5 ms·

It's a popular subject in the shareware/isv circles and the stable consensus is that it's a phenomenal pain in the ass. From the userbase being generally again

by eps 6y ago

It's a popular subject in the shareware/isv circles and the stable consensus is that it's a phenomenal pain in the ass. From the userbase being generally against the very idea of paying for software, to the complete clusterfuck of the package managers, the amount of effort required to sell and support native Linux apps is simply not worth the effort compared to even Macs, leave alone Windows. There are some highly visible exceptions, but they are just that - hard to reproduce flukes.

xorcist 6y ago
There has been commercial, non-free, software on Linux since the early days (editors, office suites, CAD software etc.). Generally they don't try to work with package managers or otherwise integrate too deeply with the operating system (because why would you?). Make it self contained and distribute in a tgz file. Don't try to make anything complicated. Look at the official release of Firefox for ideas.
- m463 6y ago
  games do it. Take a look at https://www.gog.com/ https://www.gog.com/ There are a surprising number of native linux games. They tend to be compiled for ubuntu, but probably work on other distributions
  - nyolfen 6y ago
    this is basically an ephiphenomenon of cross-platform game design frameworks, though (not to mention steam proton); not many game devs set out with the primary intention of supporting linux, and many fail to maintain it
le-mark 6y ago
After the Joel on software forums closed, where do shareware/isv folks congregate nowadays (if you don’t mind sharing)?
- Fudgel 6y ago
  https://www.donationcoder.com/ https://www.donationcoder.com/
- eps 6y ago
  Shareware scene changed a lot in recent years. The gap between those with ambitions and doing impressive things and those still trying to survive on trivial products is now very big. These two crowds don't mix and those who do well aren't terribly interested in forums to begin with. They do however share some insights here and there, on Twitter, blogs, etc. The trick now is to understand which companies are the one-person shops and ISVs, despite the appearances, and which are in fact larger shops.

by eps 6y ago

xorcist 6y ago

There has been commercial, non-free, software on Linux since the early days (editors, office suites, CAD software etc.). Generally they don't try to work with package managers or otherwise integrate too deeply with the operating system (because why would you?). Make it self contained and distribute in a tgz file. Don't try to make anything complicated. Look at the official release of Firefox for ideas.

m463 6y ago
games do it. Take a look at https://www.gog.com/ https://www.gog.com/ There are a surprising number of native linux games. They tend to be compiled for ubuntu, but probably work on other distributions
- nyolfen 6y ago
  this is basically an ephiphenomenon of cross-platform game design frameworks, though (not to mention steam proton); not many game devs set out with the primary intention of supporting linux, and many fail to maintain it

le-mark 6y ago

After the Joel on software forums closed, where do shareware/isv folks congregate nowadays (if you don’t mind sharing)?

Fudgel 6y ago
https://www.donationcoder.com/ https://www.donationcoder.com/
eps 6y ago
Shareware scene changed a lot in recent years. The gap between those with ambitions and doing impressive things and those still trying to survive on trivial products is now very big. These two crowds don't mix and those who do well aren't terribly interested in forums to begin with. They do however share some insights here and there, on Twitter, blogs, etc. The trick now is to understand which companies are the one-person shops and ISVs, despite the appearances, and which are in fact larger shops.