

75% of Linux Code Written by Paid Developers - butterfi
http://www.osnews.com/story/22786/75_of_Linux_Code_Written_by_Paid_Developers

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angusgr
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_computin...](http://apcmag.com/interview_with_con_kolivas_part_1_computing_is_boring.htm)

"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
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?

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gte910h
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"

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romland
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.

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sophacles
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.

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

~~~
nailer
Are you sure we're complaining? I think most people here think this is a good
thing...

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paulkirk
it sounds like unpaid developers write some really concise code.

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

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

~~~
jurjenh
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.

