The future of Linux: what it means for Wikipedia (apc) [LWN.net]

The future of Linux: what it means for Wikipedia (apc)

Posted Jan 31, 2008 19:29 UTC (Thu) by jordanb (subscriber, #45668)
Parent article: The future of Linux: what it means for Wikipedia (apc)

> While the majority of kernel contributors (17%) aren't paid by an 
> obvious employer, a large chunk are.

Interesting definition of "majority."

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The future of Linux: what it means for Wikipedia (apc)

Posted Jan 31, 2008 21:26 UTC (Thu) by tetromino (subscriber, #33846) [Link]

I suspect the word our editor was looking for is "plurality".

s/majority/minority/

Posted Jan 31, 2008 21:38 UTC (Thu) by stevenj (subscriber, #421) [Link]

Actually, it's not even a plurality. By the article's own numbers, at least 33% of kernel developers are paid to work on the kernel by their employers (from Red Hat to IBM to Google).

I think they must have meant to write "minority" instead of "majority," and it was just an editing screwup. "Minority" makes more sense in the context of the article too, because it is arguing that the kernel is not "the product of volunteers" any more.

s/majority/minority/

Posted Feb 1, 2008 8:13 UTC (Fri) by alexl (subscriber, #19068) [Link]

I assumed he meant that its the largest group, larger than from any one particular company.