Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] testing the waters
From: John Lazzaro (lazzaro_AT_CS.Berkeley.EDU)
Date: Tue Jun 27 2000 - 01:21:18 EEST
>From: "Gil Wasserman" <gilw_AT_kswaves.com>
>
>I am writing you to get some feel for what's happening with Linux =
>regarding audio. We're considering developing solutions for Linux and =
>following this I'm trying to get a feel of the need and scope of the =
>Linux audience.
Here's a more radical suggestion: market a Linux distribution that's
customized for audio applications, and market it through your existing
channels, i.e. Pro Audio and music-store chains. You'll notice as you
read this list that a constant theme is the wish to integrate low-latency
kernel patches into the main Linux distribution. By putting together a
distribution that:
-- included low-latency kernel patches, as well as the real-time
POSIX timer patches that haven't made it into the kernel yet.
-- consciously made configuration choices from the bottom up to
fit in a low-latency audio world (default daemons, ect)
-- had the full range of existing GPL'd audio applications as part of
the package, well integrated and documented, with tutorials ready
to run on the desktop.
-- and perhaps, a few of your company's core applications, either as
cut-down closed-source binary versions at one extreme, or more
open if possible.
you'll have an experimental vehicle for understanding how to market
open-source software in the pro-audio and music world, that doesn't
put your company's core IP at risk. A distro like this really brings
to mind Red Hat's marketing theme, that millions of people buy Heinz's
catsup even though they could by fresh tomatoes and make their own at
home cheaper. Many people will pay $49 or $69 USD for a well-done
package as I describe above, rather than do it themselves -- and while
its true they will be free to pass the disk along to N of thei friends,
it's also true that they'd have an incentive to buy a new one two or
three times a year to upgrade to the latest and greatest.
If you went down this path, answering the question of "how do we add
our core IP to the Linux market" will be obvious to you in 6-24 months,
because you'll have in house experience on dealing with the OS and
the marketplace. And in addition, you'll have your own brand attached
to a distro, which will make selling apps a lot easier, however you
decide to license them ...
--john lazzaro
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John Lazzaro -- Research Specialist -- CS Division -- EECS -- UC Berkeley
lazzaro [at] cs [dot] berkeley [dot] edu www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro
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