> Consider that the OS that powers all kinds of devices from satellites to embedded devices is Linux, an open-source project where payment isn't a top-priority for developers, but merit is!
I get that and I don't want to denigrate contributors. I've contributed to FOSS of one stripe or another over the years myself.
However I'd probably do a much better job at it if I was paid a decent salary and allowed to work on it full time. And the software would be better for it if I had a team of similar developers, user experience and design people, etc.
Being all things to all people is a great way to be nothing particularly amazing at one thing... something a desktop experience needs.
> All endeavors are like that, not just software projects. More the user participation, better the product focus and development.
It's tough! I think that's the primary reason for porting games to Linux. It'd be great if there was more to the gaming world than Windows. However for small studios there's no incentive to develop for Linux: there's just not a market big enough to sustain a business.
How do you break out of that? I dunno. A black swan maybe.
> Can you cite a single widely used software that doesn't have a FOSS alternative which works on Linux.
Wacom drivers. There aren't any shipped by Wacom for Linux. The open source ones are a stop-gap and better than nothing but aren't as good. Ergo Gimp is a marvelous piece of software but not comparable to Photoshop for professional uses.
I'd add that any alternative that wants to gain traction must provide some benefit over its contemporaries. Software freedom just doesn't cut it for more pedestrian uses of computers.
I can think of several applications provided by the Omni group which have no real analog in FOSS that I'm aware of.