How and why to work with the Linux kernel community
Linux driver development model


Without proper support from HW vendor, Most hardware drivers are developed by people inside that community
sadly most of them have no relation to the HW manufacturer
even more sadly, many of them have to work without or with insufficient documentation (reverse engineering)

Good HW vendors understand this and support Linux properly!

Linux is a big market by now
Servers
Embedded devices (est. > 40% of all wifi/dsl router + NAS appliances)
Increasingly popular on the Desktop
Recently: Netbooks