[linux-audio-dev] Tracker

[eike jonas]

hi!

DP> And the truth is that there are damned few musicians working with Linux
DP> even now, so the situation three years ago was considerably worse (WRT 
DP> the target clientele).

which is a pity. because with linux (and especially with all those
realtime hacks ranging from kernel patches to l4) there would be lots
of advantages for realtime applications. as it is the realtime segment
of the windows market is so small that it has very little impact on
microsoft. leading to huge difficulties eg with the scheduler.

there is quite some developers at steinberg in favor of developing for
/  porting  to  unix.  in  fact nuendo 1.0 was developed cross-platform
including  beos and irix machines. both platforms went down the drain.

the main problems are that there is no sufficient standard for linux
installations,  leading  to an impossible service-situation on the one
hand and the opensource thinking (already discussed here) on the other
hand.

..
>>It is very difficult to sell something to someone that you can also get
>>for no cost. Infact, it's almost impossible if the customer knows this.
>>If steinberg opensourced cubase, they would not be making money on sales
>>of cubase. People would package them up with better installers and we'd
>>all be using it. What I do believe you can sell is services. This is
>>where the "product" becomes the tool and you sell your time and
>>peripheral services.  
..
>>
DP> I've heard this argument so many times for so many years, I'm starting 
DP> to wonder if it really holds water. I'm not sure a company writing music 
DP> software can actually generate considerable cash flow from services. 
DP> What would be the nature of most of that service ? I know there are a 
DP> lot of Cubase users out there, but would so many have problems enough to 
DP> keep Steinberg's support lines busy generating income ? What other 
DP> services do you think would generate the necessary level of income for 
DP> such a company ?

this  is very true. steinberg has payed (ca 1 eu/min) phone support for about a year
now. which still leads to a cost of roughly 4 euros per call.

it might still be possible with service for professionals.

but  selling the software is difficult enough; up to  now about a third
of  developing  time being used for copy protection which holds about 6
weeks. at which point revenues drop drastically..


regardz
 eike