Why Linux is better off without a killer app
Leigh Dyer argues the days of a "killer app" for Linux are done and dusted. In fact, why make a Linux-only app at all?
Pushing an alternative operating system is no easy task, but one method that's worked in the past is the killer application, a tool so important that people will switch their OS for it. History is filled with examples: in the 80s, Lotus 1-2-3 brought businesses to the IBM PC and DOS in droves, and in the 90s, PageMaker and QuarkXPress made the Mac ubiquitous in desktop publishing, and the Amiga claimed the TV effects market with Lightwave and the Video Toaster. Could a killer app bring users to Linux?
In some ways, Linux already has some killer applications, mainly in the realm of clustered computing -- the vast majority of the world's scientific supercomputers run Linux, and it's prevalent in 3D animation too, both on workstations and on the clusters that do all the image rendering.
However, it's not that Linux is the only option in these situations, since Windows and Mac OS X can run most of the same software. Instead, people choose Linux because it's the best option, thanks to its high performance, easy remote management, and low cost.
I can't really think of a good reason to write an application just for Linux. There are a few niches where an excellent application could drive people to Linux, but on typical desktops, the tools are pretty mature these days, and it's hard to imagine an office suite or web browser being so incredible that it'd make someone switch OS.
Firefox could have just been the Linux answer to Internet Explorer, but thanks to its Windows port it has perhaps ten times the users it would have had otherwise. Thanks to that penetration, the IE-only sites we saw in the late 90s are virtually a thing of the past. Likewise, OpenOffice.org is an excellent free office suite for everyone, rather than just a Microsoft Office clone for Linux.
Even more importantly, once you have the masses adopting tools like Firefox and OpenOffice.org, whether it's at home or on the corporate desktop, Windows is no longer a requirement just to run your day-to-day applications of choice. At that point, people can choose their OS solely on its merits, and in that situation, Linux itself is the killer app.
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