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75% of Linux Code Written by Paid Developers

39 points by butterfi 17y ago

snissn 17y ago
I for one was completely mislead by this headline.. but the results are actually pretty cool
angusgr 17y ago
I don't really see how this is surprising. In fact, the fact that non-paid contributions to the kernel is as high as 25% surprises me. A criticism of Linux is that the kernel is largely developed on behalf of companies who care about certain use-cases over others. This interview is quite insightful. It's with Con Kalivas, about why he quit as a kernel developer after trying to improve desktop performance: http://apcmag.com/interview_with_con_kolivas_part_1_computing_is_boring.htm http://apcmag.com/interview_with_con_kolivas_part_1_computin... "The developers were all developing for something that wasn't the desktop. They had all been employed by big name manufacturers who couldn't care less about the desktop (and still don't) but want their last 1% on their database benchmark or throughput benchmark or whatever."
- houseabsolute 17y ago
  It's surprising that anyone thinks it could be different. The people paying for Windows and Mac are the consumer. They benefit because Microsoft an Apple get more money if they serve their customers better. If a bunch of companies that need database or server performance are the main ones behind Linux, where could you possibly expect the improvements to come except in the server workloads?
gte910h 17y ago
The fact that very little of the kernel isn't A> Drivers or B> Ports to new systems Makes this not surprising in the slightest --An ex-"paid kernel developer"
paulkirk 17y ago
it sounds like unpaid developers write some really concise code.
nphase 17y ago
"Lines of code written for money are evil and execute more slowly."
- jurjenh 17y ago
  Even were this true, you'll find they will work infinitely better than those lines not written by benevolent contributors working for free. This is where the rubber meets the road... getting paid is a surprisingly effective motivator for a lot of people. And if the task is somewhat critical for your work, you'd probably give it a good shot to make it work effectively as opposed to just working.
romland 17y ago
I bet it's more than 75%. I bet there are plenty of companies that send in patches from anonymous email accounts so as to not give away to their competitors what they are currently working on.
- sophacles 17y ago
  A further instance of the type of behaviour you discuss: There has been more than a few times where there "just happened to be a new OSS project" or "new patch to $FOO" covering the use cases my bosses were talking about. Without such behaviour by me and mine, we would find ourselves re-implementing perfectly good OSS projects for one little change all the time. Also, academics are frequently "paid to play" in essence, so the contributions from them should prolly count.
ruang 17y ago
Why does everyone complain so much about developers getting paid? Aren't most of the people here developers?
- jemka 17y ago
  Aren't most of the people here getting paid?
- aw3c2 17y ago
  I think it is great that people are paid to work on Linux.
- nailer 17y ago
  Are you sure we're complaining? I think most people here think this is a good thing...
- sophacles 17y ago
  I think it is more of a response to "linux is a hobbyist OS". If 75% of the people who get paid to work on it are doing so for money, that would refute certain toy-based arguments.
deleted 17y ago
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39 points by butterfi 17y ago

I for one was completely mislead by this headline.. but the results are actually pretty cool

I don't really see how this is surprising. In fact, the fact that non-paid contributions to the kernel is as high as 25% surprises me. A criticism of Linux is that the kernel is largely developed on behalf of companies who care about certain use-cases over others. This interview is quite insightful. It's with Con Kalivas, about why he quit as a kernel developer after trying to improve desktop performance: http://apcmag.com/interview_with_con_kolivas_part_1_computing_is_boring.htm http://apcmag.com/interview_with_con_kolivas_part_1_computin... "The developers were all developing for something that wasn't the desktop. They had all been employed by big name manufacturers who couldn't care less about the desktop (and still don't) but want their last 1% on their database benchmark or throughput benchmark or whatever."

houseabsolute 17y ago
It's surprising that anyone thinks it could be different. The people paying for Windows and Mac are the consumer. They benefit because Microsoft an Apple get more money if they serve their customers better. If a bunch of companies that need database or server performance are the main ones behind Linux, where could you possibly expect the improvements to come except in the server workloads?

gte910h 17y ago

The fact that very little of the kernel isn't A> Drivers or B> Ports to new systems Makes this not surprising in the slightest --An ex-"paid kernel developer"

paulkirk 17y ago

it sounds like unpaid developers write some really concise code.

nphase 17y ago

"Lines of code written for money are evil and execute more slowly."

jurjenh 17y ago
Even were this true, you'll find they will work infinitely better than those lines not written by benevolent contributors working for free. This is where the rubber meets the road... getting paid is a surprisingly effective motivator for a lot of people. And if the task is somewhat critical for your work, you'd probably give it a good shot to make it work effectively as opposed to just working.

romland 17y ago

I bet it's more than 75%. I bet there are plenty of companies that send in patches from anonymous email accounts so as to not give away to their competitors what they are currently working on.

sophacles 17y ago
A further instance of the type of behaviour you discuss: There has been more than a few times where there "just happened to be a new OSS project" or "new patch to $FOO" covering the use cases my bosses were talking about. Without such behaviour by me and mine, we would find ourselves re-implementing perfectly good OSS projects for one little change all the time. Also, academics are frequently "paid to play" in essence, so the contributions from them should prolly count.

ruang 17y ago

Why does everyone complain so much about developers getting paid? Aren't most of the people here developers?

jemka 17y ago
Aren't most of the people here getting paid?
aw3c2 17y ago
I think it is great that people are paid to work on Linux.
nailer 17y ago
Are you sure we're complaining? I think most people here think this is a good thing...
sophacles 17y ago
I think it is more of a response to "linux is a hobbyist OS". If 75% of the people who get paid to work on it are doing so for money, that would refute certain toy-based arguments.

deleted 17y ago

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