[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: Linux article -- too cutting-edge for Freedomware

[Bryan J. Smith]

Steve Baker wrote:  
> It's a tall order if you expect OpenSource solutions to all of those
> needs.

It all depends.  How commodity is the solution?  In a lot of engineering
applications, it is not.  EDA is definitely not!

There is no further proof than this than in the graphics processor unit
(GPU) design market.  Here you have products that _double_ in speed
every 9 months.  It's not shock that there are no Freedomware GPL
drivers to be found for the latest, vendor drivers (even ATI has stopped
releasing specs as of the R300+).

The tools that drive EDA are in the same boat.  They change quickly.
There are some cool "support" EDA components out there, but the cutting-
edge stuff is very Commerceware and guarded closely.  Some like to call
Synopsys the "Microsoft of EDA," but they don't seem to be so bad IMHO.

> What has to happen is that users of all of these packages go to their
> respective manufacturers and demand Linux versions.   In many cases,
> porting them would be a snap - and perhaps an opportunity to get their
> users to buy another copy.

But that's not a Freedomware solution.  You're merely asking the vendor to
port their Standardware or Commerceware solution over.

> I see some signs of this happening in some industries.  Packages like
> Maya and LightWave have Linux versions because the movie industry
> pushed that to happen.

Digital Domain really started all this.  Many places were already using
Linux for control systems, because it's so engineering-friendly.  The
visual tools came later.  Now they are commonplace.

But these vendors can afford to do it.  They are "under the radar" as
Red Hat's Bob Young refers to it.  If you come in with a product that
Microsoft considers "not commodity enough," then they don't care.

One of the things holding #3 software vendor Adobe back, just like 
top-10 Intuit, is that once they start porting their mainstream apps to
Linux, they will be in Microsoft's crosshairs.  Corel experienced this
first hand after they bought WordPerfect.  Corel's move to Linux wasn't
a mis-calculation, as Microsoft cut _all_ insider tools from them, so
there was no where else to go (although Microsoft would later help
Corel, for other reasons that are a long story).

So even though over 5 million users have requested Linux ports of
Adobe Photoshop and Intuit Quicken, they won't port.  Especially Intuit,
because it would be the _death_sentence_ for them because Microsoft
controls their distribution channel.  Adobe will be the first to plunge.

I think Disney's work on WINE to get it to run Photoshop was a major
coup on just how much people need such apps on Linux _now_.

> It seems to me that manufacturers of machine tools would stand to
> benefit greatly from running Linux on their machines

Many _already_do_ run Linux.  But you don't see it.  In fact, many
run on Linux, but produce a Windows front-end.

> - and that in turn ought to push software like AutoCAD to cross-
> platform solutions.   I thought AutoCAD already ran on some other
>  UNIX systems (I vaguely recall seeing IRIX and Solaris versions in
> the dim and distant past) - so it might not actually be that hard to
> port.

See my other post.  Cross-platform AutoCAD died the second it adopted
VBScript over AutoLisp.  Autodesk would cut their own throats if they
offered a Linux port now.

> But unless end-users apply pressure, the path of least resistance
> for these guys is still Windows.

Correct.  But as I pointed out with the Superstore model, sometimes it's
just more profitable to stick with being a Microsoft partner.

> The good news about CAD is that interoperability is a big thing for
> them - so there are a lot of public/Open file formats out there that
> packages can import/export.

Unfortunately, just like MS Office, AutoCAD does not support many of
them -- at least not without some mega-$$$ for add-ons.

There are plenty of LGPL libraries that they could use royalty-free,
but that would break their Hostageware profit model.

[Paraphrased] "Only corporations can avoid lock-in as vendors will
never offer a way out" -- 2001 Gartner study on non-Windows/Linux
adoption.


-- 
     Linux Enthusiasts call me anti-Linux.
   Windows Enthusisats call me anti-Microsoft.
 They both must be correct because I have over a
decade of experience with both in mission critical
environments, resulting in a bigotry dedicated to
 mitigating risk and focusing on technologies ...
           not products or vendors
--------------------------------------------------
Bryan J. Smith, E.I.            b.j.smith at ieee.org