Linux kernel compatability

[Warner Losh]

On 01/05/2011 21:00, Scott Long wrote:
> I'm sorry, this simply hasn't been true in my experience.  I've worked with companies that have decided to support FreeBSD, and I've worked with companies that have decided not to support FreeBSD.  Emulation has never been used as an excuse to not support FreeBSD.  It's purely a cost/benefit decision.

Yes.  I've been on the inside of a few of them, even seeing some 
business case figures.  These usually say that for the segment that 
company X is going after for product Y can sell 1000 units to customer W 
and another Z000 to the market as it emerges over the next 2 years.   
1000 units gets them $200k profit, development costs are $100k for 
developer time, test time, etc.  Z is large, so potential revenue form 
this project is in the millions, with a guaranteed small initial 
profit.  Decision: go.

There's been other times where similar analysis has resulted in a 'no 
go' decision, since other opportunities are bigger.

Other factors are in the noise until after the decision to go/nogo has 
been made.

Warner

P.S.  The numbers above are hypothetical, but representative of the 
kinds of things that people look at in making a decision to support an 
OS natively.