23 Feb
2009
23 Feb
'09
2:36 p.m.
On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 11:25 AM, mikk <michiel33(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Who can explain to me why it seems to be so hard to
get a stable audio and
video environment in Linux (not requiring recompilations and intricate
tweaks) while this problem seems to have been solved quite satisfactorily in
Windows? What is the fundamental reason for this?
Economics, and operating system design.
You can't compare Windows with any other operating, its like comparing
apples to oranges. As with all things, you pick the best tool to
accomplish the job.
Linux is not as advanced in audio processing as Windows/MacOS simply
because development of AV applications has not been around as long as
it has for Windows/MacOS. Also, the design of the operating system
itself and how the OS interfaces with hardware poses different
challenges to developers than those challenges faced by developers
using Windows.
Since the return on investment for linux AV application development
isn't measured in monetary forms (mostly), existing applications
were/are developed for much the same reason most open source
applications are:
to scratch an itch, to learn something new, to provide a specific
means to achieve a specific end result.
Most audio software developers want to get paid for creating their
software. So they develop on a commercial operating system, for that
operating system. Then sell that software. There simply isn't enough
demand monetarily to make developers look at porting their codebases
to linux. Lets face it, most linux users can't/won't/don't pay for
their software, the expectation being all linux software should be
freely available. This is anathema to commercial applications
developers whom expect to get paid to write their code. Until there's
enough demand (read as economically viable for the developer) to
substantiate the time and effort to port to linux, linux users will
continue to have less variety, and in some cases, lower quality audio
processing software.
Add to this each users specific needs, an expectation of linux to
behave like Windows, an expectation for linux to be a
one-size-fits-all solution for new users coming from Windows or MacOS,
and you begin to see just how far linux has come, but also how much
more work needs to be done to be on par with commercial operating
systems.
Every OS has its pros and cons, no single OS is a one-size-fits-all
solution. Weigh your actual needs against the pros and cons of each OS
you use, pick the best tool for the specific task you want to execute.
On a personal note, while I've done a little audio
recording/processing under linux, I find overall I can achieve more,
and be more efficient and productive, using Windows. The availability,
variety, and quality of audio processing software surpasses that which
is currently available to linux, AT THIS TIME. I can hope, and expect,
this may change in the future, but time, and demand, will tell.
Does this make things easier to understand?
--
aRDy Music and Rick Dicaire present:
http://www.ardynet.com
http://www.ardynet.com:9000/ardymusic.ogg.m3u