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View Full Version : Does Linux really need a "killer app" to succeed? (another nice article)



ubuntu_demon
December 24th, 2004, 09:35 PM
Does Linux really need a "killer app" to succeed?
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/12/20/1715209

I think the author is right. Open source software should be avaiilable on linux and windows to make the transition from windows to linux as smooth as possible.

A killer app that's not suited for windows XP might also help. Something like an easy personal webserver with blogging functionality. Sure it's possible in windows XP but windows XP crashes sometimes making it not an ideal platfor for a webserver. Or some webservice thingy.

links/discussion/opnions/remarks please

BWF89
December 24th, 2004, 10:03 PM
Great article. Since most open source programs are released under the GPL it would be impossible for them not to get transfered to Windows anyway. The ability to run open source programs on Windows was one of the key factors of me switching over...

EDIT: Linux allready has a "killer app". It's the Apache web server...

ubuntu_demon
December 24th, 2004, 10:23 PM
Great article. Since most open source programs are released under the GPL it would be impossible for them not to get transfered to Windows anyway. The ability to run open source programs on Windows was one of the key factors of me switching over...

EDIT: Linux allready has a "killer app". It's the Apache web server...
apache is nice.

here's an idea :
an ubuntu package for a forum
an ubuntu package for a blog
an ubuntu package for a personalwebsite
an ubuntu package for a guestbook
etc

A user would install for example the ubuntu blog package, apache would get installed with default secure settings and he would be able to easily start blogging. (with doing as less configuration himself as possible)

Zundfolge
December 24th, 2004, 10:36 PM
Linux already has all the open source "killer apps" it needs ... there's basically an open source program for most everthing.

What Linux really needs to succeed is for closed source software companies to release software for it ... believe it or not many people don't trust open source (because of two reasons, 1) if its free it can't be good and 2) they have been burned by lots of free crap software for windows).

Also, most of us who use Windows machines at work use very specific software packages. While OpenOffice covers most of the office software well, there's lots of software that people have built their businesses around that is not available for Linux.

Adobe software (for us in the publishing/graphic design fields) and CAD software (I work for a map company and the cartogaphers use MicroStation and AutoCad).

I can't get my office changed over to Linux of any flavor until Adobe, and the CAD companies make Linux software (no, Wine doesn't cut it).

ubuntu_demon
December 24th, 2004, 11:42 PM
Linux already has all the open source "killer apps" it needs ... there's basically an open source program for most everthing.

What Linux really needs to succeed is for closed source software companies to release software for it ... believe it or not many people don't trust open source (because of two reasons, 1) if its free it can't be good and 2) they have been burned by lots of free crap software for windows).

Also, most of us who use Windows machines at work use very specific software packages. While OpenOffice covers most of the office software well, there's lots of software that people have built their businesses around that is not available for Linux.

Adobe software (for us in the publishing/graphic design fields) and CAD software (I work for a map company and the cartogaphers use MicroStation and AutoCad).

I can't get my office changed over to Linux of any flavor until Adobe, and the CAD companies make Linux software (no, Wine doesn't cut it).
agreed but I think the real killer "app" is user-friendlyness. More user-friendlyness means more users for Ubuntu. OS'es are constantly evolving. Linux has to keep in pase.

Zundfolge
December 25th, 2004, 12:48 AM
I think the real killer "app" is user-friendlyness.

Yep ... thats why I keep saying that Mac OS X is "Linux for the masses"
:-D

Quest-Master
December 25th, 2004, 02:14 AM
Yep ... thats why I keep saying that Mac OS X is "Linux for the masses"
:-D

I won't use OS X till they turn down their costs and make it available for something other than PPC.

HiddenWolf
December 25th, 2004, 11:45 AM
Linux and OS need to be known.
The killer app is there. It's called Firefox.

ubuntu_demon
December 25th, 2004, 12:00 PM
Linux and OS need to be known.
The killer app is there. It's called Firefox.
firefox is nice because when people already use it in windows they can switch to linux and keep using it. We need that also with openoffice. If a lot of windows users will primarily use open source software then linux will gain ground because the switch is easy and linux has more stability and security.

HiddenWolf
December 25th, 2004, 05:46 PM
firefox is nice because when people already use it in windows they can switch to linux and keep using it. We need that also with openoffice. If a lot of windows users will primarily use open source software then linux will gain ground because the switch is easy and linux has more stability and security.
Exactly. FF is not a killer app by itself, it is just a great program.

However the marketing and hype will surely do Open Source a lot of good. get open source known, and people will start remembering linux.

Smash
December 25th, 2004, 06:35 PM
Autocad, all about Macromedia, and all the best games (with appropriate Ati and Nvidia drivers).

Better hardware support. I hate to search for a days in google before buy something! :mad:

When i bought my WiFi card (supported by orinoco), mi dealer sad me that i choosen a difficult way with Linux. :neutral: