Quote:
Originally Posted by ProfCrash
ahhh I didn't realize Kindle 4 PC doesn't run on linux.
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To support your argument is one reason I suspect Amazon, and a LOT of other apps, support Linux is there are one, a lot of different flavors of the same core OS each of which could require it's own tweaked version of the app.
And for my pals who love their Linux, I think it's a great OS but the reality of it is the power and control a user has is also where it falis for the mass market. This is where companies have to draw the line, just as with Apple OS's past and present, the market share does not represent enough to justify having 100 versions of the same app just to reach 20% of the Linux users who more likely than not are already stripping DRM and/or darnet'ing your content anyway.
An example of this is Zinio, representing a fairly large portion of the periodicals market. They simply do not have a native reader app for Linux. Their solution is a Flash browser based app rather than a stand alone solution as we would all prefer. Even they, who likely have a large Linux user base thanks to magazines alone, cannot justify more than a browser based solution which is likely feature compromised thanks to the limitations within the browser environment.
So it's just a fact of life not anything else. It's part of the trade off for using Linux. People who make that choice love to tout the idea is to get away from mainstream OS and software but when push comes to shove they also will use the lack of a commercial app for their platform of choice to hammer on the very commercial software they were claiming they want to get away depending on. They just can't have it both ways unfortunately.
And no Amazon, B&N or other readers likely can't release any source code as it's more than likely their reader apps use some licensed code which precludes the ability. And the Linux users are just used to someone picking up the ball to port a given app over to there particular Linux variation. It will not be possible with most commercial apps and the Linux users here know this.
Second, companies simply cannot afford or justify the resources to support the Linux in all it's variations. Very often what seems like innocuous changes can break compatibility in a fair number of apps. Or a case where there is a new branch of the that particular Linux variation which may or may not have all the modules needed to run the app in question. So where does a company draw the line? It's a constantly moving target to add support for an OS like Linux that while a really spiffy OS it's very power, the ability to be customized is also why major software providers don't provide Linux versions of their app(s). It's why there are so many indie developers who wrote stuff for Linux but even those may or may not run under a given branch of it's parent version of Linux without needing to at best recompile the app against the branch version or at worst need to do some recoding. From my experience it's frequently due to the UI supporting layer of libraries which can bring in a lot of compatibility issues.
Third, back to compatibility, if a company released a version of their app to run one, say they Pocketbook version of Linux, then users of Ubuntu would scream all heck and vise-a-versa.
Last, there are also licensing restrictions as to what platforms some tech can be ported to. This is especially true on mobile devices which have become so encumbered by carrier limitations it's not funny. So app developers would have to cater to those who are willing to jailbreak their devices. One example is running multiple DRM based apps on the same desktop/laptop is FINE license wise. But try and legally license the same libraries to enable running mobile devices and it can turn into a rat's nest fast.
Ultimately it's not all on Amazon or Sony or B&N or Kobo or whoever. It's just part of the trade off to using Linux as your core OS and it's just complicated. It's a shame but it is what it is. Too bad it's likely not legal to reverse engineer something to read DRM'd AZW/Mobi even, YIKES, TPZ files. But it likely is not allowed legally. Basically the same holds for the DRM's EPUB's as well.