Linux supporters

Who makes and supports Linux?

The people who work on and maintain Linux come from several categories.

1. independent enthusiast programmers (hackers) were the first to work on Linux just because they wanted to use it on their home computers, including Linux's founder, Linus Torvalds
2. expert, guru programmers from MIT and the hacker free software community there laid most of the foundation of Linux. This core of independent programmers is still the "kernel" (no pun intended) of Linux
3. professionals who maintain servers for a living submit patches to Linux because it is the quickest and easiest way to keep their servers running (they may care very little about Linux, or even despised it)
4. Linux companies, many Linux companies, totalling billions of dollars of worth
5. volunteer programmers who contribute for many different reasons, such as political beliefs of communal sharing
6. large corporations including Google, Dell, IBM, Facebook, Twitter, Oracle, HP and Samsung

Any two of these groups would probably be enough to keep Linux going, maybe even any one group.

External links

• IBM 100th anniversary page talking about their Linux support
• Linux Foundation Members (286 companies!)