[speek]

what percentage do you believe non-open source to be in the linux world?


Edit: sorry bout where i put it origionally... i thought it would fit there...

[techieMoe]

Originally Posted by speek

what percentage do you believe non-open source to be in the linux world?


Edit: sorry bout where i put it origionally... i thought it would fit there...

Just from my dealings with Linux I'd say the vast majority of software in the Linux world is open-source, leaving (and I'm just tossing a number out here) about 10-20% of it proprietary. This includes programs like VMWare, software development tools like Rational Software Architect (IBM), driver software such as ATI's and Nvidia's, and the occasional odd application (Pixel Image).

[d38dm8nw81k1ng]

don't forget your old favourite: Doom 3

[techieMoe]

Originally Posted by d38dm8nw81k1ng

don't forget your old favourite: Doom 3

And lots of commercial games. Can't forget the commercial games.

[DThor]

It would be a very, very hard thing to measure - and do you equate a desktop clock utility with a full-blown 3D animation application, for example? It turns into apples and oranges.

I think there's quite a lot of closed source apps that run on Linux - many of them are specialized things that work with apache servers in mind, also scientific and technical things like liquid flow analysis. Stuff many of us would never have heard of, much less know what to do with. I'm not as ballsy as TM and won't provide a specific percentile range , but my gut sez that I'll bet it's probably the inverse of Windows.

DT

[X.Cyclop]

Antiviruses (Panda, Kaspersky. Who buy it? Nobody).

Originally Posted by techiMoe

about 10-20% of it proprietary

I'd say less. 5%.

[techieMoe]

Originally Posted by X.Cyclop

Antiviruses (Panda, Kaspersky. Who buy it? Nobody).


I'd say less. 5%.

In the consumer market I can agree with this. In the enterprise market, however, I believe there is a lot more proprietary software running on or with Linux, not all of which is out in public (in-house solutions, server software, etc).

[rajkumarmathavand]

yes like proprietary debuggers and similar development tools

[carlosponti]

since this was brought up i saw this article this morning
http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?op...270&Itemid=449

what bothers me is that its not so much linux that is closed parden the pun to the idea of closed source in a linux OS, aside from some ie Debian. there are distros that are happy as long as everything works. the problem is the slowness of proprietary software companies to see linux as a viable alternative to windows by the expanded use by users like ourselves.

[DThor]

That guy's comments about "no new and exciting software" is of course based around the concept of Linux as desktop. I look at that from an end-developer's perspective - what is the advantage of spontaneously doing a Linux port? They won't be making any more money with an itunes, a shockwave. It's literally just more work/money to port and (probably more importantly) support it. I take my hat off to those that have done Linux ports, but I don't particularly boo those that don't. It's a market-driven issue.

Personally I rarely perceive Linux apps as "new and exciting". They're workhorses from my perspective - very reliable, powerful workhorses. That's why I love it.

I'm not dissing those with a hope that Linux can seriously compete on a desktop level - the distance it's come in the relatively short time since I booted up RH 6 is phenomonal. I'd love to see it, but I'm not expecting it.

DT