Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Constructivne Comment request

[Matt Lee]

Benjamin Webb wrote:

> Yes, GNU/Linux is good for the all the things a lot of people use
> their system for - documents and things on the internet, there are two
> big areas above that cause problems. Firstly, music - GNU/Linux is
> fine for listening to most music. However, many people have music
> collections containing DRM or want to have itunes to buy music with a
> few clicks. As concerns DRM, we should certainly tell people to avoid
> it anyway, but are there any good DRM-free music services, for popular
> artists, in the UK, that work with GNU/Linux?

* eMusic
* 7digital
* Napster
* Play.com

I think you over estimate the amount of 'digital' music people have.
Most people are buying CDs.

> Secondly games. These are a very big problem. Any serious pc gamer
> will not be able to switch fully to GNU/Linux. There are free software
> games, and there is wine, but for most gamers these are no way near
> ready.

Most computer users are not serious PC gamers. I agree that serious PC
gamers will have problems moving operating system, because they have a
very specialised set up for their gaming.

> So, here you have two big problems for "normal" users. However, these
> issues do not affect a lot of people. There is still a large number of
> people who just want to make documents, browse the web, listen to
> their drm-free music collection and possibly have a game solitaire
> occasionally (or maybe have just one "must have" game that does work
> in wine) - for most of these people GNU/Linux is a viable alternative.

I'm not even sure most people listen to music on their computers. I can
see that a lot of people have MP3 players that they need to fill up, but
I still think lots of people, probably most people, are using CDs, and
even records and tapes.

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