What would make you switch to Linux?

[ghettosynth]

Something that hasn't been mentioned is support. When a PC or laptop is sold, the support is only for the OS installed by the vendor. If you ring up with a problem, whether its hardware or software, they will ask you to go into Windows to do x, y ,z etc When you tell them you've installed Linux - game over. Youll get the same from ISPs. That's a no go for professionals

In fairness, I tell my ISP to stuff it, but then, I never call them until I know that the problem is with their network and I have no difficulty whatsoever speaking their language. I would never, for instance, ask them to help me configure my router, I do that myself and I tell them as much.

So I agree with you in the sense that it's not appropriate for users that don't know what they're doing with respect to networking. Further, it's all well and good to say that you can run Reaktor under wine, until you need NI's help.

[ZenPunkHippy]

Can you give me some specific examples?

Logic now has Flexpitch and "Drummer".

Live has audio to MIDI.

Cubase has remote studio session.


The list is endless ... Linux is still on the starting line.

Nothing wrong with that, it just can't compete with the big players (yet).

[xamido]

You need to be specific. "Better" is very vague. What does a DAW in Windows do that a DAW in linux cannot do? How specifically is the workflow better? (BTW, I'm assuming you've already been using linux, since you have said that it is not as good.)

Can you give me some specific examples?

As far as my soundcloud page, it's just stuff I'm experimenting with, but not a "proof" of what linux can do. Just my own playing around..


brian

Easy, name me the native plugin in Linux that sounds as good as U-He Diva, NI Monark, Slate VBC, UAD Fatso, Lexicon PCM, or Spectrasonic Omnisphere (assuming you have tried these plugins on windows or mac )?

Better workflow for DAW, can you drag n drop easily like Studio One? Can you integrate hardware controller easily like Ableton Live? Do you have Melodyne DNA like Sonar?

If u think better is vague with the example that i've given above then i have nothing else to comment.

Every native tools in Linux is an inferior version compared to what their counterpart in Windows and Mac have.

[ZenPunkHippy]

This is blatant fanboi-ism and nothing else.

No Linux host has the advanced features of any mature Mac/Win DAW.

To claim they do is simply insane.

[whyterabbyt]

What does a DAW in Windows do that a DAW in linux cannot do?

integrate melodyne
integrate rewire
integrate max/msp
integrate bit-bridging
work with my choice of audio interfaces
work with my choice of MIDI interfaces
work with my choice of controllers
work with my choice of plugins

etc

[robenestobenz]

The user experience on Linux just isn't good enough for the average computer user. With the make-up and
attitude of the Linux community, I don't see how this will change. As an example, the person who said that poor UI is fine because anyone could code their own alternative. The amount of people who can do this versus the amount of people who would just like to use some software to help them in whatever kind of work it is they wish to do is minuscule.

The fact is that taking software from simply being functional to being great looking and intuitive exacts a massive cost in time and effort. It's also quite boring work, from a coding point of view. Given these factors, and that the community is generally made up of more power-user types with atypical preferences of functionality versus usability in the zero-sum, it's little wonder so much open-source software feels so raw.

[Arglebargle]

I think it's kinda funny, the thing the unites Windows and Mac users is talking about Linux.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

many here agree that there is definitely a market for linux, and that if it were the choice for someone to have nothing or to have linux, then linux is a preferred option. but, once again, most computers (even those that end up in the hands of the poor), will have some version of windows installed, which opens them up to a world of free software, and still without many of the hassles that go with linux

in fact, you kind of shoot yourself in the foot using something like omnisphere (or many other paid or free windows/mac software) to make your argument, as you are only demonstrating how greener the grass is for everyone else

and one last thing, speaking to this idea of affordability - we know that those in underprivileged areas covet that which we in other countries take for granted. given this, it is not hard to see that someone in this situation will be far more likely to just end up choosing pirated software rather than being the "one of these kids is doing his own thing".

the linux community is a niche community, fueled by geekdom. it clearly has some strong benefits in certain scenarios, but it will never become what you hope it will while the community remains as it is, nor without any real corporate funding which, of course, will just defeat half of the purpose

I don't think everyone in underpriviledged areas covets. Not at all. (Although I do think that some in America would like to think that the rest of the world envies them.)

Spain and Italy also have other reasons, perhaps more politically-oriented, for choosing to not use Windows. But it's not out of jealousy.


brian

my mistake for not qualifying that i am not speaking for EVERYONE . either way, the continuing progress of the westernisation of the entire globe seems to hint at a certain desire

i live in spain, and have lived in italy. the linux users here (and there) are still the same type of computer user - y'know, the one who is interested in computing for computing's sake. the only others that seem to have linux installed, do so because someone in their family is a linux buff, and takes the responsibility for maintenance

there is a lot of non-acceptance from the linux contingent in this thread; a lot of grandmas are being taught to suck eggs. forgetting the fact that the thread title has already been changed, the few with the pro-linux agenda are missing that that quite a few here have much experience, even to the extent of praising (and relying on) linux for many facets of their computing needs, but none of them are interested in the os as it currently relates to audio, and yet you keep trying to convince people

for the general user, the computer interface/os would be better if it were totally invisible. windows went a bit far with 8.0, but the majority of users want access to their social/computing/cloud world with a swipe of the finger (less, if possible) ios brought about a huge surge in the amount of the older generations (who previously wouldn't know how to turn a computer on), being able to tap into the world of internet communication. THIS is what the majority is after, despite the linux community seemingly digging their heels in

i have no issue with the open-source nature of the os and software, but it is delusional to think it will ever become mainstream. for it to become more than a niche experience, it would have to become everything it stands against (and seeing as this little niche is so hung up on it's own sense of politics, ethics and anti-corp nonsense, that will just never happen)

so, while it is quite clear that us non-linux musicians can understand why you's lot want to stick with linux, what is it stopping you understanding why we have no interest ??

[xamido]

I think it's kinda funny, the thing the unites Windows and Mac users is talking about Linux.

Yeah, it's like this. I don't like Mac but i respect the OS quality, feature and its software.

But when linux try to enter audio discussion, my first response is 'go away kid, this is for adult. Your toy does not mean a thing for grown up'.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I think it's kinda funny, the thing the unites Windows and Mac users is talking about Linux.

and some of us are happy to use more than one o.s, for different reasons

for me :

osx for pretty much eveything
windows, on bootcamp for more game availability
ios for music apps, otherwise android is perfectly fine
linux ??

[fmr]

what is it about Linux apps that make them chronically and inescapably ugly? Well I guess it's the lack of corporate funding for skilled graphic designers. doesn't matter if you're using the command line, but it's something that has always turned me off. they all have a "look"... flat and as if the elements don't all belong belong together.

It's not lack of funding. It's simply personal taste. I've seen non-free apps that are quite ugly too. The difference is, that you can make a new skin for a linux app if you want, the code is there for you to access and change the way you like. That isn't always the case with non-free software.

brian

It IS the case with more and more non-free apps (they can be "skinnable", and these usually already come with good looking GUIs to start from). Sure there are others that don't give access to that part , but nevertheless, when the term "ugly" is applied to Linux applications, it isn't just a matter of taste - I think its as Arglebargle said. Programmers can't/won't hire graphical designers to do what they know better, and code the GUIs themselves. The result are those terrible interfaces, that you come to poorly justify as "personal taste" (i'd say "personal LACK OF taste"), and using the tired argument "you can make a new skin for a linux app if you want". Sure I can, but what I don't have the skills? Shall I hire a designer just for me? Wouldn't it be better to just make it more good looking on the first place? Maybe by listening to the users? Or, since the users are all geeks, they share the same (LACK OF) taste?

[Arglebargle]

I think it's kinda funny, the thing the unites Windows and Mac users is talking about Linux.

Yeah, it's like this. I don't like Mac but i respect the OS quality, feature and its software.

But when linux try to enter audio discussion, my first response is 'go away kid, this is for adult. Your toy does not mean a thing for grown up'.

Yeah, likewise. Not into Macs, but I won't argue that they are a powerful and fully professional platform for making music. Linux can be great for some things, but it's nowhere in the same ballpark. Now with DAWs like Bitwig being released with native Linux support (and not looking like a pile of shit), maybe things will get better. But even there, Bitwig is an expensive commercial DAW, not some random geek's labor of love. That's what it will take, commercialization.

[trimph1]

This is blatant fanboi-ism and nothing else.

No Linux host has the advanced features of any mature Mac/Win DAW.

To claim they do is simply insane.

I've tried saying the same.

The fanboys just keep on keepin' on.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Bitwig is an expensive commercial DAW, not some random geek's labor of love.

that is a great point. it won't do well, though, as i am sure it goes against the whole linux raison d'être

[trimph1]

I'd still like to know why the Linux community has issues with some of us not being interested in their OS.

Whyte hit the nail on the head for me. There are scads of freeware/magware programs as well as great commercial plugins of MY choosing here. MY choosing. Not something that has to be fiddled with, coded into, or some other bs...

For me to go over to an OS that is still in its formative stage is just nuts ...