Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Poll about linux music audio app usability
From: David Olofson (david_AT_gardena.net)
Date: Thu Jun 20 2002 - 02:17:52 EEST
On Wednesday 12 June 2002 23.15, Kasper Souren wrote:
[...]
> > Well, a man can dream...
>
> Certainly. And a man can hope... that AGNULA will be a success.
> Since then the userbase will be expanded big time.
Well, considering the number of people playing and creating music in
one way or another, there must be a *gigantic* potential user base.
We "just" have to bring a bunch over to Linux! :-)
However, there's one thing that's seriously worrying me: Software
piracy. I saw a poll somewhere, that indicated that a vast *majority*
of computer users considered piracy more or less "OK". It's like they
simply don't consider it a crime at all.
What this means to us is that we're effectively competing with high
end professional software *ON EQUAL TERMS*! Actually, worse than
equal terms: They make money, while we do not.
* Most of these users couldn't care less about
Open Source (if they even know what it's about),
so that's not an advantage for us.
* Most of them don't give a damn about paying for
the software they use anyway, so we have no
advantage there either.
As to true professionals, I believe a large portion of them don't
have a real problem with paying for good software - and either way,
they'll just pay what it costs to get a sufficient solution. Doesn't
matter if it's free, Free/Open Source or whatever, if it doesn't
quite cut it.
Don't get me wrong - I believe in Free/Open Source software, even for
professional audio. I'm just trying to identify the competition, and
come up with some sort of strategy. (For those who care to actively
fight for Linux audio, that is. Others; just hack on as usual -
you're probably the most sensible people around here anyway. :-)
//David
.- M A I A -------------------------------------------------.
| Multimedia Application Integration Architecture |
| A Free/Open Source Plugin API for Professional Multimedia |
`---------------------------> http://www.linuxdj.com/maia/ -'
.- David Olofson -------------------------------------------.
| Audio Hacker - Open Source Advocate - Singer - Songwriter |
`-------------------------------------> http://olofson.net -'
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