Would you pay for commercial software for Linux?

[Bob Cober]

As for software, I've bought alot of Loki games for Linux and some RedHat
distros.

I believe commercial Linux ventures have difficulty surviving because there
still isn't enough mainstream volume.

In regards to a lost battle, I believe the battle is very far from lost.  It
is just a long uphill battle.  In fact, it appears to me that MS continues
to develop a worse an worse public image.

In the long run, the Open-Source development model will prevail.  Linux will
still be here in 2020....and the games will be even better...;-)



----- Original Message -----
From: Lynn David Newton <lynn.newton@home.com>
To: <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
Cc: <plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2001 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: Would you pay for commercial software for Linux?


>
>   Jiva> To settle a dispute with someone: Would you pay
>   Jiva> for commercial software for Linux?
>
> Yes.
>
>   Jiva> Ie: Say, games,
>
> No.
>
>   Jiva> productivity applications, etc?
>
> Depends.
>
>   Jiva> If so, why does it seem that most linux
>   Jiva> commercial software ventures fail?
>
> Could be because it's not the *right* software. There
> are certain commercial packages that run *only* on
> Windows and Mac systems that simply don't exist on
> Linux. In the case of MS software, this is intentional,
> not an oversight.
>
> Just to cite one example -- I for one would love to
> have the Macromedia Web development packages like
> Dreamweaver.
>
> I'd also love to set up a complete music studio on my
> Linux machine. I'm a former professional musician, and
> would love to have a Linux-based 8-track recording
> studio with complete functionality. Never mind that I
> also own a Mac clone and could set it up there, but
> have never gotten around to it. My Linux box is newer,
> faster, has better hardware, and is my system of
> choice.
>
> Never mind that there are so-called clones or
> functional equivalents of big name packages available.
> Those are not what I want. What I want is Dreamweaver,
> period. (And a variety of other commercial packages.) I
> for one would never buy a "clone" substitute. (I tried
> a couple of so-called substitute packages, and they
> sucked. StarOffice sucks, too. So does MS Office, but
> sometimes when you need it, you need *that*, so I have
> it on my Mac.)
>
> Furthermore, there is very little chance that most of
> the "good" applications will ever be available on
> Linux.
>
> I say this partly because I'm a 58-year-old laid-off
> casualty of the high-tech crash desperate for a job,
> and familiarity with a lot of things that I don't know
> about because I've never used them is looked for in job
> postings. I never bothered to learn them, because I
> never needed to know them in my previous job with
> Motorola Computer Group, where I used only Linux.
>
> I say it even though I've been exclusively a Unix guy
> (Linux the last three years or so) since 1983, and have
> *never* used a Microsoft system as my base of
> operations.
>
> And I say this even though whenever I whack at text, in
> any sense of the word, I have used nothing but versions
> of Emacs since 1987 (XEmacs since it first started),
> and do Web development directly in HTML or Perl CGI
> whenever I possibly can. (And LaTeX for text
> preparation. Etc.)
>
> Job recruiters don't care. All they see is that I don't
> know the application skills they are looking for, and
> that I don't even really know Windows very well. (I
> claim to know it. I've used NT and W2K a bit. How hard
> can it be? Give me a week and I'll be an expert.)
>
> It's almost enough to make a guy switch to using a
> Windows system. Clearly, MS has won the desktop war.
> Linux never had a chance in that arena. The only
> persons using Linux as a desktop are those idealists
> among us who have become jaded on Unix and have not yet
> given up the lost battle. (Like me.)
>
> --
> Lynn David Newton
> Phoenix, AZ
> http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~lnewton
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