How does Linux Make Money?

Linux is an open-source operating system that was developed by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish software engineer and one of the richest businessmen in the world. The software has the modified name of the developer i.e., “Linux”. Debian, Gentoo, Kali, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Red Hat, Novell Suse are some primary distributions of Linux OS out of 600 Linux distros. 500 distros are still active in further development. By observing the statistics of Canonical, one of the biggest Linux Distro companies, its headquarters have been based in more than 30 countries across the world, employing over 600 developers and programmers. The revenue of Canonical company in 2018 was recorded as $110 million. By observing such widespread open-source software, it is obvious to wonder how Linux makes a huge amount of money if it is distributed for free around the globe? Today’s topic- How does Linux Make Money?

The company indeed distributes the software for free but it uses various strategies to earn money or get donations from its prime members. These ways are: –

1. Companies’ contribution

The other big companies like IBM, Intel, Google, etc come forward to donate for the development of open-source software like Linux. They do so because even their employees also need the technology and software for their work, hence instead of hiring human resources for their good they directly donate money to the open-source developers so that the software will be more updated and beneficial for the respective company. Well, this is known as Business. 

2. Providing Supported plugins

Most of the plugins of Linux are free of cost but if certain users need external support so that they can have more compatibility, interoperability, and application support to do official work efficiently. Paid Linux support helps minimize the complexities or in-house issues than the standard one.

Enterprises like Red Hat offer much support which the customers may need for their professional or private work. The organizations whose businesses are fully dependent on Linux, won’t hesitate to pay for the best support to enhance their productivity. In this way, Linux also gets benefited and has earned profits in some cases.

3. Premium Plans

There are some plans released by Linux Distros such as Ubuntu Advantage, Red Hat Enterprise Subscription, etc. The Linux Foundation also has membership plans for users/organizations: Silver, Gold, and Platinum Membership Plans. 

Silver membership plans provide a 5% discount for Linux Foundation Sponsorship events, a 20% registration discount to the organization’s employees, 10 coupon codes for any e-learning certification exams or bundles and it is worth $20,000 for 5000 and above several employees. 

Gold membership plans provide 50 user group subscriptions for e-learning, 50 certification exams annually, 1 sponsored webinar for the organization also includes the benefits of Silver plans and it is worth $100,000. 

Last but not the least, Platinum membership plans include all the schemes of Silver and Gold plans but additionally invites 6 members to the Linux Foundation Member Summit, 10 invites for in-house to LF Legal Summit, releases a press announcing the membership of the new organization so that the community gets aware of it. All of this is worth $500,000.

4. Code Customization

Developers working at Linux get paid for writing and customizing the code of the open-source which includes optimization of the code, removing the bugs, or updating of the server. Some open-source software companies establish support contracts with the organizations that need their technology or server to run their business. Red Hat and Canonical are the best examples of such a monetization strategy. 

The developer working at Linux also gets an edge of preference in other IT companies. The Linux server is complex as well as secure to use in a professional field. Hence, even Google, Microsoft, Amazon-like MNCs prefer those developers who have been working in Linux or have good experience in the related field.

5. Certifications and Training

As there is a huge demand for Linux developers in IT firms hence earning a certification in this specific field will enhance the skills of a programmer and its name on one’s resume would give a good impression on the interviewer. What could be much better than Red Hat, the biggest Linux Enterprise company, offering such certification courses and training to enthusiasts?

Currently, there are over 30 Linux certifications that are provided by Red Hat. They are classified into three categories: Certification by technology, Certification by Role, and Retired Certification. 

According to the Indeed estimation, the average salary of a certified Red Hat Engineer is $54,698 per year as a Junior Systems Administrator. For a Performer Engineer, the average salary rises to $144,582 and for a professional Engineer, the annual average salary is $97,000. Through this data, we can assume how significant the Red Hat Certifications are. 

6. Hardware

Almost all types of motherboards, video cards, RAM, and other hardware components of a computer are compatible with Linux or GNU. However, some devices guarantee the smooth processing of Linux or basically, is Linux/GNU friendly. Users who are serious about Linux servers tend to buy the models like System76, Zareason, or the Dell Developer Edition. There are some laptops in which Linux is pre-installed along with its professional support. Hence, through this way, the licensed supports of Linux get purchased by the hardware companies which in turn contributes to the revenue of Linux as well.

• Do you know?

1. Android OS is the gift from Linux! Although we cannot refer to it as Linux Distro it is based on the modified version of Linux Kernel.  This OS has been developed with numerous lines of Linux code by embedding the latest technology as well. It also uses open-source philosophy and continues to rule Android phones across the world.

2. In 2021, 1.93% of worldwide active computers ran on Linux, and in the same year, the net market share of Linux peaked at 2.35%. In 2019, 54.1% of the professional developers chose to work on Linux.  

3. The world’s top 500 supercomputers run on Linux OS. Even most of the popular servers run on Linux, i.e., 96.3% of the top one million servers in the world. India, Cuba, the USA and Russia are the countries that have a higher preference for Linux in comparison to the rest of the countries.

4. In 2017, over 15,637 developers working in 1,513 different companies contributed to Linux Kernel code since it was introduced. So far, 27.8 million lines of code have been submitted to the Linux Git Repository. How wholesome is to see a community supporting an open-source company on a massive level!

Some popular professional supports/plans of Linux

1. Ubuntu Advantage 

It is professional support released by Canonical company which includes additional features to the standard Ubuntu OS like secure boot, full disk encryption, FIPS certification, Kernel Livepatch, and High availability Kubernetes. It comes in two categories: Ubuntu Advantage for Application and Ubuntu Advantage for Infrastructure. According to the statistics, there are 14 million websites run on Ubuntu in the United States, making it the country with the most Ubuntu users.

2. Web Hosting

Linux web hosting is an online server that is mostly opted by organizations for better server customization properties and user options in the restricted Windows platform. It provides data plans, disk spaces, emails, and the essential app support at an economical price hence it is also beneficial for small businesses or start-ups companies. Although there are 5 Linux Web hosting plans; Basic, Starter, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, the three of them are mostly opted for by the commercial companies. Let’s see each of them in detail: –

Silver web hosting plan provides stable and secure 5000 MB bandwidth, 500MB webspace, 10 emails, unlimited databases, 99.9% uptime along with app support like MySQL, Apache, PHP, Python, etc, per month. This plan is good for small web businesses or blog sites.

Gold web hosting plan includes stable and secure 10240 MB bandwidth, 1 GB disk space, unlimited emails, unlimited databases, 99.9% uptime with the dedicated support of cPanel, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl, etc, per month!

Platinum web hosting plan includes a secure and stable server of 51200 MB bandwidth per month, 5 GB web space, unlimited emails, unlimited databases, 99.9% uptime with dedicated support, and app support of cPanel, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl, Python and so on! This plan is mostly opted by bigger organizations having a large number of employees.

3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Unlike other Linux Distros, Red Hat doesn’t follow the ideology of open-source software. It is a paid enterprise Linux operating system that supports cloud computing, optimized OS image, middleware, automation, containers, microservices, and system security. It comes with professional tools and support that enables developers to deal with critical workloads, operate and innovate the developments. It also manages the updating of the operating system or the migration of tools from other Linux utilities through run purpose-built-command line utilities.

The other features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux include:

1. Multiplatform Support- The Red Hat Linux Enterprise can be deployed in the public clouds and it is compatible with almost all types of desktop operating system devices. 
2. Subscription Exclusives- There are different subscription plans through which the users can have the advantage of production-ready code, software interoperability, and access to experts to help the organization with technology-related issues.
3. Security- The three-point approach of Red Hat consists of Mitigate, Secure, and Comply. This built-in security system of Red Hat Enterprise defends the user’s system from threats and other vulnerabilities, and also consistently controls the environment.

Growth of Linux

Open-source software developed by Linus Benedict Torvalds, as an experiment, now has an operational budget of $50 million where over 80,000 worldwide developers and programmers contribute to the OS for its improvement and advancement. In 2015, Red Hat cleared the benchmark of $2 billion and in February 2018, the company’s revenue increased to $3 billion. In 2019, the global Linux market size expanded to $3.89 billion and it has been aimed to reach $15.67 billion by 2027. 

Currently, in the mobile OS market share, the Android OS covers 75% of the total market share. Not to mention that 85% of smartphones use Linux technology such that 4 out of 5 smartphones run on Linux.

According to the statistics of LinkedIn, there are more than 113,000 vacancies for Linux experts including 7,000 vacancies for Linux Administrator jobs. People pursuing Linux as a career have a great scope in becoming an Application or Web programmer, Technician, DevOps Engineer, Software Engineer, Network Engineer, Linux Engineering Admin, TechOps Engineer, and so on! The salary of a Linux professional can be within the range of $60,000-$150,000 per year. The annual average salary of a Linux developer is estimated to be $90,000.

Conclusion

According to a report, due to the huge expansion and community support, the Linux Foundation has estimated the worth of Linux Kernel to be $1.4 billion and Fedora 9 to be $10 billion. Because it is an open-source secure OS, many commercial organizations, especially IT firms, prefer Linux as their default operating system to run their business. 

This is the reason why Linux Foundation is flourishing and advancing further in its field. Its professional support is paid but economical for the users. The Linux Foundation also has membership plans for users: Silver, Gold, and Platinum Membership Plans that users may choose according to their requirements. 

FAQS

Q. Why do developers prefer Linux for professional work?

A. The Linux comes with various distributions, supports and is secure to use. Most importantly it is open-source software, hence it can be customized according to the requirement of the developer.

Q. What is the advantage of Linux over Windows?

A. Linux is free and open-source whereas Windows versions need to be purchased. Linux is much more reliable and stable for program or system configuration than Windows which is why developers prefer it over Windows.

Q. What is a Linux Server?

A. It is a physical server that is built on the Linux Operating System. Linux server is an economical option that benefits the users with apps and services.