[quote=NaturalPoint - Jim]As the OS world evolves and more games are published for OSX and Linux, we will be right there to support it and provide software. I hope that day isn't too far off. [/quote]
Most clients here who asked for Linux drivers bought your product, including me. Except for the researcher from some university, but still he/she asked for it. Some even buy every new version of your product. Not because they need it, its because they can't play without it anymore. Your product's mouth-to-mouth marketing is exceptional, it sells itself.
A search on the forums reveals that since the beginning people are constantly asking for linux support.
Naturalpoint states that one of the factors (besides ROE) involves sufficient Game Developer's request for Linux support for the willingness to develop a driver.
We know how this works. No software/hardware company wants to invest in a platform which will be popular in (i roughly estimate) 5 years. For the same reason not a single game developer will request for such support from your part.
You (obviously) want to invest the least amount of money to support the most amount of users for the longest possible time. Maybe now the time is right to avoid: (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the ... head_start)
So in the current situation linux users have to beg over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over (you catch my drift) again before any company will take a serious look at supporting linux. However you guys at least tried to have a driver developed for linux, for some reason that support dropped.
And then most linux clients of a product (for instance your product) give up asking for it. It's not like they have the motivation for demanding freedom of speech or protesting against war. They give up, and when they purchase hardware they do it the other way around: is it supported by linux?
Why do you think users are taking all this time and effort asking for linux support? There seems to be no other alternative.
So what happens, almost no developer takes the plunge, the ones who do fail because of a weak business case, and some (notably the leading game houses like ID) succeed but their impact is negligible.
Are you seriously stating that a ~$145 product can not cover driver support for platforms other than Windows? If not, why not let people buy a linux driver online? A wrapper approach (like NdisWrapper) seems the most feasible option.
All the TrackIR's/SmartNavs/Optitracks have a serial number. There are 8994 registered users on this forum, so what percentage of the userbase has to request for a linux driver for developing one?
What were the problems in seeking a private-volunteer developed solution?
So lets be honest; a more precise answer will be, linux will not be supported for _at least_ the coming 5 years.
Regards,
Marco
(TrackIR serial: 0xxxxx)