"In his keynote at OSCON, Microsoft General Manager of Platform Strategy Bill Hilf announced that Microsoft is submitting its shared source licenses to the Open Source Initiative. This is a huge, long-awaited move. It will be earthshaking for both Microsoft and for the open source community if the licenses are in fact certified as open source licenses. Microsoft has been releasing a lot of software as shared source (nearly 650 projects, according to Bill). If this is suddenly certified as true open source software, it will be a lot harder to draw a bright line between Microsoft and the open source community." In addition, Microsoft has launched a new website where it details its relationship with open source.
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Member since:2006-06-01
Hmm... There is a Maya for Linux. It has the same version as the windows version (8.5) and works very well the last time I saw it. Also Softimage XSI has a Linux version - and there are a lot more very, very professional software makers that are making Linux software for years now..
So - it IS possible to develop a expensive, very complicated commercial program for Windows and Linux. Also there seems to be a market for it, otherwise these company's won't bother to do it...
Then.. If Adobe won't make a Photoshop for Linux they are in essence admitting they are less capable in writing software than the above company's. Seems weird.. There IS a market and there is a lot of money to make there - otherwise the above company's wont bother to make a Linux version at all.
So - there must be another reason to refuse to make a Linux version of Photoshop. I wonder what it is?
Sorry about my English - it's not my native language..
Member since:2005-07-06
You're right; if I grabbed every MacOS X user who was willing to give up MacOS X if *NIX (be it Solaris or Linux) had Creative Suite, you would see a max exodus from Apple like you've never seen.
Adobe simply want to invest the *least* amount possible - and when their marketshare is erroded by a competitor like Microsoft, then run off to the DOJ demanding that Microsofts development to be castrated.
I can't wait till all these products from Microsoft coming out - you'll see Adobe gnashing of teeth but refusing again to port their applications to *NIX (Solaris and Linux) because it would actually require money to be spent on the business rather than inflated management salaries, bonus's and corporate jets.
Member since:2006-02-05
Professional CG has a long history of using UNIX as a platform (SGI anyone?) Professional image editing and publishing really doesn't.
How about the gaming industry? Why is it that 90% of new games arent even ported to OSX, even though OSX has at least twice the desktop install base of linux?
Member since:2005-11-12
Member since:2006-02-05
CG has a long history of being developed on UNIX, as most desktop platforms dont do clustering anywhere near as well, and you need render farms for any serious work. If the publishing industry required HPC, then it would be another story, and it really would make no sense not to port to linux. However, that isnt the case, and most serious artists are on Mac and Windows, which is exactly what adobe supports.
As I said in another reply, the gaming industry is another prime example of the user base on linux being too small to be worth their while.
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
"The key takeaway we've reached (after two less than 24 hours playing with the iOS 7 Beta release) is this - every App must consider even basic updates to its UI to survive in a post-iOS 6 world." Great. Telling developers to update their entire application - user interface and behaviour alike - to target a look and behaviour that isn't final yet. Seems like potential for a lot of wasted work here."Overall the app is really basic, and designed for on the go editing. Microsoft says it's not planning to create an iPad version, noting that tablet users can utilize the Office Web Apps instead. We'd like to see some additional options for editing, including more clear options for text formatting and the ability to insert and change images, but it's a solid attempt for something you're only really going to use for editing in emergencies." A resounding meh can be heard from all over the world."Today, most people are using modern browsers that support the majority of the latest web technologies. Better yet, the usage of legacy browsers is declining significantly and newer browsers stay up to date automatically, which means the leading edge has become mainstream. Given these factors we've decided to retire Chrome Frame, and will cease support and updates for the product in January 2014." Eh.The Next Web: "First of all, many of the new icons were primarily designed by members of Apple's marketing and communications department, not the app design teams. From what we've heard, SVP of Design Jony Ive (also now Apple's head of Human Interaction) brought the print and web marketing design team in to set the look and color palette of the stock app icons. They then handed those off to the app design teams who did their own work on the 'interiors', with those palettes as a guide. We've also been hearing that there wasn't a whole lot of communication between the various teams behind say, Mail and Safari. And that there were multiple teams inside each group that were competing with various designs, leading to what some see as inconsistencies in icon design. Those may well be hammered out in days ahead." What. Reminds me of how Microsoft does (used to do?) things.
"The German Parliament, the Bundestag, has introduced a joint motion against software patents. The resolution urges the German government to take steps to limit the granting of patents on computer programs. In the resolution, the Parliament says that patents on software restrict developers from exercising their copyright privileges, including the right to distribute their programs as Free Software. They promote the creation of monopolies in the software market, and hurt innovation and job creation." After New Zealand, we now have one of the most powerful economies in the world moving to ban software patents for all the reasons smart people have been outlining for years. also: "The government should also push to ensure that software is covered by copyright alone, and that patent offices (including the European Patent Office) stop granting patents on software." Germany is not a country the EU can ignore. Very good news, this.
Member since:
2006-02-05
What I'd love to see is a white knight to come and challenge Adobe's monopoly in the graphics market - offering applications where by *NIX is a first class citizen and can out perform Adobe products in almost all respects.
You are going to be waiting a very long time. Adobe apps are not only top quality, but they arent doing the typical thing of just making it to the top and then sitting still. You still see really intelligent, innovative features coming out with each new release.
Now that they bought the macromedia stack (which was a fantastic move, makes everyones life alot easier), any professional web developement is done with at least some adobe products. With their absorption of freehand, there is now nothing else on the market that comes even remotely close to illustrator, and while Photoshop does have competition, they are still a few generations behind in virtually all respects.
Why does it have nothing to do with the marketshare? Desktop linux is typically put at between 1-5% of the market, is it really worth the overhead of porting all their apps to a system barely anyone uses out of the server room? You could argue that even 5% is pretty friggin big, but support costs on linux are a nightmare due to the lack of a standard platform.
Apple has a small marketshare too, but it is worth their while to develop for it. Commercial companies don't support linux because as much as it is a hackers wonderland, it is a very business unfriendly platform.