I really like Alexandre Prokoudine's take on it.
I guess it does come down to the community being really small. Experience
shows that when many people are involved, sooner or later solutions are
created to many problems. In Linux Audio there are not many people and so
many things are not addressed at all. For instance, djing. People who say
"well there is Mixxx" clearly never worked with modern dj software such as
Traktor Pro, which was around 4 years ago and was already doing things that
I don't see Linux Audio even beginning to do in the next 4 years.
However, at this point I would also ask for a need to differentiate between
hobbyist software and commercial software done by professionals. If we
compare Linux Audio Hobbyist (again, simply meaning not a commercial
endeavor, not backed up by capital) with Windows Audio Hobbyist, I wonder
who wins. I think Linux Audio looks good in that regard. Although still,
the ability of Windows devs to use, say, VST format and all the hardware is
a point for them.
L.V.