I’ve been on Linux for a while and at this point must people use their computers as glorified thin clients for Chrome.
This has made Linux way more viable as a day to day OS. Valve is working very hard to make games viable and is seeing some success.
The major blind spots remain industry specific software outside of software dev. Things like Adobe suite and Microsoft office for example. They often have a Linux equivalent but it rarely fits well into industry standard work flows.
I’m rather impressed with the MS Office compatibility and comparability of FreeOffice - https://www.freeoffice.com/ The free version trails the paid by one release… seems like a fair compromise. It’s not pure FOSS, so purists might not like it, but it really gets the job done, especially with rountripping documents. There are always corner cases where things go boink, but hell… things even go off the deep end between versions of MSO.
Many of today’s applications are now just web apps. The proportion of actual native applications that users run has been shrinking for a while, and so the differenced in native application support become less important.
That’s exactly what he said, and then he also said except for industry-specific software like video editing, graphic design, etc, where big companies don’t offer a Linux version and the alternatives aren’t quite up to par. It’s true there’s Offcie 365 online but it’s still subpar compared to the real deal, like if you’re a PowerPoint or Excel power user or really need Access or another specialized program.
I’m all for Linux, these big companies have just eaten a lot of the market and refuse to play nice.
It’s been a few decades since I got into it, but can you tell me the best Linux alternatives to Adobe Premiere / After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and AVID? I’ve tried a few and they tend to have problems with crashing and overall limited functionality.
Probably the best alternative to Premier is KdenLive or DaVinci.
As for After Effects, I’m not too sure. The alternatives definitely exist, I’m just not sure which one to recommend. It’s been years since I’ve done any compositing. But I use KdenLive for video editing regularly and it’s great.
In fact, the past year of development has been monumental in the amount of improvements and new features.
Resolve unfortunately isn’t FOSS but the free version is quite fully featured and the full version is pay-once and not that expensive (also free with some of the Blackmagic hardware like their cameras I think).
Man resolve is soooo good, UI is awesome,live saves are black magic, fusion page is straight up God sent and is fuck ton faster than Adobe suit. And not to mention one time purchase.
I distinguish between web applications and thin clients. When I was in the business, a thin client meant you ran everything through one instance of Chrome, but today’s web applications don’t work that way. They each bring their own Chrome with them. It’s much less memory efficient but allows them more control over what version is running their app. Also, many web app based applications still have special extensions to expose features Chrome normally wouldn’t.
It’s possible the terminology has changed over 10 years.
I’m a Linux developer who’s made Electron apps, I have complete and total understanding of everything you’re saying. You don’t seem to be understanding the thing we’re saying, which is that if you really really need a specific Microsoft or Adobe product, your best option is still Windows or Mac since Wine isn’t very good. This is a fault of those corporations, not technology.
This hits the nail on the head… I can get by with GIMP or InkScape or Photopea but they don’t quite cut it when I have job going out worth a few grand I want all the tools, checks peace of mind of the locally installed app. I also find GIMP convoluted to achieve basic tasks. Even things like resizing images to canvas etc. Feels clunky by comparison to say Affinity Photo.
Either way, I can never get 100% away from the big boys as ultimately I have to test natively in Windows and Mac OS so it’s not the end of the World having to boot into Windows or Mac OS occassionally to undertake the tasks required :)
Things like Adobe suite and Microsoft office for example. They often have a Linux equivalent but it rarely fits well into industry standard work flows.
I’ve been contemplating forking NextCloud to create a faster, less buggy alternative focusing mostly on the core functionality of office software and storage rather than an ever increasing amount of new modules, but not only would I need a team of developers, I’d also need to monetize it straight out of the gate, because I can’t pay a bunch of developers out of my own pocket. With NextCloud being AGPL, the fork would also be AGPL, of course. And I hate PHP, so this would involve a full backend rewrite to Rust or Go, which also renders the whole thing a pipe dream.
I’ve been on Linux for a while and at this point must people use their computers as glorified thin clients for Chrome.
This has made Linux way more viable as a day to day OS. Valve is working very hard to make games viable and is seeing some success.
The major blind spots remain industry specific software outside of software dev. Things like Adobe suite and Microsoft office for example. They often have a Linux equivalent but it rarely fits well into industry standard work flows.
I’m rather impressed with the MS Office compatibility and comparability of FreeOffice - https://www.freeoffice.com/ The free version trails the paid by one release… seems like a fair compromise. It’s not pure FOSS, so purists might not like it, but it really gets the job done, especially with rountripping documents. There are always corner cases where things go boink, but hell… things even go off the deep end between versions of MSO.
Many of today’s applications are now just web apps. The proportion of actual native applications that users run has been shrinking for a while, and so the differenced in native application support become less important.
That’s exactly what he said, and then he also said except for industry-specific software like video editing, graphic design, etc, where big companies don’t offer a Linux version and the alternatives aren’t quite up to par. It’s true there’s Offcie 365 online but it’s still subpar compared to the real deal, like if you’re a PowerPoint or Excel power user or really need Access or another specialized program.
I’m all for Linux, these big companies have just eaten a lot of the market and refuse to play nice.
Unless you’re referring to Abode directly, the video and VFX industry has a much bigger presence on Linux.
All the major software offerings (except for Adobe) not only have Linux versions, but some are also first-class offerings on Linux.
Ok, I don’t actually know if it’s “all”, but it’s definitely most.
It’s been a few decades since I got into it, but can you tell me the best Linux alternatives to Adobe Premiere / After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and AVID? I’ve tried a few and they tend to have problems with crashing and overall limited functionality.
Probably the best alternative to Premier is KdenLive or DaVinci.
As for After Effects, I’m not too sure. The alternatives definitely exist, I’m just not sure which one to recommend. It’s been years since I’ve done any compositing. But I use KdenLive for video editing regularly and it’s great.
In fact, the past year of development has been monumental in the amount of improvements and new features.
@CeeBee @zkikiz DaVinci Resolve includes Fusion, that’s more than enough to replace After Effects any day of the week.
Good to know! Thanks.
@CeeBee Also you mentioned compositing, the industry standard is Linux compatible and has a free trial too, Nuke.
DaVinci Resolve replaces all of these and does it better (ok maybe not AVID, but I don’t know much about that one, so maybe).
Huh now I know. Never heard of it before. I use OpenShot which is FOSS but it’s meh.
Resolve unfortunately isn’t FOSS but the free version is quite fully featured and the full version is pay-once and not that expensive (also free with some of the Blackmagic hardware like their cameras I think).
Man resolve is soooo good, UI is awesome,live saves are black magic, fusion page is straight up God sent and is fuck ton faster than Adobe suit. And not to mention one time purchase.
I distinguish between web applications and thin clients. When I was in the business, a thin client meant you ran everything through one instance of Chrome, but today’s web applications don’t work that way. They each bring their own Chrome with them. It’s much less memory efficient but allows them more control over what version is running their app. Also, many web app based applications still have special extensions to expose features Chrome normally wouldn’t.
It’s possible the terminology has changed over 10 years.
I’m a Linux developer who’s made Electron apps, I have complete and total understanding of everything you’re saying. You don’t seem to be understanding the thing we’re saying, which is that if you really really need a specific Microsoft or Adobe product, your best option is still Windows or Mac since Wine isn’t very good. This is a fault of those corporations, not technology.
I really need to stop drinking.
We’re here to support you in your journey to sobriety, brother!
This hits the nail on the head… I can get by with GIMP or InkScape or Photopea but they don’t quite cut it when I have job going out worth a few grand I want all the tools, checks peace of mind of the locally installed app. I also find GIMP convoluted to achieve basic tasks. Even things like resizing images to canvas etc. Feels clunky by comparison to say Affinity Photo.
Either way, I can never get 100% away from the big boys as ultimately I have to test natively in Windows and Mac OS so it’s not the end of the World having to boot into Windows or Mac OS occassionally to undertake the tasks required :)
I’ve been contemplating forking NextCloud to create a faster, less buggy alternative focusing mostly on the core functionality of office software and storage rather than an ever increasing amount of new modules, but not only would I need a team of developers, I’d also need to monetize it straight out of the gate, because I can’t pay a bunch of developers out of my own pocket. With NextCloud being AGPL, the fork would also be AGPL, of course. And I hate PHP, so this would involve a full backend rewrite to Rust or Go, which also renders the whole thing a pipe dream.