Linux Online - Expanding the playing field for Linux users

Expanding the playing field for Linux users


Publication:	Boston Globe	Date:	Feb 25 2004

Computer experts will tell you that Linux software is unbeatable at tasks like scientific supercomputing or corporate number-crunching. But offer to take them on in a rousing round of Empire Earth or some other popular computer game, and watch their faces fall.

Linux is operating system software, code that controls a computer's most basic functions. Microsoft's Windows is the best-known operating system, and there's also Apple's Macintosh OS X. But Linux is something special. Created by volunteers scattered around the world, Linux is available free over the Internet. Yet Linux has been polished to the point where it's become a favorite with corporate and academic users worldwide.

But Linux software is so complex and unfamiliar that few casual users will give it a try. That means there's only a tiny market for Linux computer games. Of course, that means game companies rarely offer Linux versions of their top titles, which means even more consumers avoid Linux computers, and so on.