Technology
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I find for most day to day uses, there are already decent options available for Linux. There still needs to be a bit more polish for non technical users, but it's getting really close to being a viable mainstream option nowadays.
There's still a lack of professional software for music, photography and video production. It's not just a matter of there being a good tool; you want a good tool that's established and widely used in the industry. If some of the makers of professional software in these fields were to port their stuff to Linux, Linux's market share would grow and the momentum would prompt more software companies to do the same. But getting that ball rolling has proven hard for decades. Maybe as Windows becomes more and more frustrating, more ordinary users who don't need these particular tools will migrate and increase Linux's market share, causing software companies to take note. But people are quite used to putting up with a lot of nonsense on Windows.
This.
I just watched a video from The Linux Experiment about Linux not being suited for professionals. And for most people Linux is 100% suitable for their day to day work. I completely ditched Windows 2 years ago and never touched it again, but for graphic designers, editors, etc. etc. i think it's not that simple. Work that has to be collaborative with others need programs that let them work together. And in the current times the likes of adobe and autodesk completely dominate the scene and force users to stay with their programs...
This gives so many users another incentive to accept the bullshit of microsoft. I am so happy that i don't need a single program that is windows exclusive - i finally enjoy getting OS updates since i ditched that pile of garbage :-D
Bitwig Studio is great for music production and sound design.
Yes, I had forgotten about that one. Excellent software and it's great that they make it available for Linux.
Some people swear by Reaper too.
Reaper is also very good. How is VST compatibility with Linux DAWs these days?
Pretty good, atleast for me. Almost all vsts I've downloaded work really well, windows vsts included with yabridge, sometimes the ui is janky (could be 'cause i use a tiling wm and pop-up windows don't agree with it) and a couple of random vsts don't work at all (includes both linux and windows vsts so idk if it's bad programming or a linux thing.) Reaper also has support for claps and lv2s which both work well.
I'm not sure to be honest. I'm still on windows but consciously trying to use Linux compatible software for when I eventually make the jump.
Bitwig's global modular design makes me not need many VSTs. XO drums apparently doesn't support Linux but there may be ways to run it still.
I'd consider these niche use cases though. If you're working in a particular industry where you need to use a specific tool then you're stuck with whatever platform the tool's available on. However, apps that most people use day to day definitely exist. Personally, I'd also prefer it if Linux ecosystem wasn't primarily reliant on companies. I'd love to see polished open source software become the foundation, and commercial tools to be the exception for niche use cases.
Honestly, the use case with the least/worst options on Linux is CAD. Yes, FreeCAD is a thing but it's terrible and it's established userbase insists that actual modern CAD packages are unnecessary.
Apart from FreeCAD, there's a browser-based option that looks good, but most people won't use it because it forces everything designed on their service to be open-source.
There are a few more options like BRL-CAD, QCAD, and solvespace. And there are commercial options as well like BircsCAD.
There's a curve to this. If they're non technical enough, learning to use Linux for browsing Facebook is just as easy as learning windows. I've switched a handful of my older customers to Linux and they're my least needy customers now.
That's true, I've set up Linux for my parents before and it just worked since their use cases were very basic.