Why more people don't use GNU/Linux: it's the apps, stupid

Sam Varghese
Saturday, 17 October 2009 12:14

Opinion and Analysis

Take the case of Skype, which is based on a proprietary protocol but provides versions for Windows, the Mac and Linux. The functionality available on Windows far outweighs that available for Linux; it is a killer app on Windows but hardly so on Linux.

It is used by businesses worldwide to reduce communications costs and is a handy instant messaging tool as well. The software is free. Having tested out the Windows version and being a user of the Linux version, I can well see why nobody would even think of Linux where this app is concerned.

On the other hand, there are plenty of areas where GNU/Linux shines. Take the case of k3b, a CD/DVD writing application created by Sebastian Trueg and part of the KDE desktop environment. I have tested more than a dozen similar applications to try and provide my wife, a Windows user, with a decent application for this task but, believe me, nothing can beat k3b.

There are times when like applications on the Mac cannot do a certain task - and k3b comes up with the goods. When you can outdo multimedia apps on the Mac, then one needs to sit up and take notice.

No amount of praise is too much for this truly great piece of work. And, as is often the case, the  creator and main developer is a modest man who refuses publicity.

But then you wouldn't find people wanting to switch platforms because of an application like k3b. People are willing to put up with much less capable apps in this area because they have killer apps for other tasks which are much more mainstream.

One cannot blame the developers of applications that run on GNU/Linux for this situation. Developers often create applications to scratch their own itches and are not bothered whether others use them or not. Those of us who have the opportunity to use their applications should only be grateful that we are saved the cost of buying a proprietary application and also that we have an application at all.

Lest we forget, users are not the most patient of people. They want everything yesterday.

When I bought my last PC, a single-core AMD64 box three and a half years ago, there was no Flash plugin for the 64-bit port of Debian (or any 64-bit distribution for that matter). It didn't bother me. A year or so ago, a version was released. A free approximation of Flash, called Gnash, also came into the software repositories, But, even if either had not come along, it wouldn't have caused me to pull my hair out.

Would the average user put up with not having Flash? No, the average user wants the cake, he or she wants to eat it and he or she wants to eat the plate as well. And they will be moved only by killer apps. That's how it is and that's how it will be for the foreseeable future.