[clug] retail software

[Seth Turnbull]

I come from an "older" school background with nix.. Due to my career choice
I have generally worked with Microshaft over the past 10 years.
Just this year I found and have migrated to Ubuntu. I love it.. wouldn't
turn back to windows if I didn't have to. However due to some limited
"frill" features I do still need a windows install.

I have found that I still fall back to Windows for
A: Games... I would pay a higher price for a game that's properly ported and
SUPPORTED to Linux just so I didn't have to see a Windows boot screen again.

B: Games...

I can truly say that I have found something to replace 100% of all Apps that
I used under Microshaft.. I just can't seem to get away from wanting to
burn some time playing games. Wine is a pain in most cases or doesn't
support what I like to play. I want to sit down, be spoiled, install the
game and play. Not configure this, adjust that and then not have sound.

One thing we all got used to with MS was the install, use...
The other thing was,
CRASH......... Blue screen of death.. Crash crash..

My opinions and a rant..
~Seth.

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 12:48 AM, Paul Wayper <paulway at mabula.net> wrote:

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> David Cottrill wrote:
> | I work for a retail software company that is rapidly porting all its
> | Windows/Mac programs to Linux.
> | The programs cover pretty much the entire spectrum of applications - from
> | Asterisk to Audacity to VLC.
> |
> | What I've been wondering is: how many of you would be willing to install
> | such things. As a rule the software is far easier to use than the
> standard
> | open source alternative and with only a few (significant) exceptions it
> | works better.
>
> I'll fourth the other comments and perhaps make it a bit more explicit:
>
> What I'd recommend is what Adobe has done: set up your own repository which
> hosts binary packages in RPM and DEB format.  Your packages should have
> good
> dependency resolution - i.e. the potential user should be able to install
> your
> repository as a source and run your software after no more than a 'yum
> install
> cottrill-media-player' or 'apt-get install cottrill-asterix-configurator'.
> You should try to minimise your dependency on non-standard repositories,
> and
> at the very least any requirements for them should be explicitly stated
> somewhere on your web pages.  Debian people may get twitchy if you're
> installing a server configuration program that depends on things outside
> the
> 'stable' repository.
>
> This doesn't require any source being opened up, so your closed-source
> application is safe.  But it plays nice with existing distributions'
> packaging
> methods.  Sysadmins hate having yet another method of installing and
> updating
> software.
>
> As to my personal preference of using non-FOSS software, I'm a pragmatist.
> I've installed the Linux game Ballistics and the closed-source nVidia
> drivers
> because I need them to do what I want and can't without those things.  I
> respect Stallman's uncompromising stance on FOSS, but while I aspire to his
> principles I fall short in my execution.  To pick an example, I would
> gladly
> buy a copy of MixMeister if it existed on Linux; however, since it doesn't,
> I
> have plans to work on developing an alternative which would be free and
> open
> sourced.  (I own a copy for Windows.)
>
> If anything, one thing I have found in using Linux and FOSS is that I now
> have
> more respect for licenses.  I am going through purging all those *cough*
> backup copies of software I have lying around for which I haven't bought
> licenses.  Given that FOSS has so much scope and can get a level of
> developer
> and community involvement that even Microsoft has trouble getting (how many
> kernel developers are there?), if I do need software to do a particular
> task,
> I now take the approach that if I can't find it in FOSS but can in
> proprietary
> software, I should buy the license.  I wouldn't want Microsoft using code
> from
> FOSS without obeying the license - why should I do the same?
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Paul
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