ranggie4

I just registered so that I could comment on this thread. I'm a big time proponent of Linux but I do understand the need for companies to be able to make money from what they do or the service they provide, so that they could continue doing just that. Being a much (much, much, much...) smaller outfit than Adobe, Serif will of course need to prioritise their limited resources in terms of manpower and cash injections, directing them to platforms that will bring in a better return over investment. However, I would like to argue that it is also important for Serif to make their software available to as many major platforms as possible in order to expand their revenue stream. Before the actual roll-out, I'm sure Serif takes the logical approach to do a feasibility assessment before investing time and money towards any development, which I'm hoping the same had happened for the Linux platform. Now for developing for the Linux platform in a cost effective way, my suggestion to Serif would be to actually get the Linux community to put their money where their mouth is. This they can do by deciding first on how much will it cost (in both manpower and money) to actually deliver a working product for the Linux platform. As soon as Serif has a clear idea of the total investment, they can then calculate the number of paid users will it take to offset the cost for starting this in the first place. Once that is finalised, Serif can then decide on the approach they would want to take for their Registration of Interest. For instance, they can start a 'fund me' or pre-pre-pre-sale option that could be hosted on Serif itself or on popular options such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo. This is also where they could specify that it's an "all or nothing" fund, whereby the development will only take off once the minimum funding is reached in full, or else nothing will happen at all. I know I've oversimplified things and that it looks like an easy enough idea to implement, but doing the feasibility study itself will involve additional expenses that could otherwise go towards improving products that are already there. But I do hope that I'll get to see a new development on this soon and that Linux will be given its own proper place and priority.