> If I understand correctly the main problem is not the development itself but > rather issues around deployment, correct?
Well, the main problem is market size. If there was a huge market, ISVs would bitch and moan and gripe (like me :-/), but they'd overcome the challenges and make Linux Desktop products. But I think you anticipated my rant correctly - the big problem I've having right now is around deployment. We're in the process of essentially doubling our already oversized Linux test bed to include 64 bit distros, and that's just grating on my nerves. We're trying to do a simultaneous release of a product for the Mac and for Linux. For the Mac it's pretty easy; we have a variety of Macs for testing just to be safe, but the truth is, once it works reliably on one Mac, we're pretty certain it'll work on all others. And a developer with a Mac Pro can reliably support a user with a MacBook. For Linux I have all these many multiple flavors (doubled by 64 bit ness), and I have no certainty that having it work on one will mean it works on all, so I literally have to run test grids with complex spread sheets, and even then I still suspect I'm doing no better than about 75% 'real user' coverage. Now I admit that Wine is a worst case; most 'normal' applications don't suffer as badly from things like SELinux changes as we do. But all apps suffer from the difficulty in making a menu... And a developer with Debian and KDE has a hard time supporting someone with Fedora Core 5 (64 bit) and Gnome. Now that diversity is not a bad thing in of itself; part of the power of the Linux Desktop is the whole vibrant ecosystem. I, personally, am tickled that I have the choice to run XFCE, for example. And in my most forgiving days I think I can be grudglingly persuaded that Red Hat is learning interesting things with SE Linux. We just have to be aware that there is a negative side to that sharp edge, and agree with and support developers that are trying to overcome the problems it creates. > > >> And all that for a market full of people who would really rather >> your product was Free, and in the final analysis, are rather >> reluctant to part with cold, hard, cash. > > > I disagree on this one. The all-for-free concept is pretty much the current > consumer mantra, the people who are part of the Linux market are just more > vocal, people from other markets just pirate silently. Yes, I should retract that. That was mean spirited of me, and wrong. We've in fact been supported for years by the generosity of Linux users who can get Wine for free and still choose to send us their money anyway. We've been discussing lately around our office how you can have 99 people write nice things to you, and 1 person write a diatribe - and it's the diatribe you remember, not the nice things. I fell victim to that; I'm sorry to all of the great 99 of you that have been supportive. Cheers, Jeremy _______________________________________________ Desktop_architects mailing list Desktop_architects@lists.osdl.org https://lists.osdl.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop_architects