When it comes to gaming in Linux, all I ever hear is that this game or that needs to be ported. Sometimes it sounds like a kid brother wanting to do what his big brother gets to do.
Being able to run Shogo, Quake, or any of the other big-name, big-effects games is nice, but that's not going to convince anyone that Linux is a viable gaming platform.
What will turn heads is when some company, either one of the current or some startup, designs and builds a top-notch game specifically for Linux. When non-Linux users see that there is something out there that they can't have, then they'll sit up and take notice.
Macromedia Flash is available for Linux, but there is no Linux version of Shockwave. RealPlayer G2 for Linux is probably permanently stuck in feature poor alpha since RP brought out a new player, currently only for Windows. And Realplayer 5 can no longer be configured as a plugin, only as a stand-alone application.
The very idea that there should be a Linux rally in conjunction with the W2K release is appalling. It will do nothing to promote the use of Linux, and will probably do nothing more than result in PR damage.
Face facts -- aside from a different approach to development and marketing, Linux and Windows are the same thing: operating systems. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. If one or the other were to just disappear, some tasks would not be performed well when the other stepped in to fill the gap.
While I spend most of my time in Linux, simply because I enjoy using it more than Windows, it's not all things. I'm limited in my ability to surf because of an underpowered browser (Netscape) and a lack of plugins (Macromedia Shockwave and a workable Realplayer, as well as Windows Media Player formats that nothing in Linux can handle).
I do a lot of webpage design, and Linux has serious shortcomings in this area. While I can code by hand in any text editor, or use Bluefish, it is simply more practical to use Homesite in Windows.
Office software is another area sorely lacking. Staroffice comes close to filling the bill, but in a world where MS Office has set the standard, asking users to trust their productivity to underpowered and incompatable Linux equivalents would simply be wrong.
And such a rally would do nothing to correct this situation. Constant bashing of MS has done nothing in the past. It's preaching to the choir when done in venues like/., and makes Linux users look like Trekkies with their rubber ears and toy phasers when done in public.
Time should be better spent writing code for Linux. See something that's lacking? Create it, or improve on what's already available. That is the whole idea behind Open Source software. Windows got to where it is partly because it does what people want it to do. As buggy as it might be, if it didn't fill a need, no amount of monopolistic practices would have caused it to spread the way it has.
I have no desire to turn on CNN the day of the W2K release and see a bunch of Linux Geeks who can't get a date and have too much time on their hands waving stuffed penguins and burning Windows CDs. I would rather be able to walk into my favorite software store and find useable products made for Linux.
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Being able to run Shogo, Quake, or any of the other big-name, big-effects games is nice, but that's not going to convince anyone that Linux is a viable gaming platform.
What will turn heads is when some company, either one of the current or some startup, designs and builds a top-notch game specifically for Linux. When non-Linux users see that there is something out there that they can't have, then they'll sit up and take notice.
Macromedia Flash is available for Linux, but there is no Linux version of Shockwave. RealPlayer G2 for Linux is probably permanently stuck in feature poor alpha since RP brought out a new player, currently only for Windows. And Realplayer 5 can no longer be configured as a plugin, only as a stand-alone application.
Face facts -- aside from a different approach to development and marketing, Linux and Windows are the same thing: operating systems. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. If one or the other were to just disappear, some tasks would not be performed well when the other stepped in to fill the gap.
While I spend most of my time in Linux, simply because I enjoy using it more than Windows, it's not all things. I'm limited in my ability to surf because of an underpowered browser (Netscape) and a lack of plugins (Macromedia Shockwave and a workable Realplayer, as well as Windows Media Player formats that nothing in Linux can handle).
I do a lot of webpage design, and Linux has serious shortcomings in this area. While I can code by hand in any text editor, or use Bluefish, it is simply more practical to use Homesite in Windows.
Office software is another area sorely lacking. Staroffice comes close to filling the bill, but in a world where MS Office has set the standard, asking users to trust their productivity to underpowered and incompatable Linux equivalents would simply be wrong.
And such a rally would do nothing to correct this situation. Constant bashing of MS has done nothing in the past. It's preaching to the choir when done in venues like /., and makes Linux users look like Trekkies with their rubber ears and toy phasers when done in public.
Time should be better spent writing code for Linux. See something that's lacking? Create it, or improve on what's already available. That is the whole idea behind Open Source software. Windows got to where it is partly because it does what people want it to do. As buggy as it might be, if it didn't fill a need, no amount of monopolistic practices would have caused it to spread the way it has.
I have no desire to turn on CNN the day of the W2K release and see a bunch of Linux Geeks who can't get a date and have too much time on their hands waving stuffed penguins and burning Windows CDs. I would rather be able to walk into my favorite software store and find useable products made for Linux.