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Great news! Honestly, the only software that will be holding people back from switching fully to linux now will be creative tools (audio, 3d + 2d design, video

Great news! Honestly, the only software that will be holding people back from switching fully to linux now will be creative tools (audio, 3d + 2d design, video editing). I think this can be solved by us. If we show them that there is a demand for these tools on linux someone will move to supply. Open operating systems provide too many advantages to ignore.

truncate 14y ago
I think presence of mainstream CAD software is very important as well. I have seen many people not willing or not being able to shift to Linux only because of CAD.
- moistgorilla 14y ago
  I meant that too. Basically when adobe and autodesk make their software linux compatible we will see a huge shift to linux. The amount of money saved by businesses on a whole would be huge if switching to linux was an option.
- petermonsson 14y ago
  I think that you need to specify which type of CAD software you have in mind. CAD software for Semiconductor designers have an incredibly strong presence on Linux.
  - truncate 14y ago
    I think in the domain of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Mechanical Engineering. My dad is a Civil Engineer and I know stuff he needs doesn't exist on Linux.
shazow 14y ago
Some of the best tools in the industry (Audacity, Blender, Inkscape, others?) are already free, open source, and native on Linux.
- moistgorilla 14y ago
  Sadly, some people refuse to work if they aren't using photoshop/illustrator/autocad/etc. But yeah, I'm with you, I use gimp and inkscape but I'm no professional.
  - twog 14y ago
    A perfect example are front-end developers. It can be tough for anyone to make a living in that line of work without being able to edit/open photoshop and illustrated without having to configure wine. I truly believe Adobe holding back their products is one of the largest roadblocks linux has to get widespread adoption amongst the design/developer community.
    - iron_ball 14y ago
      I love Linux for general hacking, but not having Adobe tools is a huge blow when it comes to working on a design. It's almost insurmountable.
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      I'd be surprised if Adobe isn't at least looking into this, especially considering their sometimes sour relationship without Apple. A lot of the more "arty" people I know would consider giving them a Windows computer to use as a personal insult and would probably be more open to switching to Linux than Windows. Getting arty people to use desktop Linux could be a huge net positive if they decide to help "pretty" the place up a bit.
      - Kerrick 14y ago
        It's certainly nice when UI/UX people run GNU/Linux distributions. Daniel Foré is in charge of Elementary OS [1]. Because he's a designer, the project already has a proper set of Human Interface Guidelines [2], a set of uniquely designed (and easy to use) core applications [3], and a beautifully coherent look to the entire OS and website. [1]: http://elementaryos.org/ http://elementaryos.org/ [2]: http://elementaryos.org/docs/human-interface-guidelines http://elementaryos.org/docs/human-interface-guidelines [3]: http://elementaryos.org/discover http://elementaryos.org/discover
james4k 14y ago
Agreed, and with Adobe and Autodesk monopolizing creative software, I think we'll see more and more of this. Blender has been doing spectacularly with 3D to the point that Autodesk must be incredibly worried, and I expect we'll see more Photoshop contenders as projects like GIMP start to answer the pleas of its on-the-fence users. See the GIMP roadmap: http://wiki.gimp.org/index.php/Roadmap http://wiki.gimp.org/index.php/Roadmap Edit: And I expect as browser technologies continue to expand, we'll see more web-based competitors. In particular, with WebGL, I'm surprised we haven't seen things like all-GPU image editors to compete with the slow giants we have to deal with now.
- cpeterso 14y ago
  In the mid-2000s, Macromedia started an experimental port of Dreamweaver (I think) to Linux using Wine. The project was abandoned because the market for commercial Linux applications was seen to be too limited for the difficulty of maintaining the port.
- mladenkovacevic 14y ago
  Also in the video editing space Lightworks might prove to be an acceptable (if not even better) alternative to Avid and FCP.
gillianseed 14y ago
Well when it comes to 3D Linux is actually well off due to it's strong position in SFX, you have the latest Maya, XSI, Mudbox, Renderman, Houdini, Lightwave, 3D-Coat etc available in native Linux form. And as others have stated there's also great free solutions like Blender.
- moistgorilla 14y ago
  Thanks for informing me of this, I honestly didn't know they worked in native linux.
- dman 14y ago
  This is what XSI has to say about Linux - "Softimage 2013 is also capable of running on other configurations, such as boutique distributions of Linux. However, enumerating systems that are not tested and cannot be supported or that fall below the requirements for a productive user experience is beyond the scope of the online certification charts.". Lightwave isnt available for Linux either.
  - gillianseed 14y ago
    Ah, I was under the impression that Lightwave 10 was released for Linux last summer, granted it's not really on my radar. Looking at their site now showcasing version 11 there's no mention of Linux so it seems you are right. Still, Wine's AppDB page for Lightwave mentions a Linux native Lightwave 10 CORE under development.
    - carpo 14y ago
      Yeah, the latest Lightwave runs on Linux. I installed one of the Beta's a few months ago and it ran OK, though it didn't include everything the windows version had. I still use Lightwave via Virtual Box.
dedosk 14y ago
Krita (www.krita.org) is also very great piece of software recently, sometimes called "best-kept secrets among Linux applications". See this blog-post from professional illustrator http://www.davidrevoy.com/index.php?article98/krita-2-4-beta-screenshots-features-and-ppa http://www.davidrevoy.com/index.php?article98/krita-2-4-beta...

truncate 14y ago

I think presence of mainstream CAD software is very important as well. I have seen many people not willing or not being able to shift to Linux only because of CAD.

moistgorilla 14y ago
I meant that too. Basically when adobe and autodesk make their software linux compatible we will see a huge shift to linux. The amount of money saved by businesses on a whole would be huge if switching to linux was an option.
petermonsson 14y ago
I think that you need to specify which type of CAD software you have in mind. CAD software for Semiconductor designers have an incredibly strong presence on Linux.
- truncate 14y ago
  I think in the domain of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Mechanical Engineering. My dad is a Civil Engineer and I know stuff he needs doesn't exist on Linux.

shazow 14y ago

Some of the best tools in the industry (Audacity, Blender, Inkscape, others?) are already free, open source, and native on Linux.

moistgorilla 14y ago
Sadly, some people refuse to work if they aren't using photoshop/illustrator/autocad/etc. But yeah, I'm with you, I use gimp and inkscape but I'm no professional.
- twog 14y ago
  A perfect example are front-end developers. It can be tough for anyone to make a living in that line of work without being able to edit/open photoshop and illustrated without having to configure wine. I truly believe Adobe holding back their products is one of the largest roadblocks linux has to get widespread adoption amongst the design/developer community.
  - iron_ball 14y ago
    I love Linux for general hacking, but not having Adobe tools is a huge blow when it comes to working on a design. It's almost insurmountable.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    I'd be surprised if Adobe isn't at least looking into this, especially considering their sometimes sour relationship without Apple. A lot of the more "arty" people I know would consider giving them a Windows computer to use as a personal insult and would probably be more open to switching to Linux than Windows. Getting arty people to use desktop Linux could be a huge net positive if they decide to help "pretty" the place up a bit.
    - Kerrick 14y ago
      It's certainly nice when UI/UX people run GNU/Linux distributions. Daniel Foré is in charge of Elementary OS [1]. Because he's a designer, the project already has a proper set of Human Interface Guidelines [2], a set of uniquely designed (and easy to use) core applications [3], and a beautifully coherent look to the entire OS and website. [1]: http://elementaryos.org/ http://elementaryos.org/ [2]: http://elementaryos.org/docs/human-interface-guidelines http://elementaryos.org/docs/human-interface-guidelines [3]: http://elementaryos.org/discover http://elementaryos.org/discover

james4k 14y ago

Agreed, and with Adobe and Autodesk monopolizing creative software, I think we'll see more and more of this. Blender has been doing spectacularly with 3D to the point that Autodesk must be incredibly worried, and I expect we'll see more Photoshop contenders as projects like GIMP start to answer the pleas of its on-the-fence users. See the GIMP roadmap: http://wiki.gimp.org/index.php/Roadmap http://wiki.gimp.org/index.php/Roadmap Edit: And I expect as browser technologies continue to expand, we'll see more web-based competitors. In particular, with WebGL, I'm surprised we haven't seen things like all-GPU image editors to compete with the slow giants we have to deal with now.

cpeterso 14y ago
In the mid-2000s, Macromedia started an experimental port of Dreamweaver (I think) to Linux using Wine. The project was abandoned because the market for commercial Linux applications was seen to be too limited for the difficulty of maintaining the port.
mladenkovacevic 14y ago
Also in the video editing space Lightworks might prove to be an acceptable (if not even better) alternative to Avid and FCP.

gillianseed 14y ago

Well when it comes to 3D Linux is actually well off due to it's strong position in SFX, you have the latest Maya, XSI, Mudbox, Renderman, Houdini, Lightwave, 3D-Coat etc available in native Linux form. And as others have stated there's also great free solutions like Blender.

moistgorilla 14y ago
Thanks for informing me of this, I honestly didn't know they worked in native linux.
dman 14y ago
This is what XSI has to say about Linux - "Softimage 2013 is also capable of running on other configurations, such as boutique distributions of Linux. However, enumerating systems that are not tested and cannot be supported or that fall below the requirements for a productive user experience is beyond the scope of the online certification charts.". Lightwave isnt available for Linux either.
- gillianseed 14y ago
  Ah, I was under the impression that Lightwave 10 was released for Linux last summer, granted it's not really on my radar. Looking at their site now showcasing version 11 there's no mention of Linux so it seems you are right. Still, Wine's AppDB page for Lightwave mentions a Linux native Lightwave 10 CORE under development.
  - carpo 14y ago
    Yeah, the latest Lightwave runs on Linux. I installed one of the Beta's a few months ago and it ran OK, though it didn't include everything the windows version had. I still use Lightwave via Virtual Box.

dedosk 14y ago

Krita (www.krita.org) is also very great piece of software recently, sometimes called "best-kept secrets among Linux applications". See this blog-post from professional illustrator http://www.davidrevoy.com/index.php?article98/krita-2-4-beta-screenshots-features-and-ppa http://www.davidrevoy.com/index.php?article98/krita-2-4-beta...