Linux turns 25, is bigger and more professional than ever (Just 7.7% of devs are unpaid - because Linux development is worth paying for)

The Linux operating system kernel is 25 years old this month. It was August 25, 1991 when Linus Torvalds posted his famous message announcing the project, claiming that Linux was "just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu." But now, Linux is far bigger and more professional than Torvalds could have imagined. Linux powers huge portions of the Internet's infrastructure, corporate data centers, websites, stock exchanges, the world's most widely used smartphone operating system, and nearly all of the world's fastest supercomputers. The successes easily outweigh Linux's failure to unseat Microsoft and Apple on PCs, but Linux has still managed to get on tens of millions of desktops and laptops and Linux software even runs on Windows. As its importance has grown, development of Linux has steadily shifted from unpaid volunteers to professional developers. The 25th anniversary version of the Linux Kernel Development Report, released by the Linux Foundation today, notes that "the volume of contributions from unpaid developers has been in slow decline for many years. It was 14.6 percent in the 2012 version of this paper, 13.6 percent in 2013, and 11.8 percent in 2014; over the period covered by this report, it has fallen to 7.7 percent. There are many possible reasons for this decline, but, arguably, the most plausible of those is quite simple: Kernel developers are in short supply, so anybody who demonstrates an ability to get code into the mainline tends not to have trouble finding job offers." Torvalds himself oversees development of the kernel as an employee of the nonprofit Linux Foundation, which is funded by contributions from corporations and individuals. Linux is important enough to the bottom line of major technology companies that they don't mind employees contributing to the kernel on their employers' dime. Intel and Red Hat led the way in corporate contributions to the kernel from December 2014 to July 2016:

More at Ars...

--jeremy

Happy birthday Linux! Hope you continue to grow in success! I tip my Redhat to you!

I'm usually a lurker who enjoys the threads and never posts much. But this is an important occasion.

Several years ago, I retired to Costa Rica from Dallas and joined the PCclub of CR. Our club, like most everywhere, is dominated by Windows cleaners and big Mac fanciers. But we have a hardy bunch of Linux lovers as well, with me among them. This forum has been really helpful and I'm glad to hear that most Linux coders are now paid professionals but there is still room for those who do it just for fun.

Our website has a Web News section on the public side and most of the Linux news links there come from LinuxQuestions.org. So, in addition to "Happy birthday, Linux", I want to say, "Thank you LinuxQuestions" for the useful tips it has been my pleasure as webmaster to pass on to our members.

Keep up the good work! And if you ever make it down to Costa Rica, I'd be happy to show you around.

Dick Sandlin
d_sandlin@email.com

Happy Birthday Linux...here's your cake, enjoy!

https://twitter.com/Mike_Linux_NL/st...508288/photo/1