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75% of Linux Code Now Written By Paid Developers

Posted by timothy on from the rest-kept-in-locked-cellar dept.

i_want_you_to_throw_ writes "During a presentation at Linux.conf.au 2010 in Wellington, LWN.net founder and kernel contributor Jonathan Corbet offered an analysis of the code contributed to the Linux kernel between December 24 2008 and January 10 2010. The Linux world makes much of its community roots, but when it comes to developing the kernel of the operating system, it's less a case of 'volunteers ahoy!' and more a case of 'where's my pay?'" It's not clear from the article why anyone should perceive a contradiction between having high ideals and getting paid to do something you enjoy.

1 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. 25% non-corporate? by highways · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As part of my job, I port Linux to our embedded boards and occasionally hack a driver or two.

    However, in order not to scream out to our competitors "Hey! We're making a new product!", the small amounts of code I send pack at patches (it's a pain in are done so though a nondescript gmail account.

    I suspect this practice is fairly widespread. Therefore, I'd say that 75% is an under-estimate.