What 3 software companies would make the biggest difference, if they Supported Linux?

[NoTiG]

Just curious. Here are my thoughts..

Adobe : behind alot of software such as shockwave, flash(somewhat supported) and of course Photoshop, which is a large gripe for many

Blizzard: Behind many of the best PC games. Since they probably have the widest userbase (with WoW) I am guessing they would also be very beneficial

#3: this one is tough. What else is necessary? Alot of people complain about lack of tax software(intuit), CAD software, games. I'm going to take a stab and say Intuit however.

Interestingly enough, novell has conducted a poll and here are some of the results:

1. Photoshop (Adobe)
2. Autocad (Autodesk)
3. Dreamweaver (Adobe)
4. itunes (Apple)
5. flash (Adobe)
6. studio (Adobe ? )
7. quicken (Intuit)
8. visio ( MS )
9. quickbooks (intuit)
10. lotus notes (IBM)
11. world of warcraft (blizzard)
12. premiere (Adobe)
13. acrobat (Adobe)
14. turbotax (Intuit)
15. illustrator (Adobe)

Manufacturers

1. Adobe
2. Macromedia
3. Autodesk
4. Microsoft
5. intuit
6.
7. apple
8. corel.
9. IBM
10. Blizzard

So pretty much the main manufacturers in the top 15 software are Adobe, intuit, MS, Apple, IBM, autodesk, blizzard.

Apple and MS cannot be expected to support linux since it would be a conflict of interest, and luckily they don't have the majority of wanted applications.

As for another thing... i was curious about lotus notes... since IBM supposedly supports linux. Apparently they have offered lotus notes for linux since late last year? I am not sure... but i think if it's not available yet it soon will be maybe? http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19940.wss

That leaves mainly: Adobe, Intuit, autodesk, and blizzard.

I suppose autodesk might make it into my top three but because i'm slightly biased maybe? I will pick Adobe, intuit and blizzard.

Now... adobe somewhat supports linux. How do we get them to fully support linux?

[karellen]

by enlarging linux user base/market share ;)

[cunawarit]

by enlarging linux user base/market share ;)

Exactly, it is about potential sales.

You know what I think may help? Cheaper and cheaper PCs, sometime soon the market will get so competitive for the ultra cheap range of the scale that some manufacturers may switch to pre-installing Linux. Once people start filling up their homes with these cheap Linux PCs companies might think a bit more seriously about supporting Linux properly.

[blueturtl]

You know what I think may help? Cheaper and cheaper PCs

I do hope you mean inexpensive. PCs cannot (hopefully) get any cheaper than this. Many hardware related posts on forums (including here) are related to people buying something that had nice specs and crappy build quality.

Not to get sidetracked though, I believe Adobe, Blizzard and IBM are probably the companies that matter. Not that having Microsoft or Apple support us would be bad, it's just not going to happen.

[cunawarit]

No I meant cheaper and nastier, what will help Linux along the way are disposable PCs.

[Spr0k3t]

I think to get some of those groups involved, it would require better hardware support from companies like Broadcom, ATI, and Creative. Just a thought.

[Chilli Bob]

1. MYOB
2. QUickbooks
3. MYOB again.

Until MYOB and Quickboooks run on Linux properly there is no hope of making real inroads to the SOHO market.

I understand some versions will work with wine, but I wouldn't trust my MYOB files to it.

[Spr0k3t]

Myob?

[Bavo]

The number one and two are for sure Adobe and Microsoft.

Flash, Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and MS Office would be huge

As for the third place its more difficult, maybe a big game producer.

[heldal]

Applications for which there are functional alternatives under linux are not so important. First concentrrate on what's missing, and for the vast majority of end-users that is games. For linux to succeed in the mass market it needs a rich 3D multimedia (sound and video) environment that is not just on par with DirectX, but superior. I.e. so good that game-developers can't afford to ignore it. And it'll have to be cross/multi-platform to ease transition.

[cowlip]

Applications for which there are functional alternatives under linux are not so important. First concentrrate on what's missing, and for the vast majority of end-users that is games. For linux to succeed in the mass market it needs a rich 3D multimedia (sound and video) environment that is not just on par with DirectX, but superior. I.e. so good that game-developers can't afford to ignore it. And it'll have to be cross/multi-platform to ease transition.

OpenGL, SDL, OpenAL...etc...exist.

[bash]

As for another thing... i was curious about lotus notes... since IBM supposedly supports linux. Apparently they have offered lotus notes for linux since late last year? I am not sure... but i think if it's not available yet it soon will be maybe? http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19940.wss

I found a beta and a trial for Lotus Notes on the IBM website that work with Linux. Gonna download it and try and see how it works. Oh and you need to register with IBM to be able to download the beta/trial.

/edit:

As far as it looks like its only avaiblable as a .rpm package. Lets see if alien likes to be a good lil alien and make a nice deb out of it.

[SunnyRabbiera]

number 1 in my mind is adobe, adobe has a lot of software in its grasp.
Sadly they dont like unix all that much, thus why linux and mac support is so abysmal.

[the.dark.lord]

1.Microsoft
2.Mac

Stop making OSes ;)

[DigitalDuality]

d

[daynah]

Intuit and Blizzard and Adobe. I'm all agreeing with you, but in a different order. Intuit is number one tops.

Linux for Clinics needs Intuit for the bills. Linux CE needs Intuit for bills also, if they want the OS in churches. Microsoft has a -good- hold on the home. It's the -default- in the home. But it's got a stranglehold in the work place. That's MS's fortress. If we start taking that turf, then we're not a mosquito, then it's war.

Adobe is Mac's turf. I don't think bombs will drop, though. People who want to spend money will spend money, people who don't, wont. I think, even far into the future, Apple and Linux wont become enemies.

Blizzard is when we finally win the war at home, stop pansying around with these "Is Linux ready for desktop use?" articles.

[Bloch]

Google.

They already support linux (or at least grant it equal respect) in various ways.

Picassa and google-earth are geat apps and me and the two friends I installed for all use them.

Google docs works fine in linux - http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/10/first-look-at-linux-friendly-google.html - this surely involved some extra testing. Other large companies can't seem to make even a shopping cart that works on a linux machine. Another example - I can't pay my VAT online where I am unless I use windows.

Google will usually mention the three major OS's in one sentence - none of the "works on both mac and PC" mindset of most websites.


This allows users to access the Google Talk service for instant messaging from all major platforms, including OSX, Linux, and Windows.

Their advertised Firefox extensions work on the linux version, no fuss made of it.

[Quillz]

Since this thread is a bit of a fantasy, I think Adobe, Microsoft and EA would make the biggest difference to Linux if supported by them. Adobe would of course bring over its entire Creative Suite line, especially Photoshop, which would create a monopoly of sorts but also bring rapid development to GIMP. The same scenario with Microsoft... If Office 2007 was suddenly available for Linux, I think we'd see big changes as to how OpenOffice and KOffice are developed. And as EA is the largest video game publisher, it would be interesting to see how fast the software library of Linux could grow.

[justin whitaker]

Since this thread is a bit of a fantasy, I think Adobe, Microsoft and EA would make the biggest difference to Linux if supported by them. Adobe would of course bring over its entire Creative Suite line, especially Photoshop, which would create a monopoly of sorts but also bring rapid development to GIMP. The same scenario with Microsoft... If Office 2007 was suddenly available for Linux, I think we'd see big changes as to how OpenOffice and KOffice are developed. And as EA is the largest video game publisher, it would be interesting to see how fast the software library of Linux could grow.

That was pretty much my way of thinking as well. I think that Office 2007 and Sharepoint 2007 are somewhat "killer apps" on the corporate side, and it really would not make any difference to Microsoft if they ran on a Vista or Linux backbone, so long as they were legal copies.

Similarly, if Adobe moved even selected parts of their product line over, say PS, Flash, DW, each are well worth the price of admission.

I suppose it is gets back to the whole free and open v. closed argument for many (should proprietary code be made available, or should you support clone projects) but I have no issue paying for quality software.

And you are dead on with EA. If they even dabbled in Linux, say with the Battlefield series, it would bring 1000s of players over to Linux...remember, the mentality of that group is "I'm so uber"....what would be more uber than running through the desert on your 1337 linux box?

(ok, that was a gross generalization. Mea culpa.) :)

[koshatnik]

Interesting that people mention alot of games companies. PC as a gaming platform is dying a slow death. MS want it dead and want to switch users away from PC to their PC-under-the-TV Xbox instead. Games sales in terms of ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is lowest by a long way for PC platform, so I can't really see it lasting much longer. MMORPG's might be its saviour, but they require a massive investment and alot of companies are stretched already and looking for a quick buck.

Just my opinion.

Anyway, I agree that Adobe would be a major plus. Can't see that happening though either.

[M_the_C]

When I started reading this thread I thought I was still in the gaming section, so I came up with game software companies.

I only came up with two however:

EA
Valve

Firstly EA as several others have mentioned is probably the biggest games publisher, therefore they could put pressure on\assist developers with adding Linux compatibility.

Secondly Valve, how many threads are currently running in the gaming section of the forums asking how to run Steam with x. They are growing quite quickly now with Steam gaining support (most recently Eidos) Also most of their modern games run on Valves Source engine, if they could make Source work in a Windows and Linux environment then they would be along way to making their most recent games Linux compatible.

This applies as the 3 main computer industries are Businesses, Gaming and Porn. If all three supported Linux fully then nothing would stop us. ;)


Interesting that people mention alot of games companies. PC as a gaming platform is dying a slow death. MS want it dead and want to switch users away from PC to their PC-under-the-TV Xbox instead. Games sales in terms of ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is lowest by a long way for PC platform, so I can't really see it lasting much longer. MMORPG's might be its saviour, but they require a massive investment and alot of companies are stretched already and looking for a quick buck.

Just my opinion.

PC gaming is not dying, it is changing. Sales in stores are dropping but Online Purchase (i.e. Steam) is growing.
Also you could look at the amount of people that play MMO's like WoW.

[koshatnik]

PC gaming is not dying, it is changing. Sales in stores are dropping but Online Purchase (i.e. Steam) is growing.
Also you could look at the amount of people that play MMO's like WoW.

Depends on who you talk to. I was an games industry analyst for five years and I know for a fact that most devs, if they had a choice of dropping one platform from their roster, would choose PC. Piracy is rife, ARPU is low, and support costs are highest.

Like I said, mmorpg's might be the saviour for pc as a gaming platform, but there are precious few online games that make a decent buck - WoW is very much an exception, and Blizzard piled a huge investment into WoW for it to get so large. News reports that virtual worlds are now worth "billions" are misleading and inflated.
TBH, i dont see the point of a PC as a gaming platform. Hardware convergence will relegate the PC to other duties, ones its better suited to, and consoles and entertainment hubs will be de rigeur. When you think about the amount of processing power in a ps3 for example, compared to the average PC, you can see where things are heading. And its also in the interests of Sony, Nintendo and MS to make devs invest more in console gaming. And they generally get their way.

In the end, the platform is irrelevant.

[fuscia]

i agree with Spr0k3t. hardware companies would make a bigger difference. imagine what open source developers could do if they didn't have to work around getting the equipment to work.

[heldal]

OpenGL, SDL, OpenAL...etc...exist.

Sure, but how many commercial-grade games use them? I've got X-plane and ut2k4 and that's about it ... more or less. That OpenGL apps run as good or better on Linux than any other OS doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of development on PCs in the entertainment area happens on the Windows platform using proprietary libraries.

The criteria specified was that toolkits has to be so good that developers can't afford to ignore them. Apparently most developers have no problem ignoring OpenGL, SDL or OpenAL.

[disturbed1]

Adobe's support for Linux with Flash is just fine. Most computer users don't legally use Dream Weaver or Photoshop.

The average PC user only wants to surf the Internet, IM, edit a couple of photos, listen to music, watch movies, and play a couple of games.

Instead of wanting companies to port $200-$1000 programs to Linux, how about donating $200-$1000 to those great programs that are already available for Linux? Imagine what Open Office could do if 500 people donated ~$400 to their project?

If you look at the power of Photoshop CS3 ($659 full version) compared to GIMP ($0), the GIMP is a damn good program.

It kind of ticks me off whenever I hear people talking about bringing commercial software to Linux, but never touch on giving money to the devs that already have a great foundation, and could do so much more if a fraction of the money these commercial programs gained were given to them.

Linux doesn't need commercial software companies for better support, Linux needs better support from the hardware makers like ATI, Nvidia, Creative Labs, so on and so on.