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That means they are unable to deliver the same quality across multiple platforms, still want to sell their software to Mac/Windows customers.

by cabirum 15y ago

rbanffy 15y ago
Or it could just be that Linux users are better problem solvers in general and don't need as much hand holding as others. Having fought against both Windows and Mac about what my work machine should be, I can certainly see why a developer may need less support on a Linux machine. Linux (and traditional unixes in general) allow the owner to make everything work the way he/she thinks would be more appropriate.
- disgruntledphd2 15y ago
  I would say that it has more to do with the people than the platform. Linux users (mostly) have gone through the process of setting up Linux, searching the web for driver problems, figuring out how the damn thing works without any technical support. Seems obvious to me that this would translate into lower support requirements.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    I don't think that's still a valid assessment of how Linux works today. It's been a long time since my last driver problem. While it's true Linux users may be more adventurous and resourceful than their Mac or Windows (or HP-UX, AIX, Solaris) counterparts, I don't think that's because they need these abilities to set up their computers.
archangel_one 15y ago
Possibly the Linux platform offers advantages to them that makes problems less likely to occur - for example, maybe they find the package manager more reliable than Windows Installer, which I'd well believe.
- BryanLunduke 15y ago
  archangel nailed it. While this isn't the only cause for why we're seeing this, it certainly is one reason. A simple example: One of the types of apps you can build with our tool is Python/PyGTK apps. The root benefit here is that, because Python is interpreted, there is no compile time -- when you click "Run" you instantly get to start testing your app out. Because Python and PyGTK are readily available in just about every distro's repo, this is never an issue. But, on the flip-side, setting up Python/GTK/PyGTK on Win/Mac can be a bit of a nightmare even for the nerdiest among us. (We provide our "HTML5" web app option as the default option on Mac and Win for this very reason... But, even then, we still get support requests on trouble-shooting someone's Mac where PyGTK just won't work quite right.)

That means they are unable to deliver the same quality across multiple platforms, still want to sell their software to Mac/Windows customers.

by cabirum 15y ago

That means they are unable to deliver the same quality across multiple platforms, still want to sell their software to Mac/Windows customers.

rbanffy 15y ago

Or it could just be that Linux users are better problem solvers in general and don't need as much hand holding as others. Having fought against both Windows and Mac about what my work machine should be, I can certainly see why a developer may need less support on a Linux machine. Linux (and traditional unixes in general) allow the owner to make everything work the way he/she thinks would be more appropriate.

disgruntledphd2 15y ago
I would say that it has more to do with the people than the platform. Linux users (mostly) have gone through the process of setting up Linux, searching the web for driver problems, figuring out how the damn thing works without any technical support. Seems obvious to me that this would translate into lower support requirements.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  I don't think that's still a valid assessment of how Linux works today. It's been a long time since my last driver problem. While it's true Linux users may be more adventurous and resourceful than their Mac or Windows (or HP-UX, AIX, Solaris) counterparts, I don't think that's because they need these abilities to set up their computers.

archangel_one 15y ago

Possibly the Linux platform offers advantages to them that makes problems less likely to occur - for example, maybe they find the package manager more reliable than Windows Installer, which I'd well believe.

BryanLunduke 15y ago
archangel nailed it. While this isn't the only cause for why we're seeing this, it certainly is one reason. A simple example: One of the types of apps you can build with our tool is Python/PyGTK apps. The root benefit here is that, because Python is interpreted, there is no compile time -- when you click "Run" you instantly get to start testing your app out. Because Python and PyGTK are readily available in just about every distro's repo, this is never an issue. But, on the flip-side, setting up Python/GTK/PyGTK on Win/Mac can be a bit of a nightmare even for the nerdiest among us. (We provide our "HTML5" web app option as the default option on Mac and Win for this very reason... But, even then, we still get support requests on trouble-shooting someone's Mac where PyGTK just won't work quite right.)