68 lines
2.5 KiB
HTML
68 lines
2.5 KiB
HTML
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<p>
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There are already a number of excellent digital audio workstations. To
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mention just a few: ProTools, Nuendo, Samplitude, Digital Performer, Logic,
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Cubase (SX), Sonar, along with several less well known systems such as SADIE,
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SAWStudio and others. Each of these programs has its strengths and
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weaknesses, although over the last few years most of them have converged on a
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very similar set of core features. However, each of them suffers from two
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problems when seen from the perspective of Ardour's development group:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>they do not run natively on Linux</li>
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<li>they are not available in source code form, making modifications,
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improvements, or bugfixes by technically inclined users or their friends or
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consultants impossible.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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It is fairly understandable that most existing proprietary DAWs do not run on
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Linux, given the rather small (but growing) share of the desktop market that
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Linux has. However, when surveying the landscape of "popular operating
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systems", we find:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>older versions of Windows: plagued by abysmal stability and appalling
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security</li>
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<li>newer versions of Windows seem stable but still suffer from security
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problems</li>
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<li>macOS: a nice piece of engineering that is excellent for audio work
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but only runs on proprietary hardware and still lacks the flexibility and
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adaptability of Linux.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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Security matters today, and will matter more in the future as more and more
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live or semi-live network based collaborations take place.
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</p>
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<p>
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Let's contrast this with Linux, an operating system which:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>can stay up for months (or even years) without issues</li>
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<li>is endlessly configurable down to the tiniest detail</li>
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<li>is not owned by any single corporate entity, ensuring its life and
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direction are not intertwined with that of a company (for a contrary example,
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consider BeOS)</li>
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<li>is fast and efficient</li>
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<li>runs on almost any computing platform ever created, including old "slow"
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systems and new "tiny" systems (e.g. Raspberry Pi)</li>
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<li>is one of the most secure operating systems "out of the box"</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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More than anything, however, Ardour's primary author uses Linux and wanted a
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DAW that ran there.
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</p>
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<p>
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Having written a DAW for Linux, it turned out to be relatively easy to port
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Ardour to macOS, mostly because of the excellent work done by the JACK development
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group that ported JACK to macOS.
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</p>
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