Care to share your stats?

Component hardware companies typically don't sell software. Getting their new code into the kernel means *poof* they now have a bazillion systems that can use their hardware. It isn't to Intels advantage to keep their own git repository somewhere. If me, as an end user of some intel chipset cant get it to work on my software far, far removed from Intels repo, maybe next time, I won't get a mobo with Intel Inside.

Appliance/embedded hardware companies, or OS companies, are a different story. Doing the globally "right thing": "upstream first" means they are slower to deliver their actual product, and (it should be noted) their actual product has less distinction then do its competitors. Sure, the patch may very well be GPL'd, but their competitors patch which they just threw over the wall is harder for someone to use then something upstream. In a sense, it may as well be a secret.

More simply: If the end user is likely to interact directly with a single vendor, then that vendor can put their patches wherever they want, and not trying the gauntlet of the LKML is cheaper. If the end user is far removed from the provider, the provider should try to get that patch wide and far, which means in the upstream kernel.

So companies that do the globally "right thing" are rewarded by being slower, and less distinct, then those not.

Moving on:

I think part of the lesson here is that "be sure that the code can get into the mainline kernel first" is impossible to test. Until you actually submit code to the LKML, you have no idea the kinds of helpful, productive, petty, or absurd comments you will get in response. No one can predict with any level of accuracy if something will be accepted until it actually shows up in a release.