linuxaudio.org

> On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 4:59 AM, S. Massy wrote:

quoted text
>

>> Yeah, well, too many people have already responded with very valid

>> points for me to add much. However, I'd like to bring up a certain

>> analogy. About ten years ago, I remember a lot of similar discussion

>> going on around The Linux Desktop: "How can we make it better?", "How

>> can we make it better known?", "Why are people and businesses sticking

>> to MS Office?" It was a bit of an obsession in the early 21st century.

>> Now, The Linux Desktop isn't exactly used by an overwhelming majority,

>> but it has made its way on many common wo/man's computer and is even in

>> some schools and small businesses, and a lot of people in the street

>> have at least heard of "that Ubuntu thing" and are intrigued.

>

> Well, what _actually_ happened is that Windows ports of various open

> source applications matured and stabilized, and since people were

> scared re moving to a new OS, we are now in a situation where vast

> majority of users of crossplatform free software such as Audacity and

> GIMP are on Windows. I don't have stats for

> OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice, but I bet the situation is the same.

>

> With MIDI/audio software we don't have that much of a problem *cough*

> ALSA* cough* JACK *cough*, so it's a stalemate: without Windows we

> never get as many users as we want, yet _with_ Windows ports we never

> get people to use Linux.

>

> I don't think there is a simple solution to this. But I think that

> this point of yours:

>

>> So, based on that experience, I'd venture to think that making/improving

>> software for our own benefit and creating quality content produced with

>> the

>> aforementioned software is really what counts in the end.

>

> makes a hell of a sense.

>

> Just one minor addition, if you don't mind. We have to finish with

> the, IMNSHO, nonsensical notion of our users being geeks who are into

> protocols and whatnot. I work for a Linux vendor who is right now into

> another bidding process re Linux at schools in my country. Part of the

> specification of requirements is on multimedia production software,

> and while on details level a lot of that is ridiculous stuff that

> boils down to give-us-something-like-garageband/imovie, in general the

> requirements make a lot of sense.

>

> It's the second bidding process like that (i.e. with similar spec of

> reqs) we've been through, and one thing I can tell you is that while

> some people still say "oh, but I love my complicated routing and I

> don't really mind both JS and ladish co-existing, and I hate you

> ardour developers for adding MIDI tracks, and don't you even start

> talking about video tracks", the kids get macs with propietary

> software that is easier to get started with. What they will grow to

> like -- you can easily guess. I'm talking about some 2K workstations,

> btw.

>

> Oh, and it's one of the reasons why I still keep an eye on MusE,

> hoping that one day they will revamp UI. Because it's, once again, the

> second bidding process where the spec says "It should be possible to

> select virtual instruments from a library that is part of the

> software". So in the future it's either MusE with revamped UI that

> doesn't scare kids away, or Qtractor that finally gets a developer to

> merge changes from QArranger (I'm referring to native LS client

> mostly). But right now it looks more like Rosegarden with modified

> default studio and hooks to FluidSynth/QSynth that would load

> something like FluidR3_GM.SF2.

>

This is the kind of feedback that we can only get when companies make the

effort to use Linux tools as part of a solution.
Chicken vs egg.
--

Patrick Shirkey

Boost Hardware Ltd
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