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by microtonal 2530 days ago
The problem with supporting Linux, for commercial desktop software, is that it's extremely heterogeneous. Some user might be on Ubuntu, another on Redhat, another on Mandrake; all with very different details.

If you are targeting businesses, virtually nobody will run Mandrake (which does not exist anymore), Mandriva, Arch, or whatever. When you target Ubuntu LTS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you have probably covered most of the enterprise user base.

(Otherwise, the Linux version of a program might cost 2-10x what a Windows or Mac version will cost.)

This surprises me, because Apple changes and breaks a lot of stuff every macOS release and Apple only supports one or two versions back for security updates. In the meanwhile, RHEL only releases every half-decade or so and supports every release for much longer. Ubuntu LTSes are only released every two years and are then more or less frozen as well.

I like to think of desktop Linux as a DIY hobby; but not something that you can expect commercial software vendors to support.

Except if you care about servers. Or developers for that matter.

1 comments

The key word is "Desktop"
In an enterprise, even Linux on the desktop is standardized and you’re likely to find that the LTS options (Ubuntu LTS or RHEL) will cover most of the Linux users. And those that aren’t covered are probably used to finding their own way, if given the appropriate tools.

Sure, for everyday end users, supporting Linux can be a pain, but if we’re still talking Enterprise, there are only a few distros that would need to be covered.

Dropbox works on a server. I know companies that picked it because of that.