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Originally Posted by rasmith3530
I stand corrected. Have you seen any updates, as this article is close to 7 months old? According to the article, the product should be released withing the next two months, so I would assume it would be at the late beta/ early release candidate stage.
If this actually happens as the article stated (I, for one, NEVER count chickens before they're hatched, especially when it comes to tech news), you now know what would be needed for Apple to create a Linux version of BB Desktop Manager, but you don't.
We of the Linux community present the proprietary world with problems that they don't face to such a degree in the proprietary world. If you want to see what I mean, just point your browser toward Distrowatch. Look at the diversity.
When you say, "Provide a solution for Linux," you are actually asking them to provide a solution for the many different versions of Linux. How many reading this would be happy if they provided a solution, but only for Red Hat Enterprise Linux users, with the attached proprietary licensing that the code could not be modified to make it work on other distros? After all, if your argument is that Linux is big with business, RHES is probably the answer. If not, then maybe Novell SuSE, after all, they're even in bed with Microsoft.
Would those complaining be happy if RIM created a solution that shut consumer users out? Would you be happy if users of smaller but important distributions like Slackware couldn't use the product? Hey, today, you look around, and there are compatibility issues between Ubuntu and Debian. What work on one won't always work on the other.
This is the problem that we, as a community, ask the proprietary world in general to solve. And of course, once they've solved it, someone will come along tomorrow, like a Mike Shuttleworth, and create the problem anew.
So, as I mentioned in my last post, if you want RIM to create a solution for the currently less than 1% of the desktop market that runs a Linux distribution, resolve Ubuntu Bug #1. Then, center Linux desktop use on a standardized format so proprietary companies don't have to shoot at a moving target.
Get desktop Linux use up near 10% and they might considering it, get desktop Linux use of a single distribution up near 10%, and you will probably see a version of BB Desktop Manager written for that distro!
Better yet, tell your Linux distributions to fully implement the Linux Standard Base and center around only one package manager. That would go a long way toward convincing the proprietary world to implement drivers for us.
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Diversity? And there you have the exact reason why they don't produce a Linux version. I wish to hell they would . But with all those distros (most junk) and their combined share of about 1% of the desktop market, RIM simply are not going to invest their money in supporting Linux. Blackberrys tend to be in the hand of VPs and Execs, not us techy sorts! Far better to get them to make their Desktop Manager SW run properly under a virtual solution IMO.