I see your point, I know what you might be trying to say, but I think you've used the wrong word.
You're not talking about "Art" being one-of-a-kind, but rather an "Artwork" "piece of art" or "work of art" being one-of-a-kind. The definition you've given is really only applicable to certain forms of tangible art - sculptures, paintings etc.
Another respondent who said you are talking a load of crap might be slightly off track as well. Although photographs, music, poetry etc are easily reproducible and certainly qualify as "art", the piece-of-art or art-is-one-of-a-kind argument still applies.
A Beatles album, containing the Beatles' art is worth x - the master tapes to that album - would be worth a bucket load more. There are lots of copies of the album, but probably only one of the master tapes.
However I think the art is one-of-a-kind argument is nice and simplistic for those who like to view art as a commodity rather an exercise. Computer art might never be fine art as a commodity (too easy to reproduce, hard to determine the original) but that doesn't stop it from being fine art as an activity.
Of course it is possible that collectors of computer art might end up collecting the actual workstation used to create the various works rather than the actual work of art.
Sorry about the ramble - I've forgotton what I was talking about.
1) Mandrake keeps on doing what it does best - produce a desktop friendly distribution. This is my preferred outcome, and is not unreasonable. Mandrake are still one of the more popular distributions and their Macmillan publishing deal probably brings in more than a few bucks.
2) Mandrakesoft goes under - but the distribution keeps on going as a community project (a bit like Debian). Not unimagineable given the strong community involvement in the development of distribution releases through Cooker.
3) Mandrakesoft gets bought out by a big hardware company that can see a benefit in developing its own distribution. Imagine IBM buying up Mandrakesoft. So long as they maintain community involvement through Cooker, and partner this with the QA IBM could provide (especially with their own hardware) you could end up with a very good hardware/software combination indeed. Keeping a community involvement would be good for IBM (PR anyway) - they can move into the distribution game without antagonising community developers Given the work Mandrake have put into user-friendliness, if they wanted a desktop distribution, Mandrake is probably a good starting point.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If Loki, or any other Linux game company, wants the KILLER game for Linux - get the rights to the game Quidditch from those Harry Potter books. Sell the bloody thing with a streamlined distribution - set up nice and sweet - Mandrake style - but with a low resource window manager.
Think about it - a 3d action sports game involving magic and broomsticks, based on some of the biggest selling kids books around today. They are even making (have made) the movie. The word "Quiddich" (presuming I have spelt it correctly) is instantly recognisable to any Harry Potter fan - instant 'product recognition' without the hassle of creating one.
Buy the rights to making a Quiddich game and you will have thousands of 8-14 year old kids screaming for their parents to buy it - that kind of pressure will make people install Linux just to play that game.
And it need not be a bad game either. There is lots of scope for introducing voice over IP type stuff so that teams talk during play (Over here John pass) - all sorts of things. Sport for those people that just have to look at a computer screen.
The issue with making a good game does have a lot to do with the music and graphics etc. Musicians and graphic artists however are not ignorant to the OSS philosophy, and you will probably find plenty may be willing to contribute towards good open source games. But there is still a major hurdle to be overcome.
Coders have ready access to high quality tools for coding (compilers etc). Also coders don't necessarily need high end systems to actually do the coding. The costs are therefore not too excessive for a coder to get started and contribute to a GPL game.
Now I don't know about graphics but as a musician there is a lot more involved in getting started than a computer and a linux distro.
First - If a musician is going to record music with all live instruments (real drums etc) and produce high quality sound you are going to have to buy high quality microphones. A couple of SM58's might be great for a live gig, but for high quality recorded music you are going to be paying AUD$1000 plus per microphone easily.
Two - If the musician is going to record all live musicians then realistically you need a room to set up as a recording room. While this need not be expensive, it is going to take up a lot more space than the kind of room a coder can set up for programming in. If you want good accoustics in that room - that's going to be more time, effort and probably money.
Three - a musician needs a good computer. I know coders do too, though I presume you can code on a low end machine and get some work done. Doing any serious music recording on a low end machine is going to be a lot harder.
Four- If the musician is not going to record all live instrumentation, then there is going to be some MIDI sequencing involved. The costs involved in getting MIDI equipment will depend on the individual muso. It is possible to use some of the better soundcards - but there is a catch.
Five - TOOLS
Yes there are multitrack recorders, midi sequencers available for free, for Linux. While these tools are very powerful the products don't (yet) compare to the commercial offerings. The main areas that need work are user interfaces - a bad interface really does get in the way of productive work - and interoperability. I haven't yet found a package that integrates multi-track audio recording with MIDI sequencing in the same way some commercial products do. If you know of one please tell me about it!
Linux provides all the software development tools a coder could hope for. It doesn't however provide all the development tools a musician could hope for. When this is addressed (and I do mean when not if) the entry barrier will be reduced significantly for musicians and there are many I am sure that will be more than happy to compose and record music for use in GPL games. Get some good music, then you are part of the way towards creating that immersive experience of a commercial offering.
You need to remember that many of the principles that motivate open source programmers motivate various artists. As a musician I am happy to make music for the pleasure of making music just like coders are happy to code for the pleasure of coding.
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I see your point, I know what you might be trying to say, but I think you've used the wrong word.
You're not talking about "Art" being one-of-a-kind, but rather an "Artwork" "piece of art" or "work of art" being one-of-a-kind. The definition you've given is really only applicable to certain forms of tangible art - sculptures, paintings etc.
Another respondent who said you are talking a load of crap might be slightly off track as well. Although photographs, music, poetry etc are easily reproducible and certainly qualify as "art", the piece-of-art or art-is-one-of-a-kind argument still applies.
A Beatles album, containing the Beatles' art is worth x - the master tapes to that album - would be worth a bucket load more. There are lots of copies of the album, but probably only one of the master tapes.
However I think the art is one-of-a-kind argument is nice and simplistic for those who like to view art as a commodity rather an exercise. Computer art might never be fine art as a commodity (too easy to reproduce, hard to determine the original) but that doesn't stop it from being fine art as an activity.
Of course it is possible that collectors of computer art might end up collecting the actual workstation used to create the various works rather than the actual work of art.
Sorry about the ramble - I've forgotton what I was talking about.
I see three possible outcomes to this
1) Mandrake keeps on doing what it does best - produce a desktop friendly distribution. This is my preferred outcome, and is not unreasonable. Mandrake are still one of the more popular distributions and their Macmillan publishing deal probably brings in more than a few bucks.
2) Mandrakesoft goes under - but the distribution keeps on going as a community project (a bit like Debian). Not unimagineable given the strong community involvement in the development of distribution releases through Cooker.
3) Mandrakesoft gets bought out by a big hardware company that can see a benefit in developing its own distribution. Imagine IBM buying up Mandrakesoft. So long as they maintain community involvement through Cooker, and partner this with the QA IBM could provide (especially with their own hardware) you could end up with a very good hardware/software combination indeed. Keeping a community involvement would be good for IBM (PR anyway) - they can move into the distribution game without antagonising community developers Given the work Mandrake have put into user-friendliness, if they wanted a desktop distribution, Mandrake is probably a good starting point.
Just a few wildly uninspiring thoughts....
when's it gonna hit Australia?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If Loki, or any other Linux game company, wants the KILLER game for Linux - get the rights to the game Quidditch from those Harry Potter books. Sell the bloody thing with a streamlined distribution - set up nice and sweet - Mandrake style - but with a low resource window manager.
Think about it - a 3d action sports game involving magic and broomsticks, based on some of the biggest selling kids books around today. They are even making (have made) the movie. The word "Quiddich" (presuming I have spelt it correctly) is instantly recognisable to any Harry Potter fan - instant 'product recognition' without the hassle of creating one.
Buy the rights to making a Quiddich game and you will have thousands of 8-14 year old kids screaming for their parents to buy it - that kind of pressure will make people install Linux just to play that game.
And it need not be a bad game either. There is lots of scope for introducing voice over IP type stuff so that teams talk during play (Over here John pass) - all sorts of things. Sport for those people that just have to look at a computer screen.
The issue with making a good game does have a lot to do with the music and graphics etc. Musicians and graphic artists however are not ignorant to the OSS philosophy, and you will probably find plenty may be willing to contribute towards good open source games. But there is still a major hurdle to be overcome.
Coders have ready access to high quality tools for coding (compilers etc). Also coders don't necessarily need high end systems to actually do the coding. The costs are therefore not too excessive for a coder to get started and contribute to a GPL game.
Now I don't know about graphics but as a musician there is a lot more involved in getting started than a computer and a linux distro.
First - If a musician is going to record music with all live instruments (real drums etc) and produce high quality sound you are going to have to buy high quality microphones. A couple of SM58's might be great for a live gig, but for high quality recorded music you are going to be paying AUD$1000 plus per microphone easily.
Two - If the musician is going to record all live musicians then realistically you need a room to set up as a recording room. While this need not be expensive, it is going to take up a lot more space than the kind of room a coder can set up for programming in. If you want good accoustics in that room - that's going to be more time, effort and probably money.
Three - a musician needs a good computer. I know coders do too, though I presume you can code on a low end machine and get some work done. Doing any serious music recording on a low end machine is going to be a lot harder.
Four- If the musician is not going to record all live instrumentation, then there is going to be some MIDI sequencing involved. The costs involved in getting MIDI equipment will depend on the individual muso. It is possible to use some of the better soundcards - but there is a catch.
Five - TOOLS
Yes there are multitrack recorders, midi sequencers available for free, for Linux. While these tools are very powerful the products don't (yet) compare to the commercial offerings. The main areas that need work are user interfaces - a bad interface really does get in the way of productive work - and interoperability. I haven't yet found a package that integrates multi-track audio recording with MIDI sequencing in the same way some commercial products do. If you know of one please tell me about it!
Linux provides all the software development tools a coder could hope for. It doesn't however provide all the development tools a musician could hope for. When this is addressed (and I do mean when not if) the entry barrier will be reduced significantly for musicians and there are many I am sure that will be more than happy to compose and record music for use in GPL games. Get some good music, then you are part of the way towards creating that immersive experience of a commercial offering.
You need to remember that many of the principles that motivate open source programmers motivate various artists. As a musician I am happy to make music for the pleasure of making music just like coders are happy to code for the pleasure of coding.