...
Wonder what you guys who are messing around in the stock market think of Linux opportunities for investors at this time?
If you look at the kernel, pretty much all the core kernels are IBM/Redhat/Suse workers. GCC (which BSD users also use) have lots of redhat people in their lists. Lots of gnome hackers are paid to (project Utopia in Novell, Sun and Redhat, etc). Openoffice is not something that a couple of geeks can do in a weekend too. X.org has keith packards who did lots of work. KDE has several Suse/Mandrake/Lindows contributions. There're Freebsd hackers too, etc, etc etc..
OSs programmers probably won't see money, but instead companies hire people to work on their projects and they give you the code (lots of times those people are guys who were one of the main developers of the project and they got hired)
Which is fair. We give them our work, they got money, and they hire people to work on our projects and release the source of the modifications. We get better software, they get money.
Well, my point is, "is not true that they give absolutely nothing back". NTPL, good SMP support, latest improvements in the incoming GCC 4.0, Gnome usability, Gnome accesibility from the Sun guys, openoffice...there're LOTS of things that wouldn't have happened without those companies.
Anyone see his site? It seems like a scam to me. Why the hell create another brower when there is Firefox?
From the site
"Open Source Browser (OSB) aims to create a new, more dynamic, versatile and usable browser, to enable next generation information, inter-activity and commerce."
AND
"What if the browser software isn't made?
It will be! But if it isn't, you'll get your money back in full - that's guaranteed in the contract! As an individual who enjoys living life to the full, ask yourself what kind of unique experience can you buy anywhere else for just £100 nowadays?"