[PD-dev] call for discussion: native video for Pd

[Julian Oliver]

..on Sat, Jun 03, 2006 at 02:21:47PM +0200, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> 
> On Jun 3, 2006, at 3:27 AM, Yves Degoyon wrote:
> 
> >ola,
> >
> >> Speaking  of, how about releasing that PDP port for Windows?
> >>
> >>.
> >
> >please no.. thank you.
> >
> >sevy
> 
> That's where we have differing opinions on free software.  I think  
> that free software should be totally free, and I think that the more  
> free software is available for Windows, the more we chip away at  
> Microsoft.  Plus, now there is ReactOS, which is a free Windows.
> 

if only it were that simple ;)

i'm not *ideologically opposed* to Windows ports of Linux software, so much as 
disappointed whenever it occurs. 

porting software to a platform is supporting that platform - you're affirming 
that the port target, in this case Windows, is deserving of the software. 
you're also widening the possible user base on that platform, enriching it 
and increasing the possibility of user investment. 

to say it's 'chipping away at microsoft' is stretching it a bit i think, 'Jitter' perhaps.
i know several artists that have installed Linux to run PDP, something they
seem to be pretty happy about now. 

some say ports of popular mail clients and office software may make sense
in that the user becomes familiar with software that will run on a non-proprietary 
platform, making it easier for them to switch later. this may work in
the 'Enterprise' where cost-cutting is the primary drive to the adoption
of a free OS and application criteria is not especially diverse.

in the case of multimedia applications, i have yet to see that hypothesis pay off. 
where digital artists are concerned many seem to prioritise application diversity
over anything else. because there is a *comparitive* lack of multimedia software on Linux 
(though more than enough for me) many cling to proprietary platforms like Windows and OSX, 
chosing to mix proprietary multimedia applications (they've usually stolen) with those of free software. 
so, because Linux has less 'artists', less software is made only for Linux,
and so less artists use it and commit to free-software as a whole. chicken meet egg.. 

my loose change,

julian

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