I'll Use Linux When $App Magically Appears

I won'r us $app because it doesn't support Linux. I also write to $app developers.

> I also write to $app developers.

Been there, done that. You can see how well Intuit listens. :(

yep, and every other proprietary software developer.

We need to have every Linux user flood them with emails on a regular basis.

> We need to have every Linux user flood them with emails on a regular basis.

In my experience, simply not buying their products speaks louder than email.

I'm not sure about that JD. Lots of people don't buy any number of products from any number of manufacturers for any number of reasons, It's unlikely that they are going to know I'm not buying their product, because of lack of Linux support, unless I tell them.

I'm thinking about buying this

Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad 2.0 GHz Processor Q9000 64 bit 6M Cache 1066Mhz 45nm Display : 15.4" WUXGA+ (1920x1200) TFT LCD Cristal Bright Screen Graphics : nVidia GeForce Go GTX 260M 1G DDR3 PCI Express Graphics NB Memory : 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 RAM 2.5" Hard Drive : 500GB 5,400RPM Serial-ATA Hard Drive HD Partition : Single Partition (I'll actually rebuild it with (root, swap, home) Internal Optical Drive : 8x DVD-/+RW Dual Layer Drive Integrated Options : 802.11B/G Wireless Module Integrated Options : 2M Pixel Build in Camera free Operating System (with Recovery Disk) : Ubuntu Linux OS Pre-loaded

> It's unlikely that they are going to know I'm not buying their product, because of lack of Linux support, unless I tell them.

Oh, I told them.

There should be a central database that all distros package managers can report to when a user cant find an app in their repos that fits their needs also all apps should have a built in feature request feature. Wich would help us to build open source apps that meet the demands of our users and at the same time UNDERCUT the closed apps developers that wont make a version for linux. And im sick and tired of people saying linux users wont pay for things. I have paid and will pay for good software especially if it does something i cant find anywhere else (fills a niche)

@viator, that is an interesting idea. Perhaps it is something that one can try to sell to the Distributors.

Yes Linux users will pay for good software. I used to pay for every copy of Mandrake/Mandriva I used. I was a Powerpack user for about 6 or 7years.

Quoting:all apps should have a built in feature request feature.

Doing it for all apps is a dumb idea (duplicity, bloat) and will never work. Instead, you want a single app that you can use to report a feature request against any package/app. These already exist, such as Gnome Bug Buddy and Debian reportbug. Remember, feature request are bugs too!

Now all we have to do is re-educate ourselves, and all other users to remember to load a bug reporting application, so we can report Feature requests. But yes Sander is correct, that is the nature of such tools. The problem is, I think, most of us see them from the perspective of here's a bug (as in something broke), it needs to be reported, but tend to forget the feature request side of things.

Then there is the issue of new applications, as suggested by viator, how do you do that through a bug reporting system, when the project doesn't exist?

Ah, but what do you tell purists that have a fit once an app IS ported to Linux yet remains closed/proprietary?

@kingttx, you tell them, "then don't use it"

File it as a bug.

Remember, the very first bug filed against the Mozilla suite was, "Mozilla is not the most-used browser." It had nothing to do with code or behavior. Sadly, it's gone now.

Quoting:Now all we have to do is re-educate ourselves, and all other users to remember to load a bug reporting application, so we can report Feature requests.

That's why, AFAIR, OpenOffice.org stopped calling them "bugs" and calls them "issues" instead, since, like, 7 years ago, or something? I think there are some more of these renegades out there...

Any suggestions on new application requests should be handled.

@tracyanne: Track them, count them and forward them to a bounty database?

Quoting:Remember, feature request are bugs too!

Ah, you mean I can file a bug @AD that AutoCAD doesn't work on Linux? That would be brilliant! Uhm, I mean, if they fix the bug.

Nope, I think something like IdeaStorm is better for feature requests. Look how many people asked for 'no OS' or Linux on Dell (100k), and how many people file bugs for Ubuntu (surprise me with statistics, cause I dunno!) That's why Ubuntu has its own Ideastorm (brainstorm) right now I guess.

I'm not sure why, but it probably has something to do with most people not thinking of their own "ideas" as "bugs".

Probably it's only a name issue. Rename Gnome Bug Buddy to Gnome Ideastorm (if Dell and the judges allow that) and it will probably attract more attention.

Quoting:Ah, you mean I can file a bug @AD that AutoCAD doesn't work on Linux?

In this case not a bad idea. In fact, I think, we should do that to all Proprietary companies that have something we want that doesn't support Linux. We should, probably, also file those as ideas on a bounty database, or something similar in case a Free Software developer wants to start a project.

Quoting:Free tip: Nobody cares if you use Linux/FOSS. Use it, don't use, just please spare us the windy blather.

That should be posted at the top of every newbie help forum. They threaten us, "If I can't get this to work, I'm going back to Windows." That's not a threat to me, it's a threat to the poster.

As for this quote, though

Quoting:Try Web surfing dozens of different sites without Flash-- it might shock you how much the modern Web depends on dratted Flash.

I do often surf the web without Flash installed, I see how popular Flash is, and it's almost always a better experience without Flash.

How true on both accounts.

I DESPISE flash. Sure, it's fun for web videos and such, but there's obviously better ways (like embedded ogg/theora....). That and the fact that 64bit flash is horribly unstable for me (and has a habit of taking down FF with it) so I have to resort to using opera for several flash-needing sites (like Hulu).....

> there's obviously better ways (like embedded ogg/theora....).

It's shocking to me how much better the embedded theora videos are in Firefox 3.5 compared to Flash.

s/better/bigger/

(although not like it used to be)

Quoting:Try Web surfing dozens of different sites without Flash-- it might shock you how much the modern Web depends on dratted Flash.

I have swfdec plugin installed and I never actually needed to turn it on (the videos start as disabled, gray boxes, you have to explicitly start them). But maybe it's the sites I visit...