Greg Kroah-Hartman составил таблицу со списком фирм в которых работают разработчики Linux ядра (для 2.6.23 ядра отмечено 7075 изменений от 992 разработчиков):

(Unknown)                 1116 (15.8%)
(None)                     843 (11.9%)
Red Hat                    827 (11.7%)
IBM                        557 (7.9%)
Linux Foundation           528 (7.5%)
Novell                     449 (6.3%)
Intel                      242 (3.4%)
Oracle                     158 (2.2%)
MIPS Technologies          143 (2.0%)
Nokia                      133 (1.9%)
NetApp                     119 (1.7%)
NTT                         99 (1.4%)
Astaro                      97 (1.4%)
MontaVista                  90 (1.3%)
(Consultant)                86 (1.2%)
SGI                         84 (1.2%)
Qumranet                    74 (1.0%)
QLogic                      70 (1.0%)
(Academia)                  70 (1.0%)
SWsoft                      64 (0.9%)
Analog Devices              61 (0.9%)
HP                          60 (0.8%)
Sony                        59 (0.8%)
rPath                       56 (0.8%)
XenSource                   53 (0.7%)
CERN                        49 (0.7%)
CC Computer Consultants     48 (0.7%)
Freescale                   47 (0.7%)
Fujitsu                     47 (0.7%)
Tripeaks                    46 (0.7%)
linutronix                  44 (0.6%)
Snapgear                    39 (0.6%)
Simtec                      34 (0.5%)
Atmel                       28 (0.4%)
Google                      28 (0.4%)
Cisco                       27 (0.4%)
Toshiba                     25 (0.4%)
Broadcom                    25 (0.4%)
SteelEye                    24 (0.3%)
Renesas Technology          23 (0.3%)
Mellanox                    21 (0.3%)
LSI Logic                   17 (0.2%)
Adaptec                     16 (0.2%)
Wipro                       15 (0.2%)
Marvell                     14 (0.2%)
Miracle Linux               14 (0.2%)
Solid Boot Ltd.             14 (0.2%)
AMD                         12 (0.2%)
Hitachi                     11 (0.2%)
ARM                         11 (0.2%)
Canonical                   10 (0.1%)
XIV Information Systems      9 (0.1%)
OpenedHand                   9 (0.1%)
Open Grid Computing          9 (0.1%)
Veritas                      8 (0.1%)
Secretlab                    7 (0.1%)
Neterion                     7 (0.1%)
Katalix Systems              7 (0.1%)
SANPeople                    7 (0.1%)
Digi International           7 (0.1%)
Znyx Networks                6 (0.1%)
Wind River                   6 (0.1%)
NEC                          6 (0.1%)
Wolfson Microelectronics     6 (0.1%)
SUNY Computer Science        6 (0.1%)
NetXen                       6 (0.1%)
NVidia                       6 (0.1%)
Myricom                      6 (0.1%)
Chelsio                      5 (0.1%)
Realtek                      5 (0.1%)
IPUnity-Glenayre             5 (0.1%)
Linux Networx                5 (0.1%)
Barco                        4 (0.1%)
SIOS Technology              4 (0.1%)
MIPS                         4 (0.1%)
University of Aberdeen       4 (0.1%)
PiKRON s.r.o                 4 (0.1%)
Pardus                       4 (0.1%)
Crash Barrier                4 (0.1%)
Tresys                       4 (0.1%)
ClusterFS                    4 (0.1%)
Macq Electronique            3 (0.0%)
OLPC                         3 (0.0%)
CompuLab                     3 (0.0%)
DENX Software Engineering    3 (0.0%)
Embedded Alley Solutions     3 (0.0%)
Twin Sun                     3 (0.0%)
Transmode Systems            3 (0.0%)
Cosmosbay~Vectis             3 (0.0%)
Pengutronix                  2 (0.0%)
Sierra Wireless              2 (0.0%)
Real-Time Remedies           2 (0.0%)
Bull                         2 (0.0%)
ScaleMP Inc.                 2 (0.0%)
Samsung                      2 (0.0%)
MicroGate Systems            2 (0.0%)
Atomide                      2 (0.0%)
US National Security Agency    2 (0.0%)
VMWare                       2 (0.0%)
Verismo                      2 (0.0%)
Akamai Technologies          2 (0.0%)
CE Linux Forum               2 (0.0%)
Siemens                      1 (0.0%)
ONELAN                       1 (0.0%)
Xorcom                       1 (0.0%)
EXOSEC                       1 (0.0%)
LWN.net                      1 (0.0%)
Texas Instruments            1 (0.0%)
Promise Technology           1 (0.0%)
VA Linux Systems Japan       1 (0.0%)
University of Sevilla        1 (0.0%)
Motorola                     1 (0.0%)
HES-SO Valais Wallis         1 (0.0%)
SYSGO                        1 (0.0%)
Via                          1 (0.0%)
Telecom-Service              1 (0.0%)
Hauppauge                    1 (0.0%)
DSA                          1 (0.0%)
Vivecode                     1 (0.0%)
Mandriva                     1 (0.0%)
ATRON electronic             1 (0.0%)
Cytronics & Melware          1 (0.0%)
M&N Solutions                1 (0.0%)
Rockwell                     1 (0.0%)
8D Technologies              1 (0.0%)
University of Cambridge      1 (0.0%)

Данные прошлого обзора вклада компаний в разработку Linux ядра (по числу патчей):

• Red Hat	744 (12.0%)
  IBM	507 (8.2%)
  Novell	421 (6.8%)
  Intel	184 (3.0%)
  Oracle	146 (2.4%)
  Renesas Technology	134 (2.2%)
  MIPS Technologies	119 (1.9%)
  NetApp	116 (1.9%)
  Google	99 (1.6%)
  NTT	98 (1.6%)
  Sony	93 (1.5%)
  Astaro	93 (1.5%)
  Linux Foundation	82 (1.3%)
  MontaVista	81 (1.3%)
  SGI	77 (1.2%)
  Qumranet	72 (1.2%)
  QLogic	62 (1.0%)

Также опубликован список небольших, но полезных идей по улучшению Linux ядра, которые могли бы выполнить студенты, жаждущие потратить свое время с пользой.