On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 08:42 am, stuporglue wrote:
> Why don't we have Flash and wireless drivers? Our market isn't big enough
> yet! Maybe Skype isn't the deciding factor for you to use linux on ppc (it
> isn't for me!), but for someone it may be.

I agree to a large extent with what Luca, Colin and Nick have already posted, 
but I'll add to that: what is "our market" you're talking about? I don't 
think the market you're in is the same as the one I'm in.

I'm in the Free Software market. I imagine many of the hobbyists you refered 
to are in the same market. So are most of the people who use alternative 
operating systems on alternative architectures, even if they don't realise 
it.

I accept that if the Linux/PPC market was bigger, it might have a functional 
Flash, Skype or Java Plugin. But "grow the market" is not the only answer to 
these issues, and I don't think it is the correct one. If these apps were not 
proprietry, the size of the market would not be relevant. I hope you can see 
that "free the software" is a more elegant solution than "grow the market".

"Grow the market" is really just a workaround for the problem. In the long 
term, you arrive back at the same problem. "Free the software" solves the 
problem.

I have a lot to say about this issue, but I don't want to flood the list, so 
I'll stop there for now. I appreciate that these kind of issues are hard to 
convey to the people who ask you questions at your Linux Info Meetings.

cheers,

John