fedora-os.org

Currently the “Linux Kernel Development” document is commented around the web.
According to it, these points are in favour:

- The individual development comunity has been doubled in the last three years
- The numbers show a steady increase in the number of developers contributing to each kernel release over a period of several years
- The top 30 developers have been contributed just over 20% of the total, whereof the top 10 have been contributed 9%
- An increasing number of companies are working toward the improvement of the kernel (many of them never partecipate in the development) employing kernel developers.
- The top 10 companies contributors including the group “unknown” and “none” (the corporate affiliation was obtained throught the company email addresses, sponsorship information, simply asking the developers; all others are grouped under “unknown” or “none”) make up over 60% of the total contributions to the kernel
- There is a “long tail” of over 700 companies that have made significant changes.

While in disfavour:

- Only 1/3 approximately of the developers involved contribute exactly one patch
- There is an unexpected entry that contributes with 1% of total and 688 number of changes: Microsoft. Maybe Microsoft is contributing to the kernel development to defend own affairs; really is Goliath helping David ?

Personal comment

Over again a news about Linux world like a White Paper by the Linux Foundation has been degraded by a pro-Canonical discussion. Over again Mark Shuttleworth confirm (more o less unconsciously) the ambiguity of Ubuntu Project as if the “user experience” and the “comunity concept” are conflicting, as if “leading Linux kernel efforts among the vendors that ship devices with Ubuntu” means “contribute to the improvement of Linux kernel”.