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The Linux distillery Just what is the big problem with Linux?
The Linux distillery Just what is the big problem with Linux? | Just what is the big problem with Linux? |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Friday, 20 March 2009 | |
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Now, while people exist who don’t know of anything other than Microsoft Windows, there are also those who simply have made the conscious choice not to use Linux. Just what is the big problem that prevents adoption? I asked a number of Windows users what would have to change about Linux to make it something they would seriously move to. The responses form a collection of matters that merit resolution, whether by those developing Linux distributions or those advocating Linux. Of course, there were those who said “nothing” would make them shift from Windows to Linux (while simultaneously pining for Windows 7 to be released to free them from Windows Vista.) Games One of the most common refrains I heard was, almost in Steve Ballmer parody, “games, games, games.” Now, those of us who are Linux people know that you can play games on Linux. You get no end of card games out of the box, although that’s not really what the avid gamer has in mind. More excitingly, vendors like id Software and Epic Games – even the U.S. Military – have released straight-out Linux ports of the Doom and Quake and Unreal series of games, as well as defence force sponsored military sim America’s Army. Yet, even so, it’s clear that Linux lags behind the pace of games being pumped out for that other, DirectX-driven operating system. Sure, there are efforts being expended into cross-platform enabling tools like WINE and Cedega but until the average end user can simply load and install World of Warcraft or Crysis without having to muck around and consult endless forums for help you can rest assured this complaint will continue to surface. On the one hand I can definitely forgive the likes of Red Hat and Canonical and other Linux vendors for not considering gaming a high priority when they have such momentum in the server market. Yet, on the other hand, while home users aren’t generally keen to fork out for a word processing package or e-mail system or other essential productivity apps, there clearly is good money being spent on gaming. What I’d like to see is a greater push for pure Linux ports of modern, desirable games. Imagine going into your game store and seeing rows of retail boxes with Linux branding? In fact, companies aren’t shy on porting their games across platforms. You have PC and Wii and Nintendo DS and Xbox and PlayStation variants of titles. Why do they put the work into this and not into making native Linux versions? Here's why, and what has to be done. |
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