[Desktop_architects] Applications and pre-installed machines

[Segedunum]

Hi All,

Apologies. I wasn't going to post to this list at all (I was planning on it 
being a read-only thing), but a few of these posts perked my interest 
somewhat. I keep hearing some of these same issues and it strikes me that 
people are continually thinking about this in the wrong way.

On Tuesday 17 Jan 2006 15:08, John Cherry wrote:
> On Friday, Dave Rosenberg posted and opinion article entitled, "Desktop
> Linux: If we build it, will they come?"
>
> I don't want to feed the troll, but one of the responses to the article
> pretty clearly summarized the responses we received...

I don't see talking about the difficulties of the desktop as a troll - 
although people do all have their own views.

> The feedback we have received clearly states that (1) Linux on the
> desktop will be a non-starter without some of the key applications that
> are being used on Windows (i.e. the Adobe products and Autodesk)

I keep hearing this from people, but at this point in time I'm not 
convinced that it matters. This is something that will probably happen as 
a result of other things that need to be done first.

As far as Adobe is concerned I'm assuming you mean Photoshop here, because 
there are numerous ways of handling PDFs on a desktop Linux platform - and 
better as well. In terms of applications like Photoshop, I think Jeremy 
White hints at the ambivalence large ISVs like Adobe have by pointing out 
desktop Linux's small market share. This isn't the whole story though. 
There are also other factors below the surface such as what out of the 
multitude of different distributions can they support, and also, will they 
be welcomed by their potential customer base? The user base of desktop 
Linux are used to free applications currently. On top of that, potential 
customers are probably thinking "Do I fork out money for this software 
which may be out of date and unsupported in six months?" (hence ISVs 
linking statically), which makes the potential customer base ambivalent to 
commercial software which in turn makes ISVs unwilling to do any work on 
it. There is also the question of how you deliver the software to a 
potential userbase. There's a whole aura of uncertainty and problems with 
desktop Linux I'm sure you can all pick out there.

As far as Photoshop is concerned I'm not convinced that it has much of a 
future, even on Windows. Microsoft has long envied Adobe and Macromedia's 
revenues and the position their software is in, and is now putting in some 
serious effort to displace them. From a desktop Linux perspective, when 
you take into account the limited developer numbers and resources for 
projects like the GIMP, Inkscape and Krita you have to ask yourself if the 
user share gets bigger, and these projects get more attention, is 
Photoshop economically viable? Unless Adobe justifies itself the answer is 
a big fat no.

Autodesk is slightly different in that their software tends to be more 
specialist. Although we do have QCad in the open source world, there are 
many features that are beyond it and some of the other software that 
Autodesk produces is obviously beyond the open source world as well. They 
are one of those large ISVs where many things will have to be done, in 
order, first before they will have sufficient motivation to even consider 
Linux ports of their software. Jumping up and down about it at this point 
in time will make no difference. The question is how do you make desktop 
Linux attractive enough to attract users (the important bit) which in turn 
will attract larger ISVs? The first step is the most important at this 
juncture.

> and (2) Linux on the desktop will be a non-starter without Linux being
> pre-installed on PC products (i.e. a Linux Multimedia Computer).

He, he. Not only are there the economics of supply and demand for OEMs to 
consider here, their agreements with Microsoft prohibit them from doing 
so. This is something Microsoft will defend with even greater gusto than 
their Microsoft Office revenues. Sorry, but you'll have to find a way 
around this to get to your potential users to the point where OEMs will 
have enough confidence to turn their back on Windows. Forget it - for now.

> Also, there are simply not enough good desktop productivity tools out
> there. Many of the best-in-class Linux applications are "almost as good 
> as their Windows counterparts." That isn't good enough, either.

I keep hearing this one as well. Specifically, what desktop productivity 
tools for desktop Linux aren't good enough? It strikes me that many people 
are expecting someone to come along and explicitly say "This is Microsoft 
Office for Linux" or "This is Photoshop for Linux". I'm sorry, but it just 
isn't going to work like that.

> We are absolutely on the right track by addressed the ISV/developers
> issues (Portland project,  developer portal, etc.).

Hmmmm. I've been hearing about *ISVs* for years with desktop Linux as well. 
You might want to ask who is producing all the software on an average 
Linux distribution that users are actually using right now? Additionally, 
remember that there are many more developers producing open source and 
free (in a monetary sense) software for Windows, and Microsoft is going to 
help us out there in the future by making them feel increasingly 
unwelcome. Those are your real ISVs right now if you want to grow user 
share.

regards,

David