Erik Funkenbusch wrote:
> On 18 Jul 2006 17:54:44 GMT, Peter Jensen wrote:
>
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> > Erik Funkenbusch wrote:
> >
> >> You can't do everything you could do in Linux. For example, Paint
> >> Shop Pro can use any photoshop plug-in available, can the Gimp? On
> >> Windows, you can, with pspi, but not Linux.
> >
> > And I can't add custom patches to Windows and most of its applications.
> > So what?
>
> Sure you can. Never heard of API hooking? Never heard of plug-ins and DLL
> replacements? if all else fails, you can always use a decompiler or
> disassembler. For your own use, there's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with that, but you must admit the process is
faster and more robust if you also have the source code.
> >> Ok, so maybe such a machine could do everything YOU want to do in
> >> Linux, but that's not the same thing.
> >
> > But the point is that for the specific *tasks* that people usually need
> > to perform, Linux is more than sufficient. The only major issue still
> > appears to be gaming, and that's changing. Hence the price-tag of
> > shrink-wrap software can seem quite severe to someone who is used to
> > having all computing needs satisfied by free software.
>
> free software has never been able to meet all my needs, and it's unlikely
> that it ever will be able to. Commercial software is there for a reason,
> because money motivates people to write the software that free software
> developers can't be bothered to do.
Commercial software has never been able to meet all my needs, and it is
unlikely that it ever will. Open source software is there for a reason,
because having the source code gives me control of my own destiny.
Otherwise I'd have to hope some developer decided my particular market
niche was his or her most profitable revenue source, and for some
niches, the market is too small for third party developers to be
bothered with.
Money is a great motivator, but why spend money to have someone else do
a less competent job than I could do myself ? Worse yet, I could spend
the money only to find that the commercial developer had EOL'ed the
product I depend on, or that it doesn't work as advertised. Did you
read what the EULA says about that ?
Dean G.
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