Guest post by The Linux Foundation is set to release a report on Wednesday estimating that the Linux ecosystem is now worth $25 billion. Despite the large number, Internetnews seems to think that the number is low compared to IDG’s predicted estimate of $49 billion by year 2011. We just have to wait and see, for more details.
… c’mon, all the beer you can drink…
I was thinking that 25 billion is about 3 stealth fighters. I am remembering the 700 billion dollar U.S. bailout to keep our banking system afloat and 25 seems like small potatoes. I am grateful that I haven’t paid a single cent for my fine Linux system.
I think it would also be interesting to see some statistics based on what people would like to pay for their Linux OS.
If I could have bought my last computer with a ‘Linux-tax’ (or ‘Canonical-tax’ in my case) instead of a ‘Microsoft-Windows-tax’, even if they where the same price, I would have.
That’s right. IMO this value should only take into account paid subscriptions. Most of those who use free distros would certainly not be willing to pay to use Linux
I wonder how much of that goes into the developers pockets?
I would and I did (used to pay for SUSE Pro, Mandrake, Libranet).
Now not any longer, maybe because my very favourite is Debian, free by definition. But if Libranet were still available I’d certainly pay for it.
I think it would also be interesting to see some statistics based on what people would like to pay for their Linux OS.
I would be willing to pay about 100 USD. The one caveat would be the requirement of the OS to run native Windows apps 100% transparently. This is what makes me keep XP around. My system is to puny for virtualization and Wine doesn’t run the programs I need correctly.
Edited 2008-10-21 22:40 UTC
It would be even better if they would start porting these apps people need to linux.
That 25 billion would grow even more.
It would be even better if they would start porting these apps people need to linux.
I definitely agree with you, but in reality I know that software companies are after decent marketshare. I doubt I will ever see Quicken’s Turbotax or Quickbooks available in a native GTK application. On the bright side, though, I have investigated their web based applications and it looks like I might be able to do my small business taxes using the Turbo Tax web application in Firefox. More well written web applications could be a real boost to Linux users. Just as long as they don’t have Flash plugin requirements. Adobe Flash plugin 10 for Linux not so good still.
Edited 2008-10-21 23:19 UTC
I don’t think I could put a price tag on it. You won’t find me running about with “diarrhea of the mouth” regarding the benefits of Linux. And yet I cannot imagine myself being without it. Your mileage may vary. But I very much love Linux.