Richmond Mathewson wrote:
How many users of this list think that RunRev are wasting their time, effort and limited resources continuing development of a Linux version ?
Count me among them.
How many people who favour continued Linux development think it might be sensible of RunRev to concentrate their efforts on one 'family' of Linux distros (e.g. Debian derivatives) ?
To me it seems sensible to allocate resources proportionate to the distro audience. Accordingly, Ubuntu would be the primary target since it's the clear #1 for consumers, with others coming along for the ride as resources and compatibility permit.
It's a shame that after so many years there still isn't a single standard for deploying apps (with icon and file associations, installation, etc.) for all desktop distros. Kinda silly, really, and further evidence that the most significant thing holding back Linux adoption today is that its core base are too skilled in it to prioritize affordances for newcomers.
But in spite of its unnecessarily fragmented nature, Linux is growing at a rate that merits attention, thanks in no small part to the Ubuntu and Gnome teams' focus on the consumer experience. I've been on the Gnome usability discussion list for the last few years, and have been as impressed by their detailed work as I have with the outcomes I see in Ubuntu with every new version.
The governments of Brazil, India, Berlin and many others have standardized on Linux, as has the US Army, reported to be the single largest install by number of desktops. And then there are the countless universities around the world which are adopting Linux, and so much of the developing world for which a free OS is creating opportunities that were unthinkable in the old world where each desktop always carried a $100 OS tax.
There are now options. Linux's price is unbeatable, Ubuntu's implementation very easy to install and use, and running the Ubuntu Netbook Remix Edition on a sub-$300 netbook opens up a lot of computing options for people who had previously been locked out of participating in the Internet revolution. Many vast new markets are coming online.
When we look at where Linux is being used I see enormous opportunities for specialized apps, even commercial ones, of the vertical sort Rev is ideally suited for.
And some software can be made with grants. A lot of shops do well on grant money alone. My first paid gig as a developer was funded by a grant from the US Dept. of Energy, many weeks of work that let me buy a new car while delivering prototypes of new imaging techniques for subsurface exploration, a win-win all around. I'm currently pursuing grants for a new app, and am awaiting response on another grant-funded Rev project. With one of the apps I manage we have a competitor whose product was initially funded, from initial design through v1.0, by a grant from the US Navy, who have since moved on to become a sustainable commercial entity.
Lest we forget, where would we be without publicly-funded software? OS X is BSD at its core, created at publicly-funded UC Berkeley. And the first web browser, Mosaic, which spawned Navigator and ultimately Mozilla's Firefox, began life at the publicly-funded NCSA.
While I find many things in "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" to be a bit optimistic in some regards, there are in fact a great many opportunities in software that runs on free OSes, both commercial and non-commercial.
-- Richard Gaskin Fourth World Rev training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com Webzine for Rev developers: http://www.revjournal.com revJournal blog: http://revjournal.com/blog.irv _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
