Fedora 9 Would Cost $10.8B To Build From Scratch

ruphus13 writes "The Linux Foundation's recently released report claims, '... it would take approximately $10.8 billion to build the Linux community distribution Fedora 9 in today's dollars with today's software development costs.' The article states why this might actually understate the value of the distros, though, since it doesn't include the power of the brand and the goodwill value. 'There were several approaches that the Linux Foundation employed to reach the $10.8 billion dollar figure, including calculating the number of lines of code in Fedora 9 (204,500,946), and using an average programmer's salary of $75,662.08 — as determined by the US Department of Labor — to measure development costs ... On the balance sheets of Coca Cola and many other huge corporations, you find goodwill listed as a major asset.'"

Comments

Oh yeah? Guess what Microsoft can do!

[jollyreaper]

They can spend twice that much money and only deliver a tenth of the functionality! That's a win! I think.

Re:Average salary?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's time for a new career.

Re:Uh, Goofy Accounting

[Ngarrang]

You don't just make up a number and add it onto your balance sheet.

And THAT is why I failed my economics class. My teacher never did appreciate my 'creativity'. I would simply explain that I wanted to be a CEO someday.

Erm!

[cosmocain]

[...]to build the Linux community distribution Fedora 9 in today's dollars[...]

I'd rather build it in C with a modest compiler.

Re:Erm!

[ColdWetDog]

Yes but it would be much much larger given the size of today's dollar...

And it would crash, hard, every couple of years and you would need the federal government to reboot it. Not a good idea. Go with the C compliler.

Wow, goodwill is an asset?

[maillemaker]

I wonder if I can spend some of my karma down at Taco Bell for a burrito?

Re:Wow, goodwill is an asset?

[Sponge Bath]

No, but when you die you will be reborn at Taco Bell *as* a burrito.
That's karma!

How much money did MS spend on Vista?

[seeker_1us]

According to an Inquirer article, the estimates were about $10 billion.

I would think it would cost more than $10.8 billion to develop FC9 from scratch then...since it's a better OS.

Re:Average salary?

[jagilbertvt]

Perhaps you should consider working on something other than an open source project :)

Re:Only $427.33 on eLance

[ePlus]

Well C is the most spoken language in Romania. ;)

Re:Uh, Goofy Accounting

[besalope]

You don't just make up a number and add it onto your balance sheet.

And THAT is why I failed my economics class. My teacher never did appreciate my 'creativity'. I would simply explain that I wanted to be a CEO someday.

Economics does not use Balance Sheets, that would be your Accounting course. Perhaps that is why you failed?

Re:I'd rather see...

[Anonymous Coward]

PWNED!

Re:Imagine...

[lattyware]

Actually, I tried this last week, turns out he turned into a communist and dropped the religion thing. So, you, sir, are incorrect.

Re:Uh, Goofy Accounting

[dontmakemethink]

You don't just make up a number and add it onto your balance sheet.

And THAT is why I failed my economics class. My teacher never did appreciate my 'creativity'. I would simply explain that I wanted to be a CEO someday.

Economics does not use Balance Sheets, that would be your Accounting course. Perhaps that is why you failed?

His teacher failed him because his improper application of the wrong tools in the wrong field could lead him to politics.

Re:Average salary?

[Risen888]

In America, homeownership, like college, is a capitalist trap designed to force you into lifelong slavery. Fuck the house, own your life.