Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] KEYBOARDS: Linux is not suited for audio applications ...
From: Paul Davis (paul_AT_linuxaudiosystems.com)
Date: Sat Sep 06 2003 - 14:58:27 EEST
>i would imagine that there are currently more closed-source developers
>than open.
how many people do you imagine work for steinberg? how many for
digidesign? waves? cakewalk? the numbers are much smaller than you
(probably) think. anyway, its not the numbers that matter. anyone who
has worked in a commercial software company knows the amount of time
spent dealing with stuff that doesn't really move a project forward
from the perspective of most users. marketing-driven issues, cosmetic
details that consume weeks to get right and are used by almost nobody,
etc. at this point in the life of most linux audio/midi apps, we're
moving forward with core functionality, and are often able to do this
even when it involves complete redesigns of the code because the
developers are all part of the "core" team (i.e. there isn't a set of
"rookie" programmers who work only on GUI details, for example).
otoh, there is the big problem that the software libre world has with
everyone wanting their own project, so you have myself, werner (muse)
and richard brown (rosegarden) all working on our own sequencer/daw
apps rather than together on a single program. are we going to stop?
no. does it slow the whole "enterprise" down? yes. is there an upside?
probably.
>a tendency of people to exagerate the productivity acheivable
>with current apps in relation to say SX, which is not helpful.
agreed. its an easy trap to fall into, particularly with regard to
specific features. ardour does lots of things that you can't do with
SX, for example, even though the overall "package" isn't at the same
level.
>dangerous to extrapolate that to people in general. Linux users have a
>growing reputation as being unrealistic and out of touch.
perhaps. but when i installed RH8 on our house system(s) and some
friends' laptops recently, even my family and friends have commented
on how simple and straightforward it is to use. its no longer viable
to claim that its a command-line operating system - you'd have to stop
with a claim like "requires knowledge to setup and maintain", which is
true of most OS's if not all. i think our audio/midi apps are moving
in the same direction.
--p
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