XPost: comp.sys.mac.advocacy, alt.os.linux.mandrake, comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   XPost: alt.os.linux.redhat   
   From: NoWay@NoWhere.com   
      
   Brent wrote:   
      
   >> You seem to be under the impression that people are not *paid* to work on   
   >> Linux, especially the Linux GUI. You would, of course, be very wrong.   
   >>   
   >   
   > This brings up something I am curious about - I read an article about how   
   > Linus T said he made a living at it.   
   >   
   > I wanted to know how that happens?   
      
   It works like this: Linux users that aren't trying to get a free meal, buy   
   their distros or join clubs like Mandrake Club. Some even donate money to   
   Debian foundations, etc.. Corporate users buy their distros and support   
   licenses. That money, then gets spent by contributing to the foundations   
   like GNU, KDE, etc.. They also employ people, themselves, to contribute to   
   the effort. You can look up who's working on the latest kernel, and many of   
   those are employed by Novell, IBM, Red Hat, etc.. These are not just people   
   donating their time for free.   
      
   Now, this isn't necessarily out of the companies' good will. There is   
   nothing to stop them from just keeping the money and not contributing.   
   However, the product must advance, and many companies like Red Hat want to   
   include certain stuff in the kernel, in particular, that their customers   
   want or need. In order to accomplish this, they must contribute.   
      
   Grant you, many projects are simply donated efforts, much in the same way as   
   shareware for Windows (does anybody actually ever send in money to   
   shareware authors?). However, once they're started, many times popular and   
   important projects are picked up by someone else to maintain them and they   
   get the same treatment as KDE, GNU, or the kernel gets.   
      
      
   --   
      
   Registered Linux user #378193   
      
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