Letters to the editor

Release of LWN to non-subscribers

Hi,

I must admit to being surprised at the 2300 subs level. Are there only 2300
people interested in reading the most informative bunch of electrons about
Linux that is around?

Although it may go against the "information just wants to be free" idea, I
want to ask what the imacpt of releasing LWN weekly edition, 1 month later
to non-subs would be. I would imagine you have an idea of how often pages
are visted vs time. Do you see a large number of people visiting the weekly
edition once it is released for free?

My subscription to LWN was pure altruism. I could easily wait 1 week but I
value the information you supply and are happy to pay for it.

Regards,
Stephen Howell

Comments (10 posted)

Re: Why Linux is a desktop dud

Hi,

You article on ZDNet was very interesting and very positive towards Linux. I
think you should look at the recent Linux distributions and you will find that
normal tasks are pretty easy, and they will be much easier soon. I would say
that you missed the real reason why Linux will be a dud for some time to come on
the home desktops. The reason is lack of native games. That is the single
biggest reason why people want Windows. There are emulators for running Win apps
on linux but running games is not very useful, because it will not work as well
as on Windows. That is what interests most users.

But I expect that the situation is beginning to improve. Hardware is already not
a problem for Linux, as its got big in the Server space. Atleast you can buy a
Linux PC from Walmart. On the desktop first Linux is getting into POS devices.
Next would be corporate desktops, in positions that have not to use speciallized
apps available only on Windows (This is already happening). Then we will see a
demand for those speciallized apps for Linux just like the special effects
industry went through recently. I expect this to happen by the end of next year.
When we start getting speciallized apps (2-3 years down the line) Linux
penetration would be enough for the game industry to start looking at Linux more
seriously. When we get moderate no. of games on Linux, we will be above 20%
penetration in the home user base. This should happen by 2006.

regards,
-anand

Comments (2 posted)

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