This just in: The WINE flu has infected on a global scale
Recently many have noted a comment made by Mark Shuttleworth in response to Canonical’s support of WINE and Microsoft Windows compatability). The community response to Shuttleworth’s comments were of mixed results. I must admit, that I agree with Shuttleworth. He stated:
(12:24:54 PM) sabdfl: we need to make a success of our own platform on our own terms |
Many already know that Apple’s Mac OS X series of operating systems is not Microsoft Windows and will not run Windows applications, they also need to understand that GNU/Linux is not Windows and cannot natively run Windows applications. Apple has gotten this far without that need for emulation and people still purchase and utilize their products. The key behind their success is all marketing; from the eye candy to the advertising. The question is, when am I going to see real advertising for GNU/Linux? When will I be able to turn on the television and right after those stupid “I am a Mac/PC” commercials, observe a GNU/Linux one?
A PC user using GNU/Linux would need to understand that this is not a cheaper alternative to run their Windows applications. Shuttleworth is correct in stating that it needs to succeed on its own terms or it will fail. GNU/Linux needs to stand up on its own two feet and be recognized for its worth. I had made this exact point in a past post. But the only way for that to ever happen is when the average PC user understands that it exists and is also not a Windows clone.
I am writing this on a Debian machine and I like Linux.
However, there is a strange feeling that Linux will fail, like what is said here http://www.ranum.com/editorials/divide-conquer/index.html.
Comment by lost — 9. May 2009 @ 16:28
I agree that people need to know and understand, and recognize that Linux is a totally separate OS from Windows or Mac’s OS X. I also would like something that if my wife, or anyone else not a “computer person” clicked on a link to download a Yahoo game for Windows that there could be a pop up telling them that this program is not a native Linux application, but if you would still like to run it anyway, Linux will try to install and run it through WINE. Basically do that for any .exe file, and have a table of common applications that it could even recommend a Linux alternative to. Say someone tries to install Pidgin-2.5.5.exe on Linux. Tell them that is a native Linux application, and give a link to it, or apt-get install instructions, or add/remove programs. BUT if they really want to go ahead and run that version, WINE should try to make it happen.
Comment by Skeetre — 10. May 2009 @ 18:38
Seeing new ARM-based netbooks aiming at USD$100 (AUD$130) retail which do not run MS-Windows is impressive. They run Linux or Android. They are ARM-based so use about ¼ of the power of an equivalent x86-based device.
On Friday, I noticed a “netbook ready” version of MS-Office on sale in a Hardly Normal (Harvey Norman) store here in Western Australia for AUD$150 (USD$115). The devices it is challenging typically _include_ OpenOffice (which reads & writes MS-Office & other documents, plus writes PDFs) for six-sevenths of the price.
How would Microsoft sell (OEM) MS-Windows plus MS-Office for _minus_ USD$15?
Comment by Leon Brooks — 10. May 2009 @ 18:57
PS, this was written on an hp/Compaq laptop running the Mandriva 2009.0 Linux distribution (about to be upgraded to 2009.1 legitimately for free).
Comment by Leon Brooks — 10. May 2009 @ 18:59
I am writing this from my Ubuntu 9.04 machine. I have been using GNU/Linux as my sole operating system since 2001 and have never, and will never, touch Windows software (be it from Redmond or 3rd party) again.
Reasons:
1. GNU/Linux is open-source
2. GNU/Linux is freely available
3. GNU/Linux can be installed on millions of machines without cost or “activation”
4. Since using GNU/Linux, I haven’t paid a penny for software
Comment by Ian MacGregor — 10. May 2009 @ 20:02
Unfortunately this is the way it is going to be, I am a Linux User, I have switched every computer I have (@home and @work), and I have also backed and pushed to do a full conversion at my workplace, however, I’ve had to accept the fact that there are some applications that are not Linux Native, and they don’t have an equivalent. We have to accept that we live in a Windows world and so many software companies are developing M$Win Software, whether we like it or not.
A clear example is that remote access software that creates a secure tunnel between two computers connected to the Internet, to my surprise, I am not able to run its client software on my Linux netbook, so I am now going to have it dual booting just to use that application, as well as others to manage my firewalls.
There are other software that we run through Wine and they run better than they do on a native Windows environment.
Wine is a great piece of software, and until everything changes, it will be a vital application for the Linux users.
Comment by Iveen Duarte — 10. May 2009 @ 20:43
I strongly agree with you and Mark Shuttleworth in relation to WINE. But I disagree when you say you would like to see real advertising for GNU/Linux. Wouldn’t that just give it a much too commercial feel. It is one thing to spread knowledge and understanding of what GNU/Linux is, but to actually advertise it as though you were trying to sell it would mean that you are attempting to appeal primarily to those people who respond to advertisements on TV rather than people who will actually benefit form using it. If you make it feel commercial you remove the attitude towards developing an OS which GNU/Linux has thrived on.It makes it feel as though you are creating an OS primarily to get people to use it rather than to make the best OS possible that is continuing and will continue to improve.
Comment by Scruffy — 11. May 2009 @ 02:02
@Iveen Duarte
If you are referring to LogMeIn kind of software tunnel, you can use Hamachi(from LogMeIn) to setup a no config VPN. Join to the VPN from anyother network, take the system with VNC. It was real simple and fast. This can free you from the dual boot torture.
Siva
Comment by Sivaram Kannan — 11. May 2009 @ 06:41
I am a linux user since a couple of years ago. Beside the tecnically advantages that i gane by using a Linux sistem in comparision to what i have used before i also feel that Linux much better represents my thought and feelings about life. I would have gladely paid for the software i use, and so i do whenever i can. What i like is the movement behind everything, its core values. For me Linux stands for a new way of thinking. Openness, sharing, transparency, freedom, collaboration and fair play. I agree with the comments from Scruffy. I haven’t read the interview with Mark but i would like to know how he defines “to win”.
Comment by Mange — 11. May 2009 @ 06:55
About Apple:
> The key behind their success is all marketing; from the eye candy to the advertising.
Somebody needs a reality check. Power of Apple is in theirs tight integration of OS with H/W. Marketing - every product does need it. But with only marketing, you will not manage to sustain business for three decades.
Unless Ubuntu decides to jump on OEM bandwagon, any comparison with Apple is ridiculous. MS is much closer target, as there is much larger overlap in target markets.
Comment by Dummy00001 — 11. May 2009 @ 07:00
Dummy00001,
>>Power of Apple is in theirs tight integration of
>>OS with H/W. Marketing - every product does need it.
I are partially correct. The advertising is also a big component to their success. As for software and hardware integration, look at Sun Microsystems and their acquisition by Oracle; look at SGI and their recent acquisition. There are a lot of limitations to this approach and the giants of the past are now no more or close to it.
When I talk to people who think about purchasing Apple products, they do so because of what they hear: more stable, less malware, not Windows, etc. And it just “looks cool.” As for the stability, it does help when you limit the range of hardware you have to support.
scruffy,
I understand your points made about GNU/Linux commercials and I can agree to an extent. Although I am confident that there would be more people willing to migrate to something new with little to no risk (globally), if they were only aware of the existence of options.
Comment by admin — 11. May 2009 @ 07:20
Shuttleworth is right in so far as Linux will not succeed as just a cheaper version of Windows. And Linux does need advertising, which means people do need to support vendors (and vendors in return need to provide corporate services, like advertisements).
If there isn’t going to be heavy advertising, there isn’t anything with imitating MS apps initially. That is one strategy MS used to expand, imitate the competition and slash prices. They also of course had some marketing and sales reps to trumpet these facts.
Linux is behind MS in several significant ways (ahead of MS in others, but you need to be at least as good as what you are replacing):
1)3rd Party Apps. Android with an Apps store might make head way, but no other distro, as it stands, has a real chance except in special purpose deployments(i.e. an IT dept does it). Major obstacle: Could distro’s all please make a standard file system etc. There are too many things that could be standardized across all Linux versions that aren’t, mainly because people are being arrogant premidonas (or so their reply’s on the email groups etc certainly seem to indicate).
2)Find a real alternative to Outlook. Sorry but there just isn’t one (not if they are advanced Outlook users, and a TON of those exist).
3)Screen adjustments tools aren’t as good as MS Windows.
4)There isn’t a file sharing protocol built in as good as SMB/CIFS.
5)There are still issues with some hardware. Especially high end gaming hardware, and those guys would switch to Linux if you could get them significantly more frames per second or something. Low hanging fruit anyone? These guys probably don’t care about Outlook, etc and real time Linux is that much faster than Windows right?
On the more Corporate side:
6)AD is a vastly superior way to manage and deploy computers than /etc. And AD is free(yes you have to buy the OS, but any AD like functionality in Linux costs more dollars than Windows does. No LDAP doesn’t count, virtually no programs, tons of programs use AD.
7)POSIX files system permissions aren’t as rich as NT’s, and NT’s make sense. The whole permissions thing needs to be reworked to be much richer.
8)INTEGRATE PROGRAMS. This is sort of an issue for the common user too. Could the KOffice people please give it up and instead work in integrating OpenOffice completely into KDE? And kudo’s to KDE for chasing Redmond (any possible passing it, have yet to try KDE 4.x as it doesn’t seem stable yet). MS tightly integrates all their products together (thing Word using the SharePoint database just as saving/loading files from disk). Linux just lacks a lot of integration as the developers don’t care (and don’t get it I think).
Fix these mains points, and frankly I am not sure about 7 due to Open Source’s nature, and Linux will dominate the desktop on merit.
Comment by Charlie Page — 11. May 2009 @ 22:41
Dreamweaver has no match in Linux. The closest thing is Kompozer, but it’s still way behind - comparison does not even make sense. That’s the only reason why I use CrossOver. It hurts to admit, believe me.
Comment by Nepo Devlos — 12. May 2009 @ 07:38
Only recently I have noticed changes in the personal computing scene. What I mean is, 3rd party vendors are starting to support GNU/Linux for the home user; but it is a very slow process. A few months ago I went to purchase some label paper and I did not want to deal with emulating it through WINE. To my surprise, in bold letters and logos, the package stated that the software was supported in Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Truth be told the templates were saved in PDF and MSFT Word doc formats (which opened in OpenOffice).
I like to think that this recognition of another operating platform can be credited to the popularity of the netbooks along with major vendors such as Red Hat, Canonical, Novell to even Google. I think eventually GNU/Linux will get there, but they still need to build that user base before major 3rd party developers even consider porting applications over.
Comment by admin — 12. May 2009 @ 08:32
This is what I am talking about and a problem for the future of GNU/Linux. Who cares what a couple of Windows guru IT technicians think (no offense intended)? Windows is not GNU/Linux and vice versa. When we stop treating it as if it were then we will be able to move on.
Comment by admin — 13. May 2009 @ 09:42