tl;dr yeah, I know it's a little like tilting at windmills, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try.
By this point, I think the honourable Cmdr can concede that Linux users are nothing if not tenacious.
This is all down to numbers. If there are enough players then any games company wouldn't hesitate to put out a title on Linux.
I actually have no doubt that Frontier will eventually support Linux (because deep down, despite my better judgment I live in hope of these sorts of things (and if they are going to open up the server at the end of the game's lifecycle, then they will need a client to go with it)), and while I know that these threads (three of them I think I am subscribed to now) are like the dark lich lords of feature requests, constantly raising their necro heads, keeping them periodically in view on the forums here does let the Producers know that at least some people are interested.
Is it enough people to make it financially viable!? Not my call, that's a business decision (and looking at the Steam Linux sales numbers, probably not viable right now). In this case all I can do is agitate a bit and try to get noticed in the right way, I cannot demand anything, I'm not going to petition FD for a client, I don't know all of the technical challenges involved with moving Cobra to Linux, but I will argue that Linux isn't going away and is growing on the desktop (albeit slower than many of us would like) and being involved earlier pays bigger dividends down the road.
How many Linux players are out there and of that number how many would buy ED? Reply with concrete numbers please.
But to the crux of your message, I have three accounts and if that was the only way to get a native Linux client, I'd re-purchase all of them, but people responding to that message are just a percentage of a percentage, the numbers add up to next to nothing.
Does the collective gloomy outlook for Linux on the desktop and for gaming in particular mean we shouldn't try though? I say "no it shouldn't", and while in my view, making demands of Frontier is highly counterproductive, keeping the issue at least somewhat on their radar isn't necessarily a bad thing.
DX11 hits WINE this year. I'll be testing it out, although I will keep a windows partition around for the inevitable update X breaks component Y problems that seem to bubble up every time time I try to use it (for reasons best known only to the spirit of Ada Lovelace, me and WINE always seem to clash). I expect that Frontier will be able to ascertain when the client is installed under WINE and gauge if the uptake is enough to justify a native client, or if they should strike a deal with Codeweavers and have a non moving target to aim for in Crossover.
I'll also offer up this to try and explain that I know this is a long game,
http://www.cio.com/article/3053507/linux/linus-torvalds-still-wants-linux-to-take-over-the-desktop.html. Like many respondents to these threads, I've been involved with Linux for decades now, nothing changes overnight and from my observations, only gentle persuasion and demonstrations of capability in the OS seem to make the changes happen.
So roll on dx11 in WINE and roll on over at "the other game"
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/star-citizen-for-linux-is-being-held-up-by-crytek.5176 where if they solve some of their technical challenges, the landscape for Elite is likely to be reassessed.
