To all my friends here, whatever I was ranting about open source softwares and their usability and blah… blah… blah… please watch this video, which just popped up today as YouTube suggestion and I think it will be easier to understand what FOSS (Free Open Source Software) is lacking, what they need to do, why professionals can’t use Linux and the open source softwares as alternatives of ‘professional’ apps on Windows, even though they very much want to get out of the vicious cycle of Microsoft, Adobe and other tech companies who are sucking them dry. And in this video, the maker also talked about how open source softwares can be proper professional alternatives. Please please please watch the video.
Video link: https://youtu.be/nHQv4blla7g?si=-HXNFfB3FZUZDwo8
Professionals do use Linux… they are the majority of users. It is home users that we are having trouble getting to use it.
https://wifitalents.com/statistic/linux-user/
So I dont agree with your statement. You are accusing the dominant OS in the professional world of not being usable by professionals. That does not make sense
Once again i find myself on the side of agreeing with Neville, almost all web servers and on linux. Plus almost all members on this site are linux professionals to different degrees.
Done out if cost, versatile right solution for the problem, experiance … with over 200 members on this site alone, with more experience than we care to mention we choose linux.
Apple eventually became a 10,000 lb gorilla, but I think they would have much earlier if Jobs had not done this. Maybe it would have killed them off to NOT do this, but I don’t like the closed/walled garden nature of Apple.
Makes you wonder
If jobs had not returned to apple would we now be writing about NeXT computers instead, would apple have died under john sculley and Gil Amelio ?
Had IBM chosen mac os, or DR CPM instead of MS DOS
History is interesting.
Using the wheel is much easier than reinventing it. Stealing idea and creating a software from scratch is way tougher than stealing the code and make it work. Besides, I saw somewhere that ideas are also getting copyright protection. Don’t know if it’s real or not.
Interestingly, Apple got the mouse from Xerox PARC, then, later, Microsoft got it from Apple, so while Apple complained that Microsoft ‘stole’ the mouse from them, they ‘stole’ it from Xerox.
When I think about the large corporations involved in early PC development, I see something of a pattern.
IBM contracted with Microsoft to develop PC-DOS, allowing Microsoft to own the software copyright.
Xerox-PARC showed Steve Jobs everything they had about the mouse, with no restrictions on how/if they used the technology.
Apple contracted with Microsoft to help in the development of the GUI, including the mouse technology, but failed to restrict how/if Microsoft could use that information in other projects.
The pattern I see is that none of these organizations had the foresight/vision to recognize that they had a game changer on their hands, so they failed to protect it. Think about it. If Xerox had protected/licensed their mouse technology from/to Apple, how might that have changed the industry we see today? Or if Apple had better protected/licensed their GUI/mouse technologies from/to Microsoft, how would that have changed things going forward?
Food for thought,
Ernie
When IBM contracted with Microsoft to develop an OS for the IBM-PC, Mac-OS/Apple did not yet exist, so that could not have happened, but it is an interesting thought. Another interesting twist on that is if Steve Jobs had decided to create Mac-OS for the PC, how would that have changed things for today, if at all?
Ernie
There is Intellectual Property legislation. It seems to result in unending legal battles and slowing of the application of one’s work while the IP is sorted out.
I never liked it in the scientific area, because it goes against the right of a researcher to publish results.
Jobs got the idea of the graphical interface from Xerox, wonder what else was kicking around in the parc that day and how much else came out or never saw the light of day
IDK, but if the folks at PARK had any idea about what they’d developed, Xerox could be the big dog in the game today, don’t you think?
Ernie
When i think xerox i can only think photocopiers nothing else
I know. That’s how they were thinking when they showed Steve Jobs their Mouse and GUI software at PARK.
Ernie
Just had a look at their web site and they also do printers but only in American paper sizes unless they have regional ones but europe is on a4 sizes so a missing market
So I suppose they still lack the vision needed to become a superpower in even a single market, let alone a global one. Sad, I suppose some never learn,
Ernie
And there was the “thing” that IBM and Apple and maybe even Motorola were working on - I think it was “taligent”… Would have run on everything, replaced OS/2 and Mac System 6/7 and been a competitor for Windows…
Conspiracy theories are rife - I still think there was a lot more behind the unfortunate fate of Ian Murdock (who gave us DEBIAN - imagine life without Debian - I challenge you - it would be vastly different). Just a few days after being arrested, and complaining about police brutality - he self-asphyxiates… Who knows…
RIP Ian Mudock… What happened to him was way more criminal than what Gates did to Kildall… If he (Murdock) did top himself - I wish he’d known how much he’d changed the planet of knowledge transfer and openness - his contribution was on a scale close to Linus himself… I just donated to WikiPedia - and yet when I type “Ian M…” into Wikipedia - Ian Murdock is way down the list…
RIP Ian Murdock 1973 - 2015 - a truly great human :
‘Professionals’ doesn’t mean only coders or developers. Film editors, digital artists, content creators - they are also ‘Professionals’ and they struggle to use Linux for their work. It is the truth. As an example, Nvidia GPUs are dominating the graphics card market and with AMD leaving, Nvidia’s business will be a monopoly. Now, I think, I don’t have to explain how hard it is for a first time user to properly install the Nvidia driver in Linux and the apps? No. Except Blender, not a single app can be used for serious creative works because Linux app developers always focus on good code. But they forget, USER-FRIENDLINESS is also a must to make an app popular. Look at Photoshop. Do I have to compare it with GIMP regarding easy-to-use? Someone can start a debate but it will not change what world thinks. GIMP no doubt very good. But the developers do need to think about the ease of use. It goes to other apps too. The one and only professional film editor Davinci Resolve has no competition in Linux and installing it in Linux somewhat impossible. And what do you mean by ‘home users’? Present scenario has changed. From the day ‘WORK-FROM-HOME’ got started, the typical ‘home users’ category doesn’t exist anymore. Many freelancers are working from home. Would you call them ‘home users’? The spciety has been changed since the pandemic. Those so called ‘home users’ have become ‘home based professionals’. So Linux has to change itself also. It has to be more ‘user-friendly’. Then Linux will be a proper OS and its market share will rise.
Forgot all about os/2, dont actually remember having a machine with it on or trying to use it but i was teaching at a university at that time when launched so somewhere we did have copies. As its some 35 years back will put it down to old age.
On ian murdock , only know what i have read, although he was still alive when i started down the path of linux never got to meet him or form a judgement, interesting that after all this time his development and team still continues although his wife i believe is no longer involved.
But they must be number one in photocopier market, perhaps that is the successful part. Think about other industries ford make cars but not motorcycle, yet honda do both, yamaha make motorcycles and boat engines but not cars…
If you are good at one thing why spread yourself into markets you may never win
Absolutely true. Just like this, Linux and its app developers have no idea what they are developing. They are not trying to see the big picture. They are only focused on their code and security. They don’t understand that along with codes, ease of use, aesthetics are also very important. For example, every Windows based photo editor’s layout, almost the copy of Photoshop. I don’t think I have to explain why. Or, do I? This is a simple strategy.