On Sun, Jan 15, 2012 at 1:27 PM, Alan Russell <ajrussellaudio@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Also, let's not kid ourselves on - Bitwig is not a Linux app, it is a
cross-platform app that happens to support Linux. No one is going to
install Ubuntu just to run Bitwig. It's not going to bring anyone over
to Linux, neither did Renoise or energyXT, both cross-platform
closed-source commercial apps on Linux. It's just going to be
available to those who want to run it on Linux, because they make
music on Linux already. Take it from a recent convert - we Win/Mac
users aren't stupid, we know that Linux is all about the FLOSS. It's
stuff unique to Linux like JACK that is going to bring users over, not
the stuff that we can install anyway.
Going to pick on you, but you are far from the only person to have these thoughts(Including me not to long ago)...
Since when does Platform/OS==SoftwareRunningOnPlatform/OS?
If you are referring to the ecosystem that includes the community, then I would argue that includes far more than just Linux as a platform. If you are referring to the OS, then it shouldn't make any difference what other OSes this software runs on or doesn't.
In other words, what makes any software 'Linux Software' by your definition? Is it that it is Open Source? Open Source is far more than just Linux. Is it that it runs on Linux? Well Bitwig apparently runs on Linux (Supposedly) as do many other closed source programs.
Linux is far more than just audio software in general. Audio Software is also far more than what you will find on Linux. I am on Linux because I prefer it as a platform to run my software on. I was running Ardour and Mixbus on OS X full time for many years (And before that on Linux as well) but have switched back to Linux not because of the individual software on Linux, but because of the platform. Believe me it literally cost me thousands to do so in lost plugins etc. Appropriate tools to do what I get paid to do professionally and make my living off of is what forced me onto OS X . And indeed for some things i am still forced to use OS X or even a VM of Windows, System Design Modeling and Prediction, DSP programming(Speaker processing, etc.), System Tuning, etc. all still don't have the needed tools available on Linux to match what I need to do and the speed I need to do it in in order to continue being paid. But for audio production work, the tools are now at a point on Linux that I feel I can come back and even after having lost some plugins that have no replacement on Linux natively, lost access to hardware, and other tools, still accomplish my work in at least a comparable amount of time to allow me to continue to work and get paid.
Does this mean I don't care about open source? Not at all, if I didn't I would probably have stayed on OS X with Logic, DP, PT, or one of the many other solutions. This is entirely to point out that Linux as the Platform, Open Source as the Ecosystem, and Software as the Tools are three completely different topics, and should be treated as such. As a result I am probably on the same side as Alexandre and see this coming to Linux not as a bad thing that will destroy the ecosystem. Just that the ecosystem will change. How? Who knows, but we will find out.
Seablade
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