| Weekly edition | Kernel | Security | Distributions | Search |
| Archives | Calendar | Subscribe | Write for LWN | LWN.net FAQ |
Porting free software to Windows
Porting free software to Windows
Posted Dec 16, 2004 17:20 UTC (Thu) by marduk (subscriber, #3831)Parent article: Porting free software to Windows
My friend uses gaim, Firefox & Thunderbird... all on Windows. Admittedly it annoys me. And now he recently installed Cygwin. So now that he's got all these cool apps, he sees no reason to need to learn another operating system like Linux.
I've often thought about this dilemma, and one of the ideas that keeps bouncing back and forth in my head is something like this: Create an open-source application suite for Windows, but crippled in some way that users *might* be inclined to switch to Linux. My idea is for a "GNOME for Windows", which includes stuff like Firefox, Evolution, Gimp, gaim, OpenOffice, and maybe Totem and some games but excludes some as-yet-to-be-named applications that only run on Linux/Unix and are good enough that some Windows users may consider switching over to GNOME for Linux to use.
This has the advantage that our star apps that already run on Windows get marketed as one nice little application suite, so Windows users are likely to get exposure to them all. This will facilitate their eventual (hopefully) transition to Linux. It also puts OSS in the press as having an open source alternative to the standard Windows desktop. If people start using these apps and then they see the same apps running on Linux some may ask why they are settling with paying for Windows and dealing with viruses, worms and spyware when they really don't have to.
(Log in to post comments)
Porting free software to Windows
Posted Dec 17, 2004 18:00 UTC (Fri) by mly (guest, #2171) [Link]
My friend uses gaim, Firefox & Thunderbird... all on Windows. Admittedly it annoys me. And now he recently installed Cygwin. So now that he's got all these cool apps, he sees no reason to need to learn another operating system like Linux.You can't win them all, and I think it's a good thing to have the ability to choose. Try to relax a bit. Let him make his choices. Besides, I'm pretty sure you'll be more successful in "selling" Linux to your friend if you stop trying...
Given time and lots of exposure to things like Firefox, Thunderbird, cygwin, python, Gimp and lots of other things that are standard on Linux, the barriers for switching will get lower and lower. Linux is getting more streamlined on the desktoop, and I'm pretty sure free emulation for the odd Windows app some might need to continue to run will improve as well.
You need to be a market leader to be able to make use of a lock-in approach, and deliberately avoiding ports to other platforms is the same plain and old lock-in strategy that Oracle, IBM, Microsoft and others have tried.
Linux isn't such a market leader yet, and I think it's a bad idea in general, regardless of whether you think it's better that people use Open Source operating systems instead of Windows. Relax a little and let people make their own choices. Try to lower the barriers, don't try to raise them.
I guess Bill Gates is as honestly convinced that the world would be a better place if everybody used Windows, as we are that it would be better if everybody used open source alternatives, but I think it's best if we try to make it as easy as possible for people to get their job done regardless of what plaform they work on.
I'm using MS Windows a lot, for various reasons. Cygwin and Python has certainly helped me keep my sanity. Firefox and Thunderbird allows me to use the net with a lot less worries than if I used Microsofts tools. I'm very happy for this ability, and if someone would try to take this away from me, I'd surely revolt!
Porting free software to Windows
Posted Dec 17, 2004 18:52 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link]
I guess Bill Gates is as honestly convinced that the world would be a better place if everybody used Windows, as we are that it would be better if everybody used open source alternativesTo be more precise, I believe Gates is convinced primarily that the world would be a better place if everybody used the same platform. He's also convinced that the only practical way he can bring that about is if that platform is Windows.
And then from the other side, I'd like to point out that some of discussion here makes it clear that "we" are not all convinced that the world would be a better place if everyone used Linux -- or free software. Many of us instead favor diversity, many favor choice, and some are just ambivalent.