Re: [Audacity-devel] Re: Library churn and API Calvinball

[Dominic M. <do...@au...>]

I know I shouldn't feed a troll, but it's so rare on the Audacity- 
devel list...  :)

On Apr 28, 2006, at 2:03 AM, Lynn Allan wrote:
> Some asides for those who haven't used Windows much since Win3.11  
> or  Win9x.
> * The battle for the desktop has been over since the DotCom bust.  
> Look at RedHat's long term stock chart. Windows is "out in  
> front ... and pulling away" (on the desktop).

According to the latest measurements, Mac represents 7.8% of Audacity  
website traffic and 8.5% of Audacity downloads.  Linux web hits are  
about 2.3% and downloads are about the same (but harder to measure  
because many Linux users don't download Audacity from our site).  And  
a completely biased but possibly more relevant statistic is that more  
than half of the major developers of Audacity use Mac and/or Linux  
regularly.

> * Very few people have made any money betting against Bill Gates.

That's funny.  Someone who bought $1000 in Microsoft stock five years  
ago would find it's now worth only $800, while someone who bought  
Apple stock at the same time would find it's worth over $3500 today.   
Or how about businesses that joined Microsoft's "Software Assurance"  
program in October of 2001 and have been paying 25% of the cost of a  
Windows license for four and a half years now, with the promise of  
free upgrades...and yet Microsoft hasn't released a new version of  
Windows in that timeframe, and isn't expected to for another year?   
Businesses that bet "against" Bill Gates by choosing not to subscribe  
definitely came out ahead.

Don't get me wrong: I don't think Microsoft is doomed, or that Apple  
will take over the world.  But Mac and Linux are doing just fine on  
the desktop and are not going away anytime soon.

> * It is getting harder and harder to even give away non-Windows  
> desktop software. "Civilians" are getting less and less interested  
> in freeware ... who needs the risk of malware? (not that Audacity  
> is malware, but civilians don't know that)

Huh?  I think it's a challenge to give away free Windows software  
these days - the Audacity forums on the Windows version get frequent  
questions about whether Audacity contains any malware.  But malware  
is essentially nonexistant for Mac and Linux users; they are never  
afraid of free software because it's so rare to find problems.

- Dominic