Panic, Adobe, Quark, Microsoft, Macromedia, Omni and 300,000 other developers are moving to Linux. Haven't you heard?
From MS-owned Slate: Linux’s new popularity may hurt Apple more than Microsoft.
Apple still has software applications not available on Linuxsuch as Quark for publishing, or Photoshop for graphicsbut if Salkever’s analyst buddies step forth and pronounce Linux the No. 2 platform, software companies will re-evaluate their commitments.
Right. Macromedia is going to write Flash MX for KDE/Qt. Adobe’s going to write a GNOME version of Photoshop Elements. Every developer devoted to Apple’s platform is going to automagically change development platforms, processors, coding languages and sales channels, just because Linux may be announced as the #2 desktop OS by some lame assfuck who doesn’t know shit about shit, or more importantly, shit about Apple or Linux.
The one thing he neglects to mention (actually there are many things… which distribution of Linux? Which GUI? tcsh or bash? Sawfish or WindowMaker? How many grandmothers out there run Linux as opposed to Macs?) is that software developers can make money by writing software for Apple’s platform. Perhaps not as much as they would (theoretically) for Windows, but don’t forget that the amount of competitors a developer faces within the Windows world is exponentially larger to that of the Macintosh.
Write apps for Linux and decide to charge for them? Desktop apps, no less? Good fucking luck. Did we not just watch VA/Linux and all the other Linux guys go under or combine or get purchased because it’s very difficult to sell software that’s written for a free platform?
So what do you think? If BusinessWreck (er.. Week) decides to announce Linux as the #2 desktop install, are you going to switch?
UPDATE: John Gruber responds, as well. Now of course, his response is very carefully thought-out, and doesn’t contain gratuitous use of the word ‘fuck.’ But the point is basically the same.
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7 Replies to “Panic, Adobe, Quark, Microsoft, Macromedia, Omni and 300,000 other developers are moving to Linux. Haven't you heard?”
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repeat this 200 times:
Linux is a server OS.
The only reason OSX isn’t #2 is due to weak hardware and I think the G5 fixed that.
G5 isn’t weak, but it’s also not as powerful as a Windows Machine at the same price.
Oh, yeah. You also can’t run any applications on Macs, so that could be a problem with getting people to use it.
Getting people to pay for Linux software is just a matter of competition. Linux already has some of the best programmers in the world writing software for FREE. If companies can write better programs and charge customers for it, then they’ll be successful.
Either way, Linux’s inevitable success means that Microsoft and Apple will have to bring down software prices to a sane amount. Which is good for all of us 🙂
some of the best programmers in the world huh…. hrm. Let’s try and see if your grandma can set up a wireless internet connection by herself. Or easily import her photos from her digital camera as easily as iPhoto does. Again, Kyle, we’d suggest you keep your flamebaits to yourself.
The source simply needs to be compiled… like all source. Thats what source means. It is NOT linux ‘binary’ compatible.
Dumbass… linux source compatibility is a feature of mac os x … which you so quickly say has no software. you sir, are an idiot.
Powerful easy to use. I don’t think my Grandma (God Bless Her) could competantly use Photoshop, but it’s the best imaging program out there.
Also, I’m aware that OSX has linux source compatability. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a Linux programmer would have to recompile the source to a Mac-compatible file in order for it to be of any use.