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Why you should support Mac OS X and Linux

54 pointsby nickbover 16 years ago

5 comments

cpercivaover 16 years ago
This would be great, except that it's impossible to "support Linux". You can support Debian, or Gentoo, or CentOS, or Slackware, or one of the many other linux distributions; but the fact that your code works on one distribution doesn't necessarily mean that it will work on another.<p>I'm dealing with this with tarsnap right now -- I know the code works on FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, OS X, and OpenSolaris; but for Linux all I can say is that it works on Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Slackware, Gentoo, and RedHat. Does it work on SUSE, Mandriva, Xandros, MontaVista, or Linspire? I don't know. (But if anyone here runs any of those, I'd be happy to hear from you.)<p>Yes, I could install N different distributions of linux and test them all; but testing on N different distributions is much more work than testing on 1, and many people simply won't have the time.
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wheelsover 16 years ago
In much shorter form: <i>Don't ignore the preferences of trend-setters and early adopters.</i>
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jimbokunover 16 years ago
This is the model that brought fame and fortune to Bungie.<p>"The team focused on the Macintosh platform, not Windows-based personal computers, because the Mac market was more open and Jones had been raised on the platform."<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie#Founding" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie#Founding</a><p>They had a clear and open field making quality games exclusively for the Mac platform, and this brought them a devoted following and a steady flow of profits. They later branched out into Windows, and of course Microsoft bought them out so they would focus predominantly on the XBox.<p>So, while ignoring Windows indefinitely may not be a great strategy, ignoring it at first can be.
albertniover 16 years ago
This was nice, pretty much straight to the point. At Dropbox we've noticed disproportionately more Mac/Linux users (relative to the "worldwide norm" or whatever that means, which is pretty standard). More importantly, we've definitely noticed disproportionately more vocal Mac/Linux users. We started as Mac and Windows but "investing" in a Linux (ok, Ubuntu/Nautilus to be specific, but it tends to work in most distributions and can work without Nautilus) client has certainly been worthwhile.
shiranaihitoover 16 years ago
I would have been perfectly content with "Because Microsoft is evil".
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