It would sure be good if there were an interoperable set of API
functions that was so enticing to software developers that they'd use
it even without the incentive of a Linux port. Then the Linux port
would essentially be a freebie for them.
Unfortunately this is not so either. The problem is not so much the
difficulty of the port. Developers can use WINE libraries.
When Digital came out with the Alpha chip, Windows NT was available for
it. They had an emulatopr product called fx32 that allowed nearly all
Intel based applications to run on it. (FX32 was both an emulator and a
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"Paul W. Abrahams" wrote:
translator). Linux was also ported to the Alpha chip in 1994. What
Digital learned back then was that it actually caused developers not to
port to the Alpha.
Additionally, developers did not support their applications on the
Alpha, and it is the support costs that are one of the main issues.
There are several problems that prevent Linux from getting wide-spread
use on the desktop. (I'm sure that the SuSE marketing folks are aware of
all of them). Linux (and FreeBSD) are part of the Open Source community.
Developers are concerned that their proprietary products will be
compromised if they port to Linux. Another is that Linux is
intimidating. First, new end users don't understand the distributions
model. With Windows it is Microsoft, with Macs it is Apple, with Linux
it is SuSE, Red Hat, Debian, Lindows, Fedora, Gentoo, Knoppix,
DynaBolic... Another intimidating thing is choosing a desktop. Let's
see, do I want KDE or Gnome or whatever. For the most part, I think that
SuSE is easier to install than Windows, but that is not what the general
perception is. Linux is slowly making inroads on the desktop. But there
is still the Windows mentality:
The other day an acquaintance had YOU hang (the same time www.suse.com
was offline). His solution was to press reset. I had the same problem,
but I simply killed the processes (kill -TERM). He simply didn't know
how to do it so he pressed reset.
The only way that Linux will grow on the desktop is for major
organizations to adopt it. We are seeing this happen in Bangalore and
Munich. With Novell, we might see this happening in a major corporation
in the US.
The bottom line is that IMHO, Linux is ready for the desktop, but is
lacking some of the major applications that are only available on
Windows. Developers will port their products either to run natively or
through WINE (compiled natively with WINE libraries) only when they
perceive that there is a large enough (potential) market for their
products.
- --
Jerry Feldman
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9
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