Linux Foundation spends only 2% of their revenue on Linux | Hacker News Reader

Linux Foundation spends only 2% of their revenue on Linux

lunduke.locals.com

37 pointssamspenc13 comments

The 2% is the amount spent specifically on the Linux _Kernel_. The top 3 categories are:

- Cloud, Containers, and Virtualization: 25%

- Networking and Edge: 13%

- AI, ML, Data & Analytics: 12%

Also worth noting: 72% of the revenue is spent on Open Source Software, and 20% is Spent on Open Source Specifications. Full report is here: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/hubfs/Reports/2023_lf_annual...

I don't know what projects fall into those categories, but it's reasonable that supporting Virtualization and Networking could support Linux adoption and stability, without directly contributing to the Linux kernel itself.

The CNCF (Kubernetes and ecosystem) is part of the Linux Foundation. The CN is massive and gets huge donations on its own.

Anyone know what the AI and ML they are doing spending 12%. The rest of the spending seems reasonable but don't understand what Linux has to do with AI.

https://lfaidata.foundation/projects/

In case anyone is wondering, here is the breakdown (from https://www.linuxfoundation.org/hubfs/Reports/2023_lf_annual...):

- Cloud, Containers, & Virtualization 25%

- Networking & Edge 13%

- AI, ML, Data & Analytics 12%

- Web & Application Development 11%

- Cross-Technology 8%

- Privacy & Security 4%

- IoT & Embedded 4%

- Blockchain 4%

- DevOps, CI/CD, & Site Reliability 3%

- Open Source & Compliance Best Practices 3%

- System Administration 2%

- Linux Kernel 2%

- System Engineering 2%

- Storage 2%

- Open Hardware 1%

- Safety-Critical Systems 1%

- Visual Effects 1%

The Linux Foundation sponsors 900 different open source projects, so Linux gets a much larger fraction of their revenue than most of their other projects.

What is their mission? Where is the money spent?

I could imagine their mission being to use Linux's success to support other FOSS projects, or projects that contribute to the Linux ecosystem (e.g., KDE, OpenOffice, etc.).

They seem to fund a lot of projects (hundreds): https://www.linuxfoundation.org/projects

Some very established like Automotive Linux or the Open Software Foundation, but also (too?) many cloud stuff of very low importance [1].

[1] https://project-emco.io/

I wonder how much control Linus has over the foundation?

I've just been curious how much of the foundation's direction ares his interests, and how much are the interests of the large corporate "sponsors"...

Linux is free tho innit

We knew this. The Linux Foundation barely spends money on Linux.

What I'd like to know is; what are they in the business of, if not Linux?

LF invests A LOT in the ecosystem around linux: containers, virtualisation, standards, etc.

This article is just the stupidest form of sensationalism.

Which is fairly typical for Lunduke

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