Desktop Linux (fwd)

Derek Martin invalid at pizzashack.org
Wed Feb 25 23:59:50 EST 2004


On Wed, Feb 25, 2004 at 11:00:17AM -0500, travis at scootz.net wrote:
> That is true, but there is also a problem with the Linux comunity in that
> they think everything should be free. 

There are certainly some people in the community who feel that way...
But I don't think that statement characterizes the whole community, or
even the majority of it.  You're talking about Stallman-esque zealots.

> I'm not saying a commercial software package can't work for Linux,
> but in the past it hasn't for many Linux game companies, 

The only company I know of who falls into that category is Loki, and
as I mentioned elsewhere, they failed because the managment gutted the
company, not because they weren't selling titles...

> as well as Office style packages. 

As maddog rightly points out, Linux is only just now taking hold of
the Business desktop, so of course, there is no market for Linux
office packages.  Besides which, since most business desktops sold as
such come with Microsoft office on them as if they were part of the
operating system, no one can make signifigant sales of office
software.  The only alternatives MUST be open-source, because no one
can make any money selling office suites anymore, thanks to
Microsoft's monopoly.

> People either refuse to buy them because they're not OSS, the
> Windows version runs better so they dual boot into windows for the
> added features/speed/support, or they start developing, or push for
> the development of an OSS version.

Well, as a counterexample, I bought Quake III arena for Linux.  Anyone
else buy a Linux game title?

Many people in the community /do/ feel that the source code should be
available to anyone who buys the software.  I'm in that camp.  But
most of us don't allow our philosophy to get in the way of getting
stuff done (or in this case, having fun).

> > I think that Linux will start to see that growth in 2004/2005, and I
> > think that the ISVs are already porting.
> 
> That's been said over and over. When I see it, then I'll be excitied. I
> myself still use Windows on the desktop at work, and OSX on the desktop at
> home. I use Linux for my servers but that's about it. And even there I'm
> thinking strongly of switching to FreeBSD.

So then, why are you here?  Just to try to bring the rest of us down?

A decade ago, it was said over and over that Linux would be a player
in the server room.  There were lots of nay-sayers about that, too.

Businesses are already starting to look seriously at moving to linux
on the desktop.  Once people in businesses start using it at work,
they'll want to have it at home, to.  That's how the IBM PC originally
became popular.  They'll want to have all the same software they use
at work.

-- 
Derek D. Martin
http://www.pizzashack.org/
GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02
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