> Linux strikes me as an OS that hit the market too late to tip > the scales, and with no real incentive for new developers to > invest money into an OS whose reputation was "the OS where > you could get free stuff". I think that Open Source, while a > great and very successful approach in terms of community, > works contrary to itself in that developers do not want to > invest in a market where people who charge for software are > rather resented. > > I know I am going to get lots of responses from all the Linux > people. I apologize in advance. But if my opinion is worth > anything, I would say let Runrev focus on IDE's and engines > for OS'es with a demonstrable hold on existing markets.
Linux as a "market" is still evolving - I don't think tipping works the same way with it, and that in itself is a frustration to those who were banking that it would. Linux absolutely has a place, and there are many ways to make money off of it. I just think making money from Linux requires a different sort of focus than what many are used to. As a desktop OS, its coming along at its own pace and Ubuntu is looking better and better. In fact, I think Android in the market will help Linux, too, because it demonstrates that there are alternatives to Mac OS and Windows. Runrev cannot drop Linux without seriously damaging the promise of cross platform development, and that would reduce overall sales. Ive sold a lot of software over my 20 odd years in the industry. One phenomenon I am aware of is the Mac Mirage. For example, in some markets, you'll see a jump in the sales of Windows products if there is a Mac version available too. The number of units of Mac product sold may be significantly less than Windows, but there are Windows units sold BECAUSE there is Mac version. The absense of the Mac version would reduce sales; looking at overall sales then means the Mac version deserves more consideration than just looking at the number of units sold. I think if anyone is looking solely at Linux IDE (as in Rev Studio for Linux) sales, then they would be missing the point. There are a lot of free tools for developing on Linux, and that makes it very challenging to sell IDEs on Linux. A different sort of sales model could be built around a RevServer/On-Rev. Best regards, Lynn Fredricks President Paradigma Software http://www.paradigmasoft.com Valentina SQL Server: The Ultra-fast, Royalty Free Database Server _______________________________________________ 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