But... Linux is “Free for the masses”
How can something free be involved with so much money?
/johnny
Linux itself is free, but as a powerful enabling technology, it acts as a catalyst to create a <b>lot</b> of wealth. The same is true of open source software in general. Apache is free, and it is the tech that runs the vast majority of websites on the internet.
...don’t think desktop use, think “operating system that drives a *product*”. Various video set top boxes, handhelds, routers, etc. all run Linux. The average Linux distribution has hundreds of licenses involved in the various packages that compose the system. On Android it’s much better (just uses the Linux kernel, not user space components). So if you can get a patent on something used in Linux (and/or Android) you’ll get product license revenue. Lawyers love this stuff.
Traditional Linux distributions are a nightmare when it comes to the licensing issues, very time consuming to resolve for use in products, especially automotive applications. Then there’s “who writes the device drivers?” and alike...it is still very expensive.