75% of Linux Code Now Written By Paid Developers 368
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.
Re:So much for "free software", eh? (Score:2, Funny)
Linux just isn't ready for the desktop yet. It may be ready for the web servers that you nerds use to distribute your TRON fanzines and personal Dungeons and Dragons web-sights across the world wide web, but the average computer user isn't going to spend months learning how to use a CLI and then hours compiling packages so that they can get a workable graphic interface to check their mail with, especially not when they already have a Windows machine that does its job perfectly well and is backed by a major corporation, as opposed to Linux which is only supported by a few unemployed nerds living in their mother's basement somewhere. The last thing I want is a level 5 dwarf (haha) providing me my OS.
Re:I'll be the first to say... (Score:5, Funny)
Lines of code written for money are evil and execute more slowly.
Re:What about Google? (Score:2, Funny)
So why isn't Google more involved in kernel development? I assume they use Linux extensively and hence make billions from using it. Do no evil, do no good?
Nope. They use Microsoft and IE6.
Re:Missing critical information... (Score:2, Funny)
How much does a line ... cost?
First one's free?
Re:Good. Glad to Hear It. (Score:5, Funny)
So, exactly how much are you paying for the Linux you rely on for your business?
$699. I thought everyone paid this.
Re:Because It Makes A Mockery Of Everything Held H (Score:5, Funny)
6/10. Moderately good troll, but don't try to be all things to all people.
You can make a good case pointing out that this has happened millions of times before, and you can make a good case that cell phones are making a laughingstock of OSS, but trying both makes you seem confusing.
If you want an AC's advice, focus on the cell phone angle. Keep saying that Android & OS X are based on FOSS but go beyond their base in ways that the open source community never could. Try to blur the line between hardware and software (Apple, Apple, Nexus One, Apple!) and say that because you can't have a computer without hardware, which is propietary, there is no such thing as a good open source computer.
And then blur it all into websites. Google is a company and a lot of FOSS people use Google, therefore they are hypocrites and can't handle living in the world they push on everyone else. Then focus back on cell phones. Go for the 'the average user doesn't care about FOSS' angle - they hate that - and demand a 100% free piece of hardware to run a 100% free OS. If you somehow get a bite by someone who interprets 'free' as 'unlocked' then talk about how they paid five times the price and switch your argument to support - again, cite Google as proprietary.
I hope to hear from you again! Good luck!
Re:Missing critical information... (Score:3, Funny)
And yet, you outline a system that values of coder in a given area of expertise based on the number of lines of code produced.
LOC is never going to tell you the whole story, but in a system with some decent code review it will give you at least a pointer.
Re:I'll be the first to say... (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, those would be the bands which only visit our country once every five years?
Yes, I know I should be supporting local bands who nobody has ever heard of who play genres like 'mathgazer shoerock', but my hipster card got revoked.
Re:Missing critical information... (Score:3, Funny)
Only if what your doing is of little to no value. The Windows tax is trivial compared to what I use my Windows machines for. The genuine advantage thing used to bother me, but then I grew up and just realized that I got so much use out of the OS that the price wasn't really that bad. I'd spend more in 2 days getting drunk off my ass on the weekend when I lived in Orlando than the cost of Windows XP Pro, which I've used for everyday for the past 9 years, on most days for more than 8 hours a day.
The genuine advantage thing has only been a problem for me once, on a work PC, where the previous guy had used a stolen volume license ISO to make an image. The volume license was revoked, GA bitched about it, and I had to enter the key on the side of the machine and give MS a call. The only people this really bothers are pirates (which of course it doesn't bother much) and others who did something they shouldn't. Its really not that big of a deal and MS isn't the first to do it, its just a battle cry for those that don't have a real battle cry.
Free (as in no $$$) doesn't make me any less pissed off when it breaks. Being free doesn't do me any good when the time that it breaks is near a deadline that I'm struggling to meet in the first place, or when it breaks and I have to go to the data center with 3 hours of sleep after a long day. I am JUST as pissed off at the 'Free' software and OS as I am at the one I pay for.
You may not care, but my time is worth money and when you realize the cost of the Windows tax counts for a few hours of my time if I'm buying a new copy of Win7 ultimate, no upgrade ... well, I just have more important things to do than whine about the tax. Especially considering the lack of support (software/hardware) for the free software.
I still use the free software as my BSD web servers have uptimes going on 3 years now and I'd never get that out of Windows, but it has nothing to do with the cost of the software and everything to do with how much time I waste dealing with 'issues' with that platform.