Linux has been my primary Desktop for about 13 years now. As such I rarely have to pay for software. Open source is just awesome that way. Yet when I thought about it I have paid for Codeweavers Crossover Linux,  despite the fact that its available for free as wine. I've also paid for Zend's  Studio for Eclipse  even though much of the functionally is available in the PDT plugin for Eclipse. While I don't do so currently, I've been known to pay for SuSE Linux  and StarOffice.

Scribus is a an Open Source Desktop Publishing tool

Considering this I realized that I very much enjoyed paid software for Linux. Not that I'd try to make the claim that paid support is somehow superior to the community approach (very often it isn't) . But when my business requires something be fixed it does make me rest easier knowing that someone is being paid to fix it. Linux and most of the software that runs on it will always be available for free,.  With just a few moments thoughts  however I realized that there were a handful of products I cheerfully paid for. So what other software would I be willing to spend money on?

3D modeling in Blender

 I would love to have a branded version of Scribus that suppored Microsoft Publisher files and came preloaded with tons of templates and layouts. I’d pay money for that. Or a branded version of Blender  that could export as a Flash animation. What about a version of inkscape that could open up the latest Illustrator files? Amarok that worked with iTunes and the latest ipods. What about a version of recordMyDesktop  that came with flash, HD support and pre recorded sound effects? 

Amarok using Magnatune instead of iTunes

The more I thought about it the more I realized that there is a lot of software I'd pay for if they were offered for Linux. Some of these features would probably require someone to pay for license fees or some such but why isn’t this happening? Am I alone in my desire for this? Or are software application firms missing out on low hanging fruit? Would the community support such branded applications? I haven’t heard of any major backlash of Codeweaver. So why aren’t more companies taking this on?