--- Jef Spaleta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Maybe some exaggerated logic...but the point is > there buried in the > sarcasm. Does it make ANY business sense at all for > Red Hat to look at > gaming like its something even worth marketing, > worth talking about at > all, let alone burning valuable development time > focusing on? No...and > thankfully Red Hat's management team isn't a bunch > of FPS obsessed > gamers, with an itchy trigger finger..but are > instead seem to be pretty > savvy business people who really know how to think > ahead and guage > market potential and have a keen sense of where the > technology and the > demand stands on all fronts. Mandrake, its gaming > release one relavent > example, isn't blessed with such management. > > Or maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe its not that > Red Hat's management > is really good and know how to avoid money losing > business ideas. Maybe > the management team just have an extreme dislike for > their userbase, and > are actively ignoring the vocal masses of paying > linux users screaming > for better gaming support at the OS level...and it's > just a complete > fluke Red Hat is doing as well as they are, despite > of their boneheaded > decisions not to court the opressed masses of linux > gamers, who are > crying out for recognition. Maybe Mandrake was on to > something by > catering to gamers, but have been crushed on the > economic bootheel of > Red Hat, and their obsessive desire to kill all > linux innovation.
Well, I'm new to the world of Linux (been using it for a little over a year) and I love the fact that games _can_ run well in Linux (see Q3A and RTCW). But, I fully recognize that the immediate play is a business one, not a gaming one. What I would like to see RH do is something in between your two paragraphs above. Certainly, it is much more profitable for RH to focus on the business and server side. I would never want them to lose that focus because, using your Mandrake reference, other Linux companies have not done that and have suffered for it. RH has the perfect Linux business model, I think. It's just that I would love for them to, I don't know, give a little *nod* to the desktop/gaming community. I'm not expecting this any time soon, of course, but it would be great to see RH put out a "Home Edition" or something like that with some minimal add-ons, such as mp3 players and nvidia drivers, for example. The ability and potential is there and Linux does games so well, I think, that it would be great to see RH take a step, albeit small, in that direction. I know that RH has said many times that they can't support those add ons and people would expect them to, but I really wish there was a way to address that, either by partnering with those add-on companies like nvidia, realnetworks (for realplayer support), and an mp3 company for mp3 support or hiring a couple dedicated support staff for this Home Edition or something. There just has to be a way to do it. Part of the problem I think is that it seems to be a chicken and the egg issue. Software vendors like RH and game companies say "well, we'll create home versions of our OS and we'll make more games when there is better hardware support" and the hardware vendors say "well, we'll create linux drivers and support our products in linux when there is a sufficient user base that will demand it and pay for it." Someone's got to go first. Anyway, I'm not arguing here. You've made some excellent points and I agree with you more than I disagree. I thought Mike Harris' post about game developers was right on they money. They are poking around Linux some but they're probably not getting a sufficient return on their investment to make any real difference right now. Why else would Epic release UT2003 with a Linux installer on the 3d CD but then not list Linux as one of the supported OS's on the box? That's really sad. Still, I try to show my support by buying some distros here and there and buying Linux games and Linux software when I can. I'm not a coder, or a developer, or an IT guy. I'm a professional in my mid-30's with a wife who probably thinks I spend way too much time playing around with this Linux stuff (although who did get me a subscription to Linux Journal for Valentine's Day, bless her heart!) and an 18 month old son who kills me when I come home and he runs to the door saying "da-deee!" I just love Linux and I think it has so much potential -- beyond that as a corporate desktop and a server. And I really respect RH a lot and think RH will play a major role in the growth of Linux in the home. Cheers, Charles __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com -- Phoebe-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/phoebe-list
