[uxcolumbo]

What about people who need to use creative tools? There is Blender and Davinci Resolve, which are great. But GIMP is just not a match for Affinity. And what about apps like Ableton?

I wish I could make the full switch, but it's just not possible at the moment.

[rzwitserloot]

Network effects says that is long-term immaterial; there just needs to be some event that breaks a self-reinforcing cycle.

The reason there is no linux version of Affinity is thus simple: Because there aren't enough linux users to warrant spending the relatively tiny cost it takes to do that. It won't cost much and it won't significantly change Affinity as a product to have a linux release. They just don't bother; not enough paying users.

And why aren't there enough linux users? Because Affinity, for one, doesn't run on it.

That is the self reinforcing cycle that so far kept Windows around as default choice.

But that cycle can be broken. If not through a sudden burst based on some serious hype, then perhaps simply with slow and steady change.

[stavros]

Or through emulation, but then the incentive is more to make the software work well in the emulator, rather than natively.

Then again, maybe we just need to wait longer for the market to catch up. Not many Steam games support Linux natively yet, even though Linux is a close second to Windows for how many games run on it through Proton. I guess developers figure that they don't need to do extra work when Valve will do it for them, but maybe that will change after a portion of the market has migrated to Linux, especially if Valve slows down on the compatibility work.

[wltr]

On the other hand, I migrated from macOS, and chose to stick to Gimp. Its interface is the worst I’ve seen, but with PhotoGIMP it’s tolerable. Now, when I’m used to it, I don’t care about Affinity or Photoshop to ever come to Linux. I want Gimp to consider rewriting their interface. And maybe to change this idiotic name nobody in the real world thinks is funny. Then it would be quite good product to promote.

Also, I use Pinta for simple tasks. And Krita for something bigger (or more drawing), but I wish it to be Wayland-ready.

[prmoustache]

> But GIMP is just not a match for Affinity.

The fact a piece of software is not considered exactly as good as another one doesn't need the work cannot be done.

What is important is the outcome, not the tool. We were editing pictures at the beginning of the century on Photoshop 6 or something when it was not nearly as good as 2025's Gimp or Affinity of 5 years ago.

> And what about apps like Ableton?

Bitwig, Reaper and Waveform are available on Linux as well as Ardour, Renoise, Mixbus, Zrythm and a few others. Ableton is ome of the most popular DAW with Logic but there is not a situation in the music industry where a particular tool/format/protocol forces a monoculture.

[uxcolumbo]

It's not just the features, but also the UX itself.

GIMP feels clunky and the UI is not as good. I haven't tried out the Photoshop mod. Apparently it matches all the keyboard shortcuts.

Many who tried to switch are complaining about how unintuitive it is. I know you can just try to get used to the different workflows, but unless the UX issues are addressed you won't see professionals making the switch.

Blender managed to completely overhaul their UI and it's now being used to create Oscar winning animated feature films.

[prmoustache]

I used Photoshop in the past and I think the UX complains are overly exaggerated and mostly come down to resistance to change. Most of the complains come from people who never used Gimp or only tried it for a couple of tried minutes. These people have lost every right to complain about windows really.

Because the same thing happens to me when I am asked to do anything in Microsoft Excel. I am using MS Office so infrequently that it is super unintuitive for me. It takes me less time to convert the file and edit it in libreoffice then convert it back to xlsx than using Excel.

[IAmGraydon]

I've been using Adobe design products on a daily basis for around 25 years. GIMP is simply not capable of what Photoshop is. Not even close. You cannot accomplish the same thing on it. As of right now, an alternative on Linux doesn't exist. I've certainly tried to find one because it's one of the major things stopping me from permanently switching.

As for the Ableton comment, I've been a user of Ableton Suite for around 15 years. Bitwig is catching up fast (no surprise - it was started by ex-Ableton developers who were frustrated with Ableton's slow progress), but there's a major problem in that most plugins and many audio interfaces are not compatible.

[throw0101a]

> What is important is the outcome, not the tool.

Productivity can also matter: if one tool allows you to get outcome X in 2 hours, but with another it takes 6 hours (or 20 vs 60 minutes), that can also be important.

[prmoustache]

When taking into account productivity, you have to take into account the loss of productivity of using Windows. I know that because I changed job and have recently been asked to work on a windows machine after a decade on Linux and the time lost every day is huge. To the point I am considering looking for a new job and would probably be willing to lower my income in favor of happiness in my day to day use of the tools.

Also you have to separate the professionals, the hobbyists and the vanity users.

The 1st population has very strong productivity requirements.

For the 2nd population the decision comes down to motivation. As a hobbyist I don't care if it takes me a few minutes more to process an image because my livelihood doesn't depend on it and I know how to appreciate the effort made by the volunteers that are building such a useful product and release it both for free and under an opensource license that nobody can pry out of my hands. The same way my more practical to maintain (because external cable routing) road bicycle is a better option for me and I don't need to ride the same aero bike as the Tour de France winner because those couple of watts gained here and here would only makes me reach home 2 minutes earlier without making the activity any more enjoyable.

It is not worth trying to convince the 3rd population, these are the ones who will buy an Ipad Pro instead of the base model only to use it to doom scroll social medias or lookup kitchen recipes. They just want the perceived best of everything and will look down as anything less than a status symbol.

[dspillett]

> What about people who need to use creative tools?

Then for them a bad tool is still the best tool for the job of those available.

OP did say they don't push Linux on others. If you have a specific need that ties you to Windows (due to platform incompatibility that you have no power to change) then you use Windows.

No point the rest of us sticking with Windows if we want to move and don't have reason not to though.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

There's more than GIMP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krita

[piva00]

Bitwig runs on Linux, and to be honest I feel it's a better workflow than Ableton Live, Live only has M4L as a differentiator.

[uxcolumbo]

Which distro do you use with Bitwig?

I read on Reddit that some folks experienced latency issues. But I don't know whether it's to do with Linux in general or just some issues with their config / setup.

[piva00]

I don't run it on Linux, a friend of mine whom I share a studio with has it running on Ubuntu.

Personally I prefer having a Mac for music production, the audio stack works flawlessly without any fiddling.

[t-writescode]

What’s the wine and proton compatibility look like for those? You might be surprised, at least for Affinity