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Paid Developers Power the Linux Kernel

Posted by timothy on from the back-in-your-day-maybe dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Believe it or not, there is still this illusion that Linux and open-source software is written by counter-culture, C++ programming cultists living in their parents' basements or huddled together in Cambridge, Mass. group-houses. Now CNet reports that the Linux Foundation has found that 'over 70% of all [Linux] kernel development is demonstrably done by developers who are being paid for their work.' That Linux is primarily developed by paid developers should come as no surprise considering that Linux enables many companies — hardware, software, and online services — to be more competitive in their markets and to find new ways to generate revenue. 'What's important about how Linux and open-source software is created isn't the side issues of politics or how its developers are perceived; it's that its fundamental methodology produces better software,' writes Stephen Vaughan-Nichols."

4 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. The real question is... by mswhippingboy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is Windows written by a bunch of C# programming neophytes living in Steve Balmer's basement or huddled together in Delhi, India dormitories?

    --
    Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
  2. Re:C++ programming cultists? by bogolisk · · Score: 3, Funny

    make xconfig!!!!

    Then you probably can claim that Linux is written partly in bourne shell.

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    Bogus
  3. Re:C++ programming cultists? by SigmundFloyd · · Score: 5, Funny

    C++ programming cultists often write in C.

    Those are C++ programming occultists.

    --
    Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
  4. Re:C++ programming cultists? by EnsilZah · · Score: 3, Funny

    Actually, little known fact, if you run it through a C compiler you get the Linux kernel, if you run it through a C++ compiler you get SCO Unix.