One major advantage Microsoft developers have over their Linux counterparts is that they have access to MSDN (Microsoft Software Developer Network), a magnificent online developer resource. Linux has had nothing to compare. Until now. The Free Standards Group (FSG), a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and promoting open-source software standards, announced today that it has partnered with O'Reilly Media to offer similar services to Linux application developers as part of its LSB (Linux Standard Base) Developer Network. The LSB Developer Network (LDN) is meant to serve as the central, community-based source of information for software developers writing portable Linux applications. The beta site is now open for business. Read the rest here. Good news, developer support has always been poor for those wishing to get started developing for Linux. Windows has a vast amount of information and resources available, Linux doesn't at the moment.
Yes it will, when I first got into developing for Linux, there was no resoruce available for new developers to start helping in projects. Knowledge of programming is one thing, but to develop for a specific platform one needs information about the libraries that can be used to speed up development. It also lets you fit in with what other developers are doing, and help establish a "programming standard".
