I side with Sarah. Linux is and has always been faced with that odd paradox of any OS, and that is how to get enough developers on board developing for an OS that may or may not succeed. People will not use an OS that doesn't have the apps they need. Developers will not develop for an OS that doesn't have a substantial user base. How do you pull that situation up by the bootstraps?
Apple worked because what they offered at first was a whole new animal. A graphical operating system that no one else had. Also they wrote their own apps initially to make the computer at least basically viable, until enough people bought one to pique the interest of developers. Windows worked because they already had a HUGE user base carrying over from MSDOS and the corporate world. Any developer would slobber all over himself now to get in on the ground floor of that goldmine. Linux (IMHO) was (at least initially) like the odd brother who wants to tag along, but no one really has a use for. No one wants to pick him for their team because he can't play sports very well yet. He never really learns to play sports very well because no one ever picks him. Oh sure he grew up to be a dam good molecular biologist, but he still can't hit a baseball to save his life. And most people don't need a molecular biologist. (I'm sure I've offended every molecular biologist on the list now <sigh>) My point is that unless LINUX has something UNIQUE to offer the mass of users in the computing world (aside from the fact that it makes a great server OS for some things), it's never going to really get into the client computing game. It's always going to be the "me too" OS. And please don't make me mention BeOS! Bob On Jan 28, 2010, at 3:41 PM, Sarah Reichelt wrote: >>> Talking in purely commercial terms, I think this would be a much more >>> logical direction for RunRev than continuing to try to support Linux >>> with all it's multiple varieties and it's general ethos for open >>> source and mainly free software. >> >> Those of use who have been waiting for (and paying for) parity between >> Linux and OS X thank you for your support :-) >> >> It seems odd to me that on the day after the iPad is announced you >> would suggest that RunRev ditch further development of the Linux >> version, when RunRev have already announced RevMobile which would >> supports the iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Maemo. It sounds like you >> are not confident that RunRev can manage to produce a cross-platform >> tool for more than two platforms. Hey, the vast majority of people >> use windows (which has much greater backwards compatibility than >> Apple's OS), so why not just ditch OS X and concentrate on Windows? >> Then you'd perhaps get an idea of how frustrated those of use wanting >> feature parity in Linux feel. > > > I understand your frustration as there have been many complaints about > the Linux version on this list over the years.Based on the feedback, I > feel sure that if I was compelled to develop on a Linux system, I > would have chosen a different development system by now. > > Similarly, if RunRev decided to drop or reduce support for the Mac, I > would change to a different development system. > > They are a commercial company and I expect them to do what is best for > their own interests. It seems that they are not able to maintain > parity in the Linux version, so without meaning any lack of support > for you personally, or for any other users of the Linux version, I > think RunRev needs to make more of an effort to keep the Linux version > in line with the others, or it should be dropped completely. > > However this is purely my opinion. I have nothing to do with RunRev > and I have no idea of the breakdown of their user base. > > Regards, > Sarah > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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
