Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Thanks for your inputs
From: Benno Senoner (sbenno_AT_gardena.net)
Date: Tue Jun 27 2000 - 21:11:30 EEST
my added comment:
although the hardcore linux audio userbase is not that big,
IDC statistics show that the linux DESKTOP userbase in the US has grown from
0.4% to 4% during last year, that means a tenfold increase and reaching
almost the number of Mac users.
That means that the audio-interested people making part of these %4 will be
ready to perform their audio stuff on linux as soon as it becomes a viable
platform.
4% of total desktop users is orders of magnitude higher than the entire BeOS
userbase , and I guess next year we will see 8-10% and within a few years
30-40%.
As a commercial firm, being the first will give you a nice advantage over the
competitors.
And linux being opensource, will never die (and its userbase also), contrary to
other closed-source commercial "media-OSes".
I see this as one of the best protection of investment from a commercial
application manufacturer point of view.
so to summarize the advantages of doing apps for Linux from an application
developer POV:
-linux is opensource , will never go away or "bought out" by an evil company
- having the source of the kernel and all APIs available will allow you to track
down problems to the deepest level, giving you complete insight about what's
going on, and giving you the possibility to fix deficiencies of linux which make
perform your app badly. ( see lowlatency patch issue , try to complain with
microsoft about these problems , they will simply ignore you or put you in
an infinite waitqueue, except you are a big $$$ company)
- great developerbase and on the net, you find solution to almost all
problems since the opensourceness of Linux allows even the poor, talented
14yr hacker to track down problems and share his results among others.
(contrary to the Windows blackbox concept where very few developers have
access to the "crown jewels" aka sourcecode)
did I foget something ? :-)
Benno.
On Tue, 27 Jun 2000, Paul Barton-Davis wrote:
> >One last question, and please forgive my ignorance: Do you have any idea =
> >of how many are out there doing audio on Linux or will be interested in =
> >such solutions (as you know we're a commercial company so I have to =
> >justify the r&d efforts)?
>
> The number right now is very small (probably no more than a couple of
> hundred at best).
>
> But to focus on that is to miss out on something vital. Why would
> anyone put time and effort into BeOS, when its user base is even
> tinier than Linux ? Because people believe, rightly or wrongly, that
> it may be the new emerging platform for audio (and multimedia more
> generally).
>
> Many of us on this list see Linux as a much better platform for such
> things. If you agree that it has this potential, the current size of
> the Linux audio user base is not that relevant. Also, by working with
> an operating system that is fundamentally different than any of your
> existing platforms, you will likely make your code more portable to
> *any* system. Many people have pointed out, for example, that a port
> of a program from Windows to BeOS would make a port from BeOS to Linux
> pretty trivial. The same is generally true in reverse.
>
> So I'd say, if you consider it R&D, focus on whatever you percieve the
> long term future of Linux and audio to be. Thats certainly what we're
> all doing.
>
> --p
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