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Applix Exits Linux Desktop UPDATED
The folks at Newsforge have got a story up regarding Applix exiting the Linux desktop market. Applix has been making ApplixWare for the desktop market, but has found the competition from the free office products to be too rough -- but they are continuing to work on the server-side versions. I've been contacted by VistaSource, the company that is owned by Applix, doing Applixware - they want to make it clear that while they are focusing on serverware, they are not doing away with the desktop completly - but that development will continue on both desktop and server versions.
Honestly,
;)
I wanted to try ApplixWare...
However, the lack of actually being able to try it before I buy really put me off. There are some damn good alternatives as well.
I'm not sure what I am afraid of when closed source vendors start stalking the linux market. Maybe I should be happy... maybe I should rejoice... but damnit.. deep down I am just a scared little penguin
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
DOH! I've been using Applixware without a crash for 3 years. Maybe I should have upgraded to give some support . . .
Drat - I like Applixware a lot !
I think both points here are valid. There are a lot of people who'll choose the free equivalent if it's available, and most of them will not choose it for philosophical reasons; they'll choose it because it's cheaper.
Having said that, though, if a commercial program offers you a specific feature that you absolutely must have, or a significant performance jump in features that you use regularly, you'll more than likely buy the commercial program. I played with StarOffice a bit and while I was impressed with it in some ways, it was a true performance pig--and in my work I'm regularly dealing with spreadsheets that have 20,000 rows or more. I can literally open the file, make a couple changes and close it again in Excel while StarOffice is still loading the document. (I think I may well have killed StarOffice after it had been trying for fifteen minutes.)
Realistically, I don't think we're going to see the Linux community stop "competing" against commercial alternatives. For better and worse, the hacker mindset is different now than it was a decade ago; the idea of the cottage software house has given way to the "gift culture," a shift from direct (financial) reward to indirect rewards--partially the ego boost of name recognition, and to some degree the possibility of parlaying that recognition into employment in a field you presumably love (although probably not in a job whose success depends on selling commercial software, of course).
There's probably an interesting sociological thesis lurking in there somewhere. Much of the "open source" movement is strongly--some might say excessively--libertarian, yet it's friendly only to certain types of entrepeneurship. It's downright inimical to "traditional" methods of selling software, despite the fact that it's a proven business model and that the proposed alternative--shifting software to a service-based and "value added" commodity business--is still largely theoretical. (There are software companies that derive a significant portion of their income through support contracts, I believe, but they're still selling proprietary software--and would have no compelling business reason to become open.)
This letter is in response to the article "Applix Gives Up on the Linux
8 46 4
Desktop" written by Robin Miller and posted on NewsForge on 11/28/00.
It is the belief of VistaSource, Inc. that some of the statements made
in this article are incorrect, and some of the quotations made by RJ
Grandpre were taken out of context. To correct some of the statements
made in this article, please note the following:
* VistaSource is not "throwing in the desktop towel." VistaSource will
still produce and sell its desktop product through traditional and
online retailers and through its own online store. VistaSource has also
committed to future releases of Anyware Desktop (formerly Applixware)
and will continue to provide the same quality product and level of
service to its existing customers.
* The real news is the change of focus from a company that focuses on
desktop applications to one that is forging the way server-centric and
web-based applications. This shift in focus was announced on August
15th, 2000 at Linux World in San Jose. For the complete release which
further describes this strategic shift, please visit:
http://www.vistasource.com//news/press/pr_96634
* Active development continues for BOTH Anyware Desktop (Applixware) and
the server version, Anyware Application Server. Both products are
recognized as integral components of the VistaSource product mix.
Thank you for your attention and promptness in correcting this matter.
Regards,
Allison Antalek
Marketing Communications
VistaSource, Inc.
Apllix always tried to sell their products the traditional boxed product way. But that system can never keep up with the speed of internet distributed, by the time their product hit the shelves, there was always a new update of Star Office, or Abisuite, or Koffice on the net. They never allowed you to "try before you buy" or evaluate their product over the net, So why would anyone buy their porduct if you can try out every other product first?
I don't think this is the first closed-source software company that will fail on Linux. The fact is that mass-market proprietary software (with the possible exception of games) will never make it under Linux.
If there are enough users to support an Applix, Corel, or Microsoft Office style suite, then there are enough Open Source developers who will build one. Even without StarOffice, KDE and Gnome both have efforts that, although a few years away from matching the big boys feature for feature, are "good-enough" for most users today.
That doesn't mean there's no hope at all for proprietary stuff under Linux, but stick to vertical market applications (where you're not going to find an active developer community) or applications were you can sell support. Office apps just won't cut it.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
Point in case here. If you are going to charge exorbient amounts of money for something then it had better be worth it. Apparetnly Free Office Suites have gotten to the point that they so the same job as over-priced suites. Now if they made something revolutionary they would be able to make money easily. This is just keeping corporations from getting comfortable with selling the same OLD thing in a shinier box.