Snott

Author: snott

  • Are Linux users cheap?

    Are Linux users cheap?

    I have had TONS of conversation with Windows/Mac users saying that most of the people who use Linux as their primary OS are either cheap or total geeks. I always come back at them by stating Linux is a lot more flexible in terms of customization and freedom in general because you do what you want with the system, but they still wont change their minds.

    Well, today I found something that clearly states the opposite, Linux users can be geeks, but they are definitely not cheap 😀 and I will show it to you.

    The humblebundle is a pack of independent games released under the following conditions:

    – You pay what you WANT for the pack (yes, what you WANT, $0,01 or a $1000 or a $1 000 000)

    – You support charity, there are 2 foundations to which you can donate

    –  DRM (Digital Rights Management) Free, this means you can Install them on any number of computers without limitations.

    – You can redeem them on Steam, OnLive, and Desura! (if you want, they provide standalone clients)

    -Cross Platform , Windows, Mac and Linux Supported

    Here is a video promoting the bundle, it is very funny and the best marketing I have seen in a while:

     

     

    So, what does this have to do with what I was talking about, well,  the humblebundle website has some live statistics of donations, and a break down by OS and average donation amount, lets check it out (Warning: Eye Opener ahead):

     

    Total payments: $422,253.03

     

    Number of purchases: 82,293

     

    Average purchase: $5.13
    – Average Windows: $4.16
    – Average Mac: $6.09
    – Average Linux: $11.76

     

    Total Payments by Platform

     

    Mac, Windows, and Linux total revenue breakdown

     

    I think the numbers and graphic speaks for itself, nevertheless, I will explain my point of view on this one.

     

    Like you can see on the graphic, while the world of Linux has a smaller user base compared to Mac (MacOS has around 75 million users, Linux around 29 million), Linux users still have purchased more than Mac users (that’s single purchases, not total amount of money donated).
    Also, Linux average donation DOUBLES the Mac and Windows donations.

     

    My main point to expose here, it’s not that windows/mac users are cheap or whatever, my main point is that this clearly demonstrates the Linux users willingness to help others and support game development, and thank all the efforts people do in order to support the Linux platform.
    The pack is for a Limited Time only (13 days left from the time I wrote this) so hurry and get it, and support indie developers and charity in one step!
    Sources about number of users per os:
    http://www.macworld.com/article/141028/2009/06/triple.html
    http://counter.li.org/
  • Xfce 4.8 first impressions

    Xfce 4.8 first impressions

    As you may or may not know, Xfce version 4.8 its finally out. This version has a lot of bug fixes as well as new features. Including the long-awaited network browsing support. This feature makes this DE a breeze to explore and connect to samba and Windows shares, add to that the thunar file manager and you get fast (very fast) network browsing.

    You can take a tour of this new version by going here
    Panels in Xfce are one of those things that when you start using them, you can’t imagine your life without them.

    I use docky to manage my applications launchers and windows, but after messing around with the panels for 5 min,
    I noticed that the dock would not be needed for this setup (although I still use it cause I like it a lot). Why? Cause you can set a panel to behave in a “docky” way by setting up launchers and some items like a folder explorer or a clock.

    Having used the GNOME desktop environment for a while now, I have to say I was surprised when I installed Xfce 4.8, load times at login are A LOT faster in Xfce than on GNOME, also, desktop icons, panels and stuff like that load a lot faster than on GNOME. Also, I have some trouble running gnome-do at startup on gnome, for some reason the application wont launch at startup and I have to manually open gnome-do every time I boot my comp, but with Xfce the application loaded no problem.

    Just a quick note here, most people think they can only have one desktop environment on a Linux OS, but that is false, in fact to write this post I installed Xfce onto my laptop which runs Gnome, and I can install KDE if I want also. All DE can coexist in one single computer. Only drawback of having multiple DE is that your application menu gets cluttered because you will have lots of programs.

    Now on to pros and cons:

    Pros

    – Fast

    – Thunar is an amazing File Manager

    -Lots of customization options

    – Lightweight compared to other DE’s

    – You can run Gnome applets via an item called Xfapplet

    Cons

    – Lacks features compared to the other DE’s, of course this is a tradeoff for the speed and size.

    – Not a lot of items to add to the panel

    Here is a screenshot of my current setup with this Desktop Environment, I have a top panel with the application menu, folder explorer and removable drives, among other things. Top left I have an open windows menu. Docky can handle windows fine but if it fails or I want to look at how many windows I have opened I can go there.

    On the bottom is docky with my most frequent applications along with some folders. With this setup the entire screen is free to show the application of my choice full-screen, with no distractions at all and with no space wasted for open windows/notification icons.

     

    My Xfce Desktop
    Click on the image to show full size