Hi Philip, While I certainly understand the logic behind your decision its opinions like this which causes something of a catch 22 situation. Developers, like yourself, are hesitant of developing software for non-Windows platforms like Mac or Linux simply because they don't believe there is any financial insentive in it for them. Windows users who might be looking at switching to Mac or Linux are reluctant to switch because Mac or Linux may not have all of the applications, games, etc they are use to on Windows. So while the developer is thinking to himself I'll wait until x number of people switch to OS x, the end user is thinking I while wait until developer x produces a Mac or Linux version of product x and then I'll switch. You can see how one directly effects the other, and how and why this is a catch 22 for developer and customer alike.
For instance, I know of a blind friend who was running Windows XP, but didn't really want to buy a new computer, get Windows 7, upgrade Jaws, etc. So he asked me about Linux. I told him about Ubuntu 10.04, the long term support release I recommend to customers, and he seemed interested. I demonstrated Evolution for e-mail, Openoffice for office work, Firefox for web browsing, Easy OCR for scanning books, and so on. I think he was pretty impressed with it until the subject of accessible games came up,. He asked me what accessible games were out there for Linux. Is there anything like Tank Commander, Lonewolf, Troopenum, and a bunch of other games like that? Unfortunately, I had to tell him truthfully there weren't any accessible games like that for Linux yet. Immediately he decided on the spot he wasn't interested in Linux any more. So you can kind of see where I am coming from as well. Its not so much Linux is infurior to Windows, but if the apps, games, etc aren't there customers don't want it. Until customers make that switch to Linux or Mac more developers aren't going to take notice and produce new versions of their software for the platform. Classic catch 22 situation. Cheers! On 5/17/11, Philip Bennefall <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Bryan is perfectly right. I have no problem going cross platform, but then > it must be with the certainty that I can make just as much profit from the > Mac or Linux version as I can from the Windows one. In other words, when > either Mac OSX or Linux is as widely used by visually impaired users as > Windows, then I will do a full port. But with the blind gaming community > being as small as it is, it makes no sense to target minorities within it. > > Kind regards, > > Philip Bennefall --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
