Facebook users: ask for Linux software

[David Sanders]

>On 2 March 2011 01:59, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> Also, there is a regrettable, seldom-mentioned but real correlation
> between people downloading legitimate free software and people
> downloading illegitimate, pirated free software, off Bittorrent seeds
> and so on. If anything, because Linux is so open and tweakable, it's
> probably easier to pirate commercial Linux apps than Windows apps.
> There are lots of commercial copy-protection products for Windows and
> even some for Mac OS X.
>
> In other words, frankly, I would reluctantly have to agree with
> commercial companies that expressed reluctance to port to Linux. It's
> not done well for many vendors so far - I can't name anyone that's had
> a successful commercial app on Linux. Can anyone else?

I have no problem with paying for software on Linux, and have done so
many times, and far more than I ever did with Windows. It's worth also
remembering that FOSS projects that work on a sponsorship model
(Ardour for one) seem to be doing fairly well, so the overall shape of
the market is different.

In terms of drivers, I find that nowadays most non-crap hardware has
Linux drivers, whether free or proprietary - and DKMS has made the
blobs actually usable with a minimum of trouble.

As for successful commercial software - Nero Linux is still being
updated, so someone must be buying it (I am, for one). Then there's
Crossover, and also the service-based apps, like Skype.