Because of the Apple switch to the x86 platform all Apple software needs to be re-coded for this platform. Apple calls this Universal Binary but I don’t think it’s that universal. Sure it does work on PowerPC and x86 but for OSX only if I am correct.
This means another re-code project for developers. So I was thinking: why not Linux? Wouldn’t that be better for developers? Both Apple and WindowsXP are changing there whole OS any few years. And both companies stop the support for their older OS systems rather quickly. People with old computers are no longer supported.
Linux beats both OSX and WindowsXP it when it comes to performance. Read for example this recent post at p2pnet.
So, why not re-code for Linux? I would love to see Propellerhead and Ableton developing for the Linux OS. I know, that might be revolutionary, but let’s face it: Linux performs better and has a much healthier development team: all developers around the globe. And all internet software proves open source code works great. I am not saying Ableton or Propellerhead should do open source. No, but I can imagine that making their programs compatible with the Linux OS would be a great idea. Both companies have re-coded to the Universal Binary for Apple’s new MacBooks, so why not re-code for Linux too?
Sure, developing Live for the Linux OS would be a noteworthy development.
It might even widen the market for Ableton’s eye-apple.
Besides Ableton Live, the re-code Apple is doing is, only targeted at Apple hardware users, their so called ‘creative professionals’.
It’s only called Universal Binary because it will be the new code for the Apple Universe, with ofcourse the ambition to rule the planet(but hey we still have the Borg floating around somewhere).
Furthermore Apple is not selling an OS. Sure, PC users can use it, if they have the skills to hack OSX to work on their homebuild ultra mega super PC, but that’s not the target market. Apple makes hardware, and they’re reasonably good at that btw. Ah well, it’s all luxury problems anyway.
Development of (new) programs/software will always be scattered across a diversity of languages…probably the same diversity in hardware markets.
We’ll all have to face it sometime:
You either buy the hardware you like(Dell,Sony, Apple, homebuild, etc) and pick the appropriate OS to run on it. Or you do it the other way around. Check out which OS is best for you and hope you get the best hardware :)
As long as you have the money to choose, i don’t see a problem ;)
Arnoud
By the way, sorry for the extremely long comment :)
No sorry, long comments are very much welcome! Thanks Arnoud!
You said: “This means another re-code project for developers. So I was thinking: why not Linux?”
Unfortunately you are really wrong on this one. For many OS X projects (especially those that were also coded for windows) all that is involved is a recompile.
The real issue is what APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are used for drawing the UI and are these available on Linux.
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@ AnEmbodiedMind: not sure about this. If it was just a matter of recompiling why did Propellerhead and Ableton need to put some serious time into this?
I can understand that it might be not that complicated, but I think there are, as always, a few issues which need to be solved.
This would be nice, but lots of hardware is not Linux compatiable. If external firewire devices were also ported to run on Linux, I would be very happy.
Yes, that’s still an issue. Although my soundcard, RME Hammerfall, is ready for Linux :)
“@ AnEmbodiedMind: not sure about this. If it was just a matter of recompiling why did Propellerhead and Ableton need to put some serious time into this?
I can understand that it might be not that complicated, but I think there are, as always, a few issues which need to be solved.”
Right, it isn’t (always) simply a matter of recompiling. That’s the ideal case, but often there are tweaks required, and a lot of high performance programs use code optimization tricks that don’t port well.
These programs could (in theory) be recompiled for linux, but as AnEmbodiedMind said, there is the problem of API availability..
Another thing to throw in the mix: One place where linux really lacks is sound. Normally having many choices is a good thing, however, in most computers there is only one hardware mixer. Only one device that one program can have exclusive control over. The problem is that there are two sound systems (ALSA, OSS), and on top of those, several sound deamons (esd and aRts being the more popular ones), and even still, there are some programs that wish to access the hardware device DIRECTLY (ie, exclusively). This means that if you want to use more than one audio program at the same time (you do) it has to be able to work with your sound system; either through plugins (ideal) or simply by being native to your system.
Maybe that’s not as big a problem as I think it is, but if it’s not… Then why the hell isn’t it fixed yet? That is probably my only major gripe with linux.
Thanks Grackle for your comments. You seem to have more knowledge about this subject. Hopefully Big Brother is watching us :)
No. ALSA now supports software mixing, negating the abovementioned exclusivity.
However, JACK – at http://jackaudio.org/ – offers low-latency interapplication audio routing beyond anything available on commercial platforms, and has for a few years now. I routinely and arbitrarily route audio and control signals to and from a number of synthesis, sampling, effect and recording programs with a total latency of 5.8ms. We don’t need commercial programs – we need volunteers to write presets for the programs we already have.
See http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/packages.html for a listing of programs available on just one of the now numerous audio-centric linux distributions available.
Thanks Dan. This looks interesting. When I have some time I hope I can check this out.
The article you quote doesn’t say that Linux is faster than OSX, but that some very specific application’s implementation is faster on Linux. It’s caused by different alghorithm’s of standard memory allocation function, but there’s a long road from this fact to saying that Linux is faster than OSX.
I would love to see some tests with Ardour running on both OSX and Linux. But the main point is: wouldn’t it be great if some companies would invest some time into Linux for audio? The first company who would do that might be onto something huge because a lot of users want that.
The main issue about Linux is that people think everything is free as in ‘free beer’ which is not true.