4 ms·

Sure, but that time was nearly 30 years ago. Linux has been "mainstream" since at least August 1999.

• ctde 1y ago
  people like me contributed their freetime afterwards still
  • BeetleB 1y ago
    People still do. I think the point he's making is that the bulk of the kernel's source coming from people paid to do it has been a thing for probably over 20 years.
    • nomel 1y ago
      Any data for this?
      • betaby 1y ago
        Yes, here for example https://lwn.net/Articles/915435/ https://lwn.net/Articles/915435/
        • nomel 1y ago
          Appreciate it! I tried, but couldn't come up with the right search term. So, total being between around 60%!
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• arp242 1y ago
  Why August 1999? Seems quite specific?
  • alistairSH 1y ago
    RedHat's IPO. Seemed like as good a date as any to anchor "when Linux went mainstream". I'm sure there are other dates that are arguably at least as good here.
    • arp242 1y ago
      Ah right, that roughly tracks. Just wasn't obvious where "August 1999" came from. Kind of amazing timeline in hindsight by the way; Linux was "only" 8 years old at that point.