Comments on: Why is Linux support often such a deception? http://www.sehofstede.nl/why-is-linux-support-often-such-a-deception Personal site of a tech enthusiast Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:18:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Peng’s links for Friday, 14 November « I’m Just an Avatar http://www.sehofstede.nl/why-is-linux-support-often-such-a-deception/comment-page-1#comment-3221 Peng’s links for Friday, 14 November « I’m Just an Avatar Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:12:49 +0000 http://www.qense.nl/?p=198#comment-3221 [...] Hofstede: Why is Linux support often such a deception? Sense looks at the fact that Google’s Chrome is getting a lot closer to working on Linux to [...] [...] Hofstede: Why is Linux support often such a deception? Sense looks at the fact that Google’s Chrome is getting a lot closer to working on Linux to [...]

]]> By: yungchin http://www.sehofstede.nl/why-is-linux-support-often-such-a-deception/comment-page-1#comment-3204 yungchin Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:17:03 +0000 http://www.qense.nl/?p=198#comment-3204 Well, the answer is in your post - companies don't really care. They try the waters, build a Linux-version of their program, but for want of a substantial userbase (how many Linux-users would Skype have - anywhere near enough to make paying the programmers, testers and Linux-savvy helpdesk people worthwile? I wonder) they can't commit to doing it properly. Making those kinds of investments is just not a decision that you can ultimately defend in the boardroom. Getting quality software out there is only going to work if your developers care. If there's no profit in their sights, that means they need to be happy doing it simply for the love of it. See gcc - I believe people wrote that for the love of it, and it's excellent. As long as the desktop Linux user base is still relatively small (and thus less lucrative to work for), I think you should only expect great Linux support from amateurs (in the French, positive sense) - and thus mostly from OSS projects. Well, the answer is in your post – companies don’t really care. They try the waters, build a Linux-version of their program, but for want of a substantial userbase (how many Linux-users would Skype have – anywhere near enough to make paying the programmers, testers and Linux-savvy helpdesk people worthwile? I wonder) they can’t commit to doing it properly. Making those kinds of investments is just not a decision that you can ultimately defend in the boardroom.

Getting quality software out there is only going to work if your developers care. If there’s no profit in their sights, that means they need to be happy doing it simply for the love of it. See gcc – I believe people wrote that for the love of it, and it’s excellent.

As long as the desktop Linux user base is still relatively small (and thus less lucrative to work for), I think you should only expect great Linux support from amateurs (in the French, positive sense) – and thus mostly from OSS projects.

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