Linux for capitalists?
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Does anyone here know of a good site or resource that has any info on developing commercial applications for linux? I've hunted around but found nothing really useful, just a bunch of "aren't we cool", "Linux rulez", "Microsoft sux" sort of thing. My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Specifically I'm interested in finding out if there any good development tools for avowed capitalist programmers and what are the licensing implications etc.
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Does anyone here know of a good site or resource that has any info on developing commercial applications for linux? I've hunted around but found nothing really useful, just a bunch of "aren't we cool", "Linux rulez", "Microsoft sux" sort of thing. My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Specifically I'm interested in finding out if there any good development tools for avowed capitalist programmers and what are the licensing implications etc.
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Does anyone here know of a good site or resource that has any info on developing commercial applications for linux? I've hunted around but found nothing really useful, just a bunch of "aren't we cool", "Linux rulez", "Microsoft sux" sort of thing. My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Specifically I'm interested in finding out if there any good development tools for avowed capitalist programmers and what are the licensing implications etc.
Redhat is the primary distributor of the linux OS. You can write apps for the platform and your app need not be open source. However linux is not very popular with regular pc users, so it'll be hard to make money writing apps for linux. You can make money writing enterprise level applications for servers, but such a project is not easy. I don't think GPL states that you open your software if you use GPL libraries and tools. You only have to open your source if you directly modify/market thier open source code.
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Does anyone here know of a good site or resource that has any info on developing commercial applications for linux? I've hunted around but found nothing really useful, just a bunch of "aren't we cool", "Linux rulez", "Microsoft sux" sort of thing. My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Specifically I'm interested in finding out if there any good development tools for avowed capitalist programmers and what are the licensing implications etc.
Kylix/3 (by Borland) allows you to write closed source apps in Delphi and C++. There are probably other compilers as well. As long as they don't use the Linux lib files, all should be cool. However, you should also keep in mind that anything you write that is NOT open-source will be, by that very definition, a vertical-market app. ------- signature starts "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 Please review the Legal Disclaimer in my bio. ------- signature ends
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Does anyone here know of a good site or resource that has any info on developing commercial applications for linux? I've hunted around but found nothing really useful, just a bunch of "aren't we cool", "Linux rulez", "Microsoft sux" sort of thing. My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Specifically I'm interested in finding out if there any good development tools for avowed capitalist programmers and what are the licensing implications etc.
Well, if you're going on a commercial venture, why use Linux and have to deal with these issues in the first place? UNIX is UNIX. It's a good OS, and there are plenty of flavors to choose from. Linux is the only flavor that has taken a vow of poverty. Chistopher Duncan Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)
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Redhat is the primary distributor of the linux OS. You can write apps for the platform and your app need not be open source. However linux is not very popular with regular pc users, so it'll be hard to make money writing apps for linux. You can make money writing enterprise level applications for servers, but such a project is not easy. I don't think GPL states that you open your software if you use GPL libraries and tools. You only have to open your source if you directly modify/market thier open source code.
kokie wrote: You only have to open your source if you directly modify/market thier open source code. Only if you plan to redistribute. You can always modify the code and use it inhouse as much as you'd like. If you were another man, I would kill you where you stand! The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! They must pay for what they've done!
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Does anyone here know of a good site or resource that has any info on developing commercial applications for linux? I've hunted around but found nothing really useful, just a bunch of "aren't we cool", "Linux rulez", "Microsoft sux" sort of thing. My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Specifically I'm interested in finding out if there any good development tools for avowed capitalist programmers and what are the licensing implications etc.
Your knowledge is definitely scant and in fact I think you've been blatantly misinformed. Just because you edit with Emacs, compile with gcc, link against glibc, and debug with gdb absolutely does not require you to put your software under the GPL and absolutely does not require you to give your software away. For the tools (emacs, vi, gcc, etc.), the use of a GPL tool doesn't impact the ownership of anything that you create with that tool. As for libraries, most are released under the LGPL (library/lesser GPL). The basic premise of LGPL is that you can link your code against that library without causing your code to come under the GPL. If you make changes to the library, you have to distribute that code, but it still doesn't require you to release your own code. There may be exceptions, so you should examine each library that you want to use, but most of the big ones (glibc, gtk, gnome, zlib, etc.) are LGPL. The best development tools on linux are the ones that come in every distribution, and nothing prevents you from using them to create commercial software. If you want specific information on what your rights are with the L?GPL, you should go to http://www.gnu.org. That being said, with the exception of niche and vertical markets, linux software is probably not going to make much money for you. The market is small, and there is already so much useful - and free - software that the average linux desktop user just isn't interested in spending money on non-free software. Exceptions are things like vmware, codeweavers crossover, etc., that don't have a high-quality free counterpart.
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Does anyone here know of a good site or resource that has any info on developing commercial applications for linux? I've hunted around but found nothing really useful, just a bunch of "aren't we cool", "Linux rulez", "Microsoft sux" sort of thing. My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Specifically I'm interested in finding out if there any good development tools for avowed capitalist programmers and what are the licensing implications etc.
My (extremely) scant knowledge of developing for Linux leads me to believe that it's near impossible to make any money developing software for Linux due to many of the developers tools and libraries being based on GPL so I want to get educated from a commercial perspective. Not true. Just because the tools (I'm assuming you're talking about the GCC compiler) are GPLe'd, doesn't mean the compiled product is. Lots of people (including me) are using gcc for closed-source, commercial programming. Also note that the GCC C Runtime is NOT under GPL; it's under the "Lesser GPL" or LGPL, which explicitly allows you to redistribute without source. A bigger problem might be the abundance of free and open-source competitors to whatever you're writing, but that's another issue. Tim Lesher http://www.lesher.ws
