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Feature: Linux
Free Software's killer applications
By Tobias Glaesser
on
April 24, 2004 (8:00:00 AM)
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While GNU/Linux has gained popularity as an operating system, many criticize it for lacking "killer applications" capable of competing with their Windows and Mac OS X proprietary counterparts. Some killer applications, however, haven't received the recognition they deserve. Here's a short overview of some professional-quality Free Software applications that run under Linux.
Blender is a 3D modeling, animating, rendering, post-production "killer" application, licensed under the GNU GPL. Since being set free from its proprietary license, Blender development has gained momentum, adding, among other things, video and audio sequencing features. Many free and commercial projects use blender for their 3D needs right now. Blender is also the the first tool of its kind with a built in gaming engine (this feature is supposed to have its comeback in the 2.33 release).
The recently released Gimp 2.x series follows the ever popular 1.x series, completely reconditioned and even caught up to the most expensive of commercial tools. The Gimp now supports CMYK color, has a great scalable vector graphics (SVG) path system, Python scripting, and windows you can dock however you like.
For the longest time people have said, "If you want to produce music, you should buy a Mac," but Linux now has comparable tools we can proudly display. Together with ALSA, the JACK server, and LADSPA plugins, Ardour should fill the gap for making professional music on Linux. A good article about this killer application and a few other mature music tools (which you can use with Ardour) can be found on OSNEWS.
A classic example where GNU/Linux lacked usability in the past is the realm of CD/DVD-Burning GUIs. K3B comes to the rescue and provides an interface that is at once clean, easy to use, and very powerful. If you need to burn a CD for a friend, say one that has a little movie and a program on the data track and an additional music track, and want it formatted to play in any hi-fi system, K3B simply works.
Having an integrated development kit is important for many developers. KDevelop 3, which had been written from scratch (not built on top of KDevelop 2), provides facilities for Ada, Bash, C/C++, Fortran, Haskell, Java, Pascal, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and SQL programming and scripting. Moreover, it doesn't favor the programming of KDE applications as one might think; one can easily start a GTK project. For people who refuse to use KDE tools there is a similar powerful tool called Anjuta.
Proprietary page layout programs have every right to fear for their market share since Scribus 1.1.6, a GPLed product, has been released. This program not only fulfills all the features of its proprietary counterparts, including CMYK color, but also contains some unique features like SVG import and export.
The motion picture industry has driven the development of CinePaint, the Free Software painting and image retouching program designed with 35mm film in mind. It has been used to make such monumental films as The Last Samurai, Stuart Little, and many more.*
There are a few places where Free Software on GNU/Linux is still in need of work. Video editing is one of these. Though Cinepaint is a marvelous video touch-up tool, it is not built for all video editing purposes, and these other needs are not filled by any other notably "killer" Free Software tool. Despite how powerful and groundbreaking many of these programs are, some of them are not included by GNU/Linux distributions. Even when they are, there tends to be little, if any, documentation provided for them, sometimes even with distributions that package books along with their installation disks. What good is a killer application if you don't know how to use it?
But these days, if you need to get things done, there's generally a great piece of Free Software waiting for your purpose. It's just a matter of people noticing.
Thanks to my assistant Christopher Allan Webber, who helped greatly in the polishing of this article.
* Correction: Lord of the Rings was cited as having been made with CinePaint in an earlier draft of this article, but CinePaint developer Robin Rowe says, "When I asked Weta about their use of CinePaint the answer was frustrating. They could neither confirm nor deny it," so we removed that mention from the list of film projects where we were sure CinePaint was used.
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on Free Software's killer applicationsNote: Comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for their content.
In the original article I had a paragraph for Inkscape and Sodipodi. I don't know, why it wasn't published.
<A HREF="http://sodipodi.sf.net/" TITLE="sf.net">Sodipodi</a sf.net> and <A HREF="http://inkscape.sf.net/" TITLE="sf.net">Inkscape</a sf.net> (which is built on the sources of Sodipodi) for example could be upcoming killer applications, but I didn't addict a paragraph for them, because they aren't at the same level as their proprietary counterparts yet. I don't doubt that there are more "killer" (or potentially so) applications, capable of running under GNU/Linux. If there are, I would be happy to hear of them.
<A HREF="http://sodipodi.sf.net/" TITLE="sf.net">Sodipodi</a sf.net> and <A HREF="http://inkscape.sf.net/" TITLE="sf.net">Inkscape</a sf.net> (which is built on the sources of Sodipodi) for example could be upcoming killer applications, but I didn't addict a paragraph for them, because they aren't at the same level as their proprietary counterparts yet. I don't doubt that there are more "killer" (or potentially so) applications, capable of running under GNU/Linux. If there are, I would be happy to hear of them.
I am interested in your comment about Gnumeric. Why exactly do you find it better than Excel?
I am asking this because I will soon need to choose whether to go with Gnumeric or OpenOffice's spreadsheet so any infos would be very welcome.
thanks!
I am asking this because I will soon need to choose whether to go with Gnumeric or OpenOffice's spreadsheet so any infos would be very welcome.
thanks!
From Gnumeric release notes:
"Persons who wish to use a spreadsheet to perform statistical analyses, and who are concerned about the accuracy of their results, are advised to use Gnumeric rather than Excel."
Dr. B. D. McCullough, associate professor of Decision Sciences at Drexel University
"Persons who wish to use a spreadsheet to perform statistical analyses, and who are concerned about the accuracy of their results, are advised to use Gnumeric rather than Excel."
Dr. B. D. McCullough, associate professor of Decision Sciences at Drexel University
I've read a notice about this a month or so ago. This recommendation came after that University tested both Gnumeric and Excel and found similar bugs regarding statistics and estimation (IIRC).
But only Gnumeric was fixed, while Excel remains buggy. Hence, their recommendation.
But only Gnumeric was fixed, while Excel remains buggy. Hence, their recommendation.
Gnumeric allows you to save data as an html fragment. That is, use PHP or CGI to include the fragment in the body portion of a wrapper (or the header / footer if you are into that sort of thing). Mucho faster / easier than trying to add CSS notation to a stand alone html page.
I have another website I am developing content for and I will be including a simple spreadsheet tracking compost temperatures using this method. http://organic-earth.com
It's pretty new and a lot of the content is still lurking in the shadows but I can tell you for a certainty that the spreadsheet is coming. Gnumeric's ability to save an html fragment will make a big difference with a web page updated daily by hand. All I will have to do is open Gnumeric, edit the data and save to the old filename. Done. Eventually there will be svga graphs to match.
If I had to save a complete file each day, I would have to save it, edit it, move it (so visitors wouldn't see a scrambled mess with no CSS). This way, I simply overwrite the previous file and the next time the page is accessed, it gets the new data.
I just wish I could find a wordprocessor that would do the same thing. Does anybody know of one?
I have another website I am developing content for and I will be including a simple spreadsheet tracking compost temperatures using this method. http://organic-earth.com
It's pretty new and a lot of the content is still lurking in the shadows but I can tell you for a certainty that the spreadsheet is coming. Gnumeric's ability to save an html fragment will make a big difference with a web page updated daily by hand. All I will have to do is open Gnumeric, edit the data and save to the old filename. Done. Eventually there will be svga graphs to match.
If I had to save a complete file each day, I would have to save it, edit it, move it (so visitors wouldn't see a scrambled mess with no CSS). This way, I simply overwrite the previous file and the next time the page is accessed, it gets the new data.
I just wish I could find a wordprocessor that would do the same thing. Does anybody know of one?
how about Gnumeric vs. OpenOffice's spreadsheet
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on April 26, 2004 04:39 AM
thanks for the info. How does Gnumeric compare to *OpenOffice's* spreadsheet?
Mozilla SeaMonkey / Firefox (easily better than Safari and IE)
Apache (far better than IIS)
MySQL (far better than MSSQL Server)
Apache (far better than IIS)
MySQL (far better than MSSQL Server)
I am *not* arguing at all. but I really would appreciate if you could either
1) substantiate your statement
2) provide links do that
thanks!
1) substantiate your statement
2) provide links do that
thanks!
He can't. Mose people get up and arms and say, "This OSS app is better than all the other commercial ones around!" It's BS in many cases.
MySQL better than SQL Server? Oh, please. Yes, I do not favor SQL Server because it's an MS product. I detest MySQL due to its poor stability with heavy loads (we use the MaxDB with a dedicated box, tons of RAM, plenty of HDD space, and lots and lots of threads/connections available).
<A HREF="http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=show&id=32" TITLE="flexbeta.net">
http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=<nobr>s<wbr></nobr> how&id=32</a flexbeta.net>
p.s. I did not make the original comment.
http://www.flexbeta.net/main/articles.php?action=<nobr>s<wbr></nobr> how&id=32</a flexbeta.net>
I just did a quick search on Google and that was what popped up. I personally use Firefox on my two computers, one running Linux and the other running Mac OS X, as well as on my mother's computer, which runs Windows 2000. I just find it less cumbersome and think it has more useful make-your-life-easier features.
As for Apache vs. IIS, I'm nowhere near an expert. All I know is that something like 60% of web servers are Apache. That, of course, does not conclusively prove that Apache is a better product. By that logic, Microsoft Windows would be tremendously better than any Unix based OS, which we all know is not true.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;) I'm just sharing what I know.
MySQL vs. MSSQL? I have no idea.
p.s. I did not make the original comment.
Hello... This is Christopher Allan Webber, and I helped co-write this article (as stated at the bottom).
When talking with Tobias, I suggested that we include Open Office, but his purpose in creating this article was to raise awareness of many of the lesser known, yet very powerful, desktop applications on GNU/Linux. Open Office has recieved much attention as of late, so it did not really fit the article's purpose. The Gimp 2.x series was included because of its recent release.
GAIM might have been worthy of mention, however.
When talking with Tobias, I suggested that we include Open Office, but his purpose in creating this article was to raise awareness of many of the lesser known, yet very powerful, desktop applications on GNU/Linux. Open Office has recieved much attention as of late, so it did not really fit the article's purpose. The Gimp 2.x series was included because of its recent release.
GAIM might have been worthy of mention, however.
Perhaps it would have been better to mention your intentions somewhere in the article. However, now that I see your intentions, I think you've done a great job in talking about the lesser known programs.
Perhaps you could consider these in the future:
VNC
VideoLAN
Dev-C++
XChat
Perhaps you could consider these in the future:
VNC
VideoLAN
Dev-C++
XChat
Dev C++ is a Windoze only IDE. Not suitable for an article on Linux software.
Gaim would be awesome if the developers were not such idiots. The majority are egotistical dolts. Many of whom, don't seem to understand the basics of CVS development and could care less about its user base...that is, unless you're willing to lick their toes and stroke their egos.
Gaim is neat, but the developers have a lot to learn.
Gaim is neat, but the developers have a lot to learn.
Talking about Gaim... There is no superb IM for Linux, and there's only 1 in Windows. Miranda IM is brilliant. It's OSS and if some people could port it to Linux it would rock.
Just a note: Miranda uses 1MB ram, and is extremely configurable. Full of neat n easy features.
Just a note: Miranda uses 1MB ram, and is extremely configurable. Full of neat n easy features.
If GNU/Linux had a really addictive game, you know, more addictive than heroin. THEN we'd win against those proprietary bastards (until somebody ported it to their system).
apt-get install heroin
apt-get install heroin
hm enemy territory is pretty addictive<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:) and its free too<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;)
neverball (.deb on icculus.org)
frozen-bubble<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
frozen-bubble<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
Have you tried Frozen Bubble yet? Or Power Manga?
As far as I know, Powermanga is:
"A classic vertical scrolling space-shooter with fast-paced action and loads of enemies, weapons, and power-ups. Arcade speed and fast paced action are brought to the PC and Linux."
Sadly, it is not free, or open source.
So, I would give a try to <A HREF="http://kraptor.sf.net/" TITLE="sf.net">Kraptor.</a sf.net>
"A classic vertical scrolling space-shooter with fast-paced action and loads of enemies, weapons, and power-ups. Arcade speed and fast paced action are brought to the PC and Linux."
Sadly, it is not free, or open source.
So, I would give a try to <A HREF="http://kraptor.sf.net/" TITLE="sf.net">Kraptor.</a sf.net>
Debian GNU/Linux Sarge:
Get:1 ftp://download.xs4all.nl testing/main powermanga-data 0.78-5 [6350kB]
Get:2 ftp://download.xs4all.nl testing/main powermanga 0.78-5 [128kB]
Weird that it is in main and not non-free or contrib, isn't it? Weird that if it isn't Free nor Open-source and for all Architectures. Someone has been porting the software to a lot of platforms incling GNU/Linux/PPC, SPARC, MIPS, etc.
Perhaps that is because according to<nobr> <wbr></nobr>/usr/share/doc/powermanga/copyright it is GPL? Ah, right.
It is GPL.
Get:1 ftp://download.xs4all.nl testing/main powermanga-data 0.78-5 [6350kB]
Get:2 ftp://download.xs4all.nl testing/main powermanga 0.78-5 [128kB]
Weird that it is in main and not non-free or contrib, isn't it? Weird that if it isn't Free nor Open-source and for all Architectures. Someone has been porting the software to a lot of platforms incling GNU/Linux/PPC, SPARC, MIPS, etc.
Perhaps that is because according to<nobr> <wbr></nobr>/usr/share/doc/powermanga/copyright it is GPL? Ah, right.
It is GPL.
apt-get install dope wars
What Linux needs is not one really addictive game, but AT LEAST one new and really good game released every month. As oposed to applications, games get used and then thrown away, a single good game won't make much difference, soon it would be used and then forgotten and people would switch back to Windows without even thinking twice. And currently Linux is still quite far away from this, especially since it often needs a dozen games released to get a single one that is worth to be played.
There's alot already
Neverball/Neverputt
kdegames in general<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
Legends
pingus (once complete)
What is really need IMHO is to have blizzard, god games and others make both Linux and Windows compatible games. I'd love too see "GTA San Andreas" be released for the Linux platform, once it comes from PS2 too the PC.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
Becourse running 3D-games in WineX just isn't as good as running them natively.
I have a P4 2.8GHz, 1GB RAM and GF4 TI4200 128MB, and Vice City runs so slow that it is only just playable, and that's just wrong on so many levels.
PS.: There are a petition on getting WoW too Linux, if you feel for this please sign it. http://www.blizzpub.net/petition/
Neverball/Neverputt
kdegames in general<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
Legends
pingus (once complete)
What is really need IMHO is to have blizzard, god games and others make both Linux and Windows compatible games. I'd love too see "GTA San Andreas" be released for the Linux platform, once it comes from PS2 too the PC.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
Becourse running 3D-games in WineX just isn't as good as running them natively.
I have a P4 2.8GHz, 1GB RAM and GF4 TI4200 128MB, and Vice City runs so slow that it is only just playable, and that's just wrong on so many levels.
PS.: There are a petition on getting WoW too Linux, if you feel for this please sign it. http://www.blizzpub.net/petition/
<tt>heroin is a virtual package provided by:
<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...
frozen-bubble 1.0.0-4
<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...
You should explicitly select one to install</tt>
<A HREF="http://www.frozen-bubble.org/" TITLE="frozen-bubble.org">Frozen Bubble</a frozen-bubble.org> got <A HREF="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=143176" TITLE="debian.org">a curious bug report</a debian.org> already =)
Urban Terror. A mod for Quake III Arena. It plays very well on Linux (as there is native Quake III for Linux). See http://www.urbanterror.net
BTW: UrbanTerror mod is free of cost (Quake III is not free).
It's awesome.
BTW: UrbanTerror mod is free of cost (Quake III is not free).
It's awesome.
..rulez
Thanks for that lucid and thoughtful comment.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:p
thanks for referring to our system as 'GNU/Linux'!
RMS, is that you? Seriously, though, who are you to make such a statement? One of the GNU coders from the old days? Linux was the reason that people finally started taking GNU more seriously. Prior to the release of Linux, there was no comprehensive "GNU system" since there was no stinking kernel. I'm really tired of all the "GNU/Linux" garbage...
Agreed. Hey Rich, how's that Hurd kernel coming along?
While RMS and company were getting into pissing matches about kernel structure and essentially acting like a typical MENSA meeting (as in "I'm smarter and more ideologically pure than you, so there"), Linus actually concentrated on a working product. A little REAL credit where it's due, please.
While RMS and company were getting into pissing matches about kernel structure and essentially acting like a typical MENSA meeting (as in "I'm smarter and more ideologically pure than you, so there"), Linus actually concentrated on a working product. A little REAL credit where it's due, please.
gcc was used to build OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, and basically everything else on Linux... yet I hear no complaints about not calling it GNU/OpenOffice.org, GNU/Mozilla etc.
Although I agree that the GNU project contributed considerably to Linux, they did not do so in order to get recognition. They simply released a lot of tools to be used by any one for any purpose, as long as it respects the GPL. There is no requirement under the GPL to name projects that use GPL'd software GNU/whatever. To suggest otherwise is childish.
Although I agree that the GNU project contributed considerably to Linux, they did not do so in order to get recognition. They simply released a lot of tools to be used by any one for any purpose, as long as it respects the GPL. There is no requirement under the GPL to name projects that use GPL'd software GNU/whatever. To suggest otherwise is childish.
And, TBH, the community really has got better things to do than get into bitching matches like this one...<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:p
I suggest you read it. Or not & stop whining.
If you want to discuss an issue in a proper manner (ie. argument) you have to be prepared to use both sides of the logic. Apply them. Use contra arguments in your pro-arguments.
You don't. Makes you also a zealot, while FSF is perceived as such. Actually, they do as a describe above: use contra arguments from opponents to address issues.
Marvelous. Eben Moglen is also good at this. That makes these documents -even if you disagree- gems, imo.
If you want to discuss an issue in a proper manner (ie. argument) you have to be prepared to use both sides of the logic. Apply them. Use contra arguments in your pro-arguments.
You don't. Makes you also a zealot, while FSF is perceived as such. Actually, they do as a describe above: use contra arguments from opponents to address issues.
Marvelous. Eben Moglen is also good at this. That makes these documents -even if you disagree- gems, imo.
> Linux was the reason that people finally started
> taking GNU more seriously.
Very true. Which is why Linus' kernel program deserves a good share of the credit in the name: GNU/Linux.
> Prior to the release of Linux, there was no
> comprehensive "GNU system" since there was no
> stinking kernel.
Every other piece was there to make a complete operating system; far more work and dedication than writing a single program, no matter how important.
Why do you suggest that the author of a single program (the kernel) should decide the name of the whole operating system, written by dozens of people and allowing the kernel to be written at all?
The GNU project isn't asking for anything so extreme as you seem to be. They merely want the operating system they wrote, GNU, to be called by its proper name.
If you want to give importance to the kernel, you can correctly call it GNU/Linux. If you want to give a short name to the whole operating system, that name is GNU. The operating system was never named anything else.
Linus' contribution was significant. His contribution remains a single part of the whole, though. That one program does not decide the name of the whole operating system. That decision goes to those who initiated, developed, and integrated the vast majority of the operating system, GNU.
> taking GNU more seriously.
Very true. Which is why Linus' kernel program deserves a good share of the credit in the name: GNU/Linux.
> Prior to the release of Linux, there was no
> comprehensive "GNU system" since there was no
> stinking kernel.
Every other piece was there to make a complete operating system; far more work and dedication than writing a single program, no matter how important.
Why do you suggest that the author of a single program (the kernel) should decide the name of the whole operating system, written by dozens of people and allowing the kernel to be written at all?
The GNU project isn't asking for anything so extreme as you seem to be. They merely want the operating system they wrote, GNU, to be called by its proper name.
If you want to give importance to the kernel, you can correctly call it GNU/Linux. If you want to give a short name to the whole operating system, that name is GNU. The operating system was never named anything else.
Linus' contribution was significant. His contribution remains a single part of the whole, though. That one program does not decide the name of the whole operating system. That decision goes to those who initiated, developed, and integrated the vast majority of the operating system, GNU.
Hello, sir. I have a couple problems with your comment.
The author of the original comment, whoever it may be, did not make a hostile remark at all. He thanked the author of the article for referring to the system as GNU/Linux. You, in responding to his thanks in this fashion, are disrespecting the author of the article by indirectly saying he is wrong for referring to the operating system as GNU/Linux. You are also, perhaps more importantly, disrespecting anyone who has contributed to the GNU Operating System. If you look closely, the word "Linux" is still in the name "GNU/Linux". Linus Torvald's contribution to the operating system is not being overlooked in the slightest. On the contrary, his kernel has been given precedence above any other part of the GNU/Linux operating system; it was selected as part of the suggested name.
And also, don't be so foolish with your reasoning: "Linux was the reason that people finally started taking GNU more seriously."
GNU is just as responsible for Linux being included in a popular OS as Linux is responsible for GNU becoming popular. If GNU had not existed, what would Linus have written a kernel for? What compiler (gcc) would he have used to create it?
The author of the original comment, whoever it may be, did not make a hostile remark at all. He thanked the author of the article for referring to the system as GNU/Linux. You, in responding to his thanks in this fashion, are disrespecting the author of the article by indirectly saying he is wrong for referring to the operating system as GNU/Linux. You are also, perhaps more importantly, disrespecting anyone who has contributed to the GNU Operating System. If you look closely, the word "Linux" is still in the name "GNU/Linux". Linus Torvald's contribution to the operating system is not being overlooked in the slightest. On the contrary, his kernel has been given precedence above any other part of the GNU/Linux operating system; it was selected as part of the suggested name.
And also, don't be so foolish with your reasoning: "Linux was the reason that people finally started taking GNU more seriously."
GNU is just as responsible for Linux being included in a popular OS as Linux is responsible for GNU becoming popular. If GNU had not existed, what would Linus have written a kernel for? What compiler (gcc) would he have used to create it?
Maybe he wanted to avoid the usual mudslinging religious match about what the name of the OS should be..... hmm, didn't work
the OP expressed thanks. Nothing else. The "mudslinging" is entierly the product of those who call others "zealots" and who think of themsleves as something much more laudable
You can no longer call XP, XP.
You must use the term Microsoft Windows XP whenever refering to that operating system.
You must use the term Microsoft Windows XP whenever refering to that operating system.
Why?
kuz he is an idiot pissed of by the post right above about GNU/Linux. His comparison just goes to show how little understanding he has of both the technical and moral side of this entire issue.
I really get the feeling that it was an ironic comment rather than a straight one. Pointing out how ridiculous the above thread was...
If for "A" something is really important whereas "B" does not care, or even fails to grasp the concept, then you can bet that "B" will refer to the values of "A" as "ridiculous" or worse.
Historically, you can find plenty of similar situations in which one side was insisting on a *moral* aspect of an issue and the other side was entierly, totally, unable to comprehend what the "big deal was all about".
In fact, most real progress was achieved just like that. With time and presistance in the face of ridicule and smirks.
Historically, you can find plenty of similar situations in which one side was insisting on a *moral* aspect of an issue and the other side was entierly, totally, unable to comprehend what the "big deal was all about".
In fact, most real progress was achieved just like that. With time and presistance in the face of ridicule and smirks.
amazingly, your lone synapse actually might have produced something similar to a correct opinion.
Indeed, if we accept that XP stands only for the technical denomination of the OS whereas "Microsoft Windows" conveys all the values of the company which made that system possible (greed, louzy code, billions of dollars in marketing, FUD about any competitor, corporate monopolism, etc.) then it would be quite correct to refer to the system as "MS WXP" rather than XP alone.
You get it?
Indeed, if we accept that XP stands only for the technical denomination of the OS whereas "Microsoft Windows" conveys all the values of the company which made that system possible (greed, louzy code, billions of dollars in marketing, FUD about any competitor, corporate monopolism, etc.) then it would be quite correct to refer to the system as "MS WXP" rather than XP alone.
You get it?
Of course we "get it." It is that we disagree. Yeah, you could call it MS WXP. Or, you could just call it "XP" and be done with it. We all know what it refers to. We all know that when someone says Linux they mean a Linux distribution (of sorts) which includes many helpful GNU utilities. GNU is a needed, useful part of the Linux world.
Contrary to what you may believe, however, this does NOT mean that we should be calling it GNU/Linux. That is called being an attention whore on the part of GNU. I respect GNU, but this particular venu of thought is stupid.
Contrary to what you may believe, however, this does NOT mean that we should be calling it GNU/Linux. That is called being an attention whore on the part of GNU. I respect GNU, but this particular venu of thought is stupid.
it might be useful to have a look at stallman's reasoning (the FSF contributions played only a minor part, if any): his position is that GNU is an operating system, consisting of a kernel and a whole bunch of utilities, on which the user's environment is built, and that this can be provided with a core of programs and libraries that can run on quite a few kernels without the user noticing much difference. That is (for Stallman) the GNU operating system. The same environment can be produced with other kernels, like Hurd, Darwin, FreeBSD, NetBSD, etc. You wouldn't call this environment running on top of Hurd "Linux".
so for Stallman, GNU/Linux is the GNU OS running on top of the Linux kernel, GNU/Hurd the same, only built on top of the Hurd, etc.
why not call it Unix? this probably would run into trademark violation problems.
simply because as the name 'GNU' clearly indicates it is *not* UNIX.
yet another proof that the word 'Linux' stripped from its 'GNU' part creates confusion...
yet another proof that the word 'Linux' stripped from its 'GNU' part creates confusion...
"You wouldn't call this environment running on top of Hurd "Linux"."
Of course not. I'd call it Hurd. Hurd is the OS. Much of the environment may be GNU related software... but thats not the OS. You are confusing "OS" with what Microsoft calls an OS with its "Windows" lines.
Of course not. I'd call it Hurd. Hurd is the OS. Much of the environment may be GNU related software... but thats not the OS. You are confusing "OS" with what Microsoft calls an OS with its "Windows" lines.
unless you state that "kernel=OS' you cannot say that Hurd is an OS. It a kernel. The OS is GNU. When the kernel is Linux it becomes GNU/Linux. With Hurd it would be GNU/Hurd.
A kernel is not an operating system. It'd be pretty tough to operate without any programs other than the kernel. Therefore, the operating system is the kernel plus the collection of tools that make it usable.
The new Scribus Home Page is <A HREF="http://www.scribus.net/" TITLE="scribus.net">http://www.scribus.net</a scribus.net>.
Those are all fine applications, no doubt about it but claiming them to be the killer apps of GNU/Linux is somewhat misleading. Calling something a killer app, as I understand it, implies exclusivity to the platform and few of the applications listed are exclusive to GNU/Linux.
In fact, I would claim there will never be Killer apps that are free software because blackmailing your users with an application to move on a platform you want them to is not possible with free software - as soon as something becomes a "must-have", it will be ported to other platforms.
This of course is a really good thing but it also works against free software with operating systems as Mac OS X offering all the free software and then adding the Apple proprietary stuff on top, effectively offering something "better" in many people's eyes as they don't consider freedom itself a thing of enough value to preserve.
In fact, I would claim there will never be Killer apps that are free software because blackmailing your users with an application to move on a platform you want them to is not possible with free software - as soon as something becomes a "must-have", it will be ported to other platforms.
This of course is a really good thing but it also works against free software with operating systems as Mac OS X offering all the free software and then adding the Apple proprietary stuff on top, effectively offering something "better" in many people's eyes as they don't consider freedom itself a thing of enough value to preserve.
No Technology.
YUM
(YellowDog Updater Modified) from Duke University.
http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/
I just installed a fresh version of OpenOffice, a new kernel and a handful of other programs with
#yum -y update
How much simpler can keeping a computer updated get?
(YellowDog Updater Modified) from Duke University.
http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/
I just installed a fresh version of OpenOffice, a new kernel and a handful of other programs with
#yum -y update
How much simpler can keeping a computer updated get?
emerge rsync; emerge -U world<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
It doesn't check for adequate diskspace before performing updates. This is a Bad Thing(tm).
Otherwise yes, it's good.
Otherwise yes, it's good.
I don't personally like KDevelop very much, esp. the QT/KDE ties it forces me to install<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
I have recently discovered, though, and fallen in love with Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/)
I have recently discovered, though, and fallen in love with Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/)
Man Eclipse is good for Java but is it also good for C/C++
& why not try the new Kdevelop 3 & it is not ture that Kdevelop is strongly coupled with Qt/KDE infact you can also do GTK & other kind of programming on it too.
& why not try the new Kdevelop 3 & it is not ture that Kdevelop is strongly coupled with Qt/KDE infact you can also do GTK & other kind of programming on it too.
If you read more closely, you will note that he said it was tied to Qt/KDE in the way that it required he install the libraries (you know, for KDevelop to run).
In addition to Scribus, DTP on Linux has a very powerful toolset in TeX and friends. Have a look at the <A HREF="http://www.tug.org/" TITLE="tug.org">TeX Users Group</a tug.org> page for more information and some killer examples in the <A HREF="http://www.tug.org/texshowcase/" TITLE="tug.org">TeX Showcase</a tug.org>.
Absolutely, TeX is very strong on Linux. I think especially Lyx deserve to be cited as a professional quality software. A similar software for Windows (scientific word) will cost you around 500$...
actually there is TeX for windows (TeXLive, MiKTeX,...) moreover there is also LyX for windows (or they try to make it work there), but it is much easier to hear of TeX and start using it, when you use Linux
cinelerra seems to be comeing along nicely.. I use it for most of my audio editing needs, but it was intended to be used as a video editing platform. If I ever get to playing with video cams, I will probably continue to use this as my base editing package.
http://heroinewarrior.com
http://heroinewarrior.com
While I agree with you about the excellence of the programs you listed here, I think the whole article somewhat misses the point. When someone speaks of a "killer application," I think generally they mean an application that shares all the qualities you listed here, but also that it is unique to the platform. This is what gets people to switch. Simply having all the great applications that other platforms already have is nice, but it doesn't give anyone incentive to switch. I'm not the kind of visionary who can predict what the Next Big Thing is going to be, but I really don't see anything coming out for Linux (or free Unices in general) fitting this description.
This is not to say I don't like Linux -- it's my primary system, and the one I feel most at home with -- but without a true Killer Application, we might not get mainstream acceptance for a long time. (Of course, many could argue this is not such a bad thing. I'll leave that decision up to you.)
Ardour combined with the linux sound infrastructure is (will be?) a killer application. Most of its features are similar to, say, ProTools, but it doesn't crash. Not crashing is a critical feature for musicians who might want to use said audio application during a live concert!
:)
Seriously. Dependancies on drivers (ie. ALSA) which are "killers" are a Reason.
Stability and cost come in mind too.
Seriously. Dependancies on drivers (ie. ALSA) which are "killers" are a Reason.
Stability and cost come in mind too.
Depends on what you want to achieve. If you want people to run good free (as a speech) applications, if you want the free software to solve problems, your point is irrelevant. If you want to promote linux and tie people to it like microsoft does to its systems: go for a long walk. Seriously.
The missing application that is keeping me from adopting Linux whole-heartedly is voice recognition software. I am totally addicted to Dragon Naturally Speaking. I do at least 35-50% of my work by voice and, since I'm a professional writer and spend my days at the keyboard, it makes a big difference. I credit the software with helping me avoid the carpal tunnel problems that have plagued some of my writer friends.
Now, ViaVoice from IBM was available for a short while in Mandrake 7.2 and 8.0. But then IBM pulled it from the market. I even bought a copy of Mandrake 7.2 on eBay hoping I would be able to install the ViaVoice module on my Linux system. I got lost in dependency hell.
Then I tried installing Dragon inside Win4Lin. Not enough memory. I've got 512 megs, but with Win running on top of Lin, well, there's not much left for software.
It's too bad, because other than that, I could really be a Linux fan. I started with CP/M on an Osborne 1 more than 20 years ago and have worked my way through several OSs since. But, I _really_ don't want to give up the voice software.
Take care everyone.
Tim Perrin
Westbank, BC, Canada
http://www.TimPerrin.com
http://www.WritingSchool.com
Now, ViaVoice from IBM was available for a short while in Mandrake 7.2 and 8.0. But then IBM pulled it from the market. I even bought a copy of Mandrake 7.2 on eBay hoping I would be able to install the ViaVoice module on my Linux system. I got lost in dependency hell.
Then I tried installing Dragon inside Win4Lin. Not enough memory. I've got 512 megs, but with Win running on top of Lin, well, there's not much left for software.
It's too bad, because other than that, I could really be a Linux fan. I started with CP/M on an Osborne 1 more than 20 years ago and have worked my way through several OSs since. But, I _really_ don't want to give up the voice software.
Take care everyone.
Tim Perrin
Westbank, BC, Canada
http://www.TimPerrin.com
http://www.WritingSchool.com
Hi Tim, hope you read this.
Pls, have a check on http://debianlinux.net/multimedia.html#speech , I haven't tested any of this but they look promising!
Anyway, you can have your Linux box running Windows software with WINE the open source windows emulator.
I don't know if this will work because not all programs run ok with wine, but they always release upgrades that gets more compatibility with windows software.
Good luck with your writing and teaching!
Thanathos
Pls, have a check on http://debianlinux.net/multimedia.html#speech , I haven't tested any of this but they look promising!
Anyway, you can have your Linux box running Windows software with WINE the open source windows emulator.
I don't know if this will work because not all programs run ok with wine, but they always release upgrades that gets more compatibility with windows software.
Good luck with your writing and teaching!
Thanathos
It was nice to read this... all or most of these apps are really great, mostly production ready. But killer-app? don't know. Quite a few programs still show their childish age (not all of them) - so mentioning them as killer-app is a bit overkill you know... When I would read this article in a year or two, I might not have written this.. oh well<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;)
But yet... the best killer-software is.... guess what: Linux<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;)
But yet... the best killer-software is.... guess what: Linux<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;)
Synergy from Weber is a free CAD application with pay for 3D CAM abilities, which is suitable for professional engineering applications.
Missed a few...
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on April 24, 2004 06:17 PMGnumeric (better than Excel IMO)
Inkscape (just as awesome as the Gimp)
And also:
AbiWord (getting better by the day)
OpenOffice (very good)
Gaim (increasingly popular with, surprisingly, Windows users)
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