On Wed, Jan 16, 2002 at 11:30:22AM -0600, Rodd Ahrenstorff wrote: > Your right Phil...but please notice I said "desktop". I don't > understand why no one developing for Linux in the last 3-4 years > would try to create applications for this viable market (that being > desktop editing on a prosumer level). I guess that's sort of the answer: it's not people who develop for Linux that drive the process -- it's people who market video stuff. If *they* see Linux as a feature, then they can push the engineers to incorporate it. Otherwise, the engineers tend to go for the low hanging fruit. > But as a newbie to Linux, my alternative OS, I hate to see it once > again lagging behind. Heck I'll be happy to plug along, learning as > I go. Take heart -- in my experience, Linux lags initially, but once it reaches a critical mass, it really takes off. > As is the case today. The tools for editing video readily exist on Mac and > Windows. So how will Linux ever get ahead? Well, the same way development on any other platform will: through a combination of clever/talented developers, and committed and coherent marketing. The thing about Linux is that it's easier for these people to get into the game, since they don't have to pay so many licenses for the base work. > > If you're talking about Linux not leading the way with the tools > > trickling down to the semi-pro / consumer level, well, it's usually > > the original platform or a close cousin that gets to lead the way. > I would kindly disagree here. The Mac platform lead the way for > many years. Now more hardware/software for video editing (even > still image manipulation) is sold for the Windows platform both for > consumers and professionals. At least according to broadcast trade > magazines. You're not really disagreeing, you're noting a shift in the market over 10 years. There's no reason the next one couldn't be towards Linux. Frankly, as someone who used to run a digital media based business on a daily basis, I don't know why people ever suffered through non-real-time, non-multi-tasking systems. From the bottom line point of view, it becomes obvious that the more bits you can shuffle from source media to delivery media, the more $$ the company makes. This is one area where Linux really does offer advantages to some of the other systems. > You sound like you have a long history with Linux and a much greater > understanding than I. Well, that's just how I sound. ;) > Could you shed some light on what you believe these > "open fields" may represent? I just mean that if you were to sit down and say "what's an application that hasn't been done before?", it becomes a lot harder to make a list. Office/"productivity" software, databases, real-time systems, communications/media -- computers have already been applied to lots of these fields. It's hard to find wheels that haven't already been invented than it was 30, 20, or even 10 years ago. -- www.rephil.org "Trying to do something with your life is like sitting down to eat a moose." --Douglas Wood