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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 abo

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 11mo ago
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 11mo ago
  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 11mo ago
  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.
t-writescode 11mo ago
What’s the wine and proton compatibility look like for those? You might be surprised, at least for Affinity
LargoLasskhyfv 11mo ago
There's more than GIMP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krita
piva00 11mo ago
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 11mo ago
  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 11mo ago
    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.
prmoustache 11mo ago
> 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 11mo ago
  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 11mo ago
    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.
- throw0101a 11mo ago
  > 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.
dspillett 11mo ago
> 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.

rzwitserloot 11mo ago

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 11mo ago
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 11mo ago
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.

t-writescode 11mo ago

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

LargoLasskhyfv 11mo ago

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

piva00 11mo ago

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 11mo ago
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 11mo ago
  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.

prmoustache 11mo ago

> 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 11mo ago
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 11mo ago
  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.
throw0101a 11mo ago
> 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.

dspillett 11mo ago

> 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.