texobyte

I am not going to pretend I have any clue as to what proportion of such users are both designers and developers or any of the others (...) in-between but this was a thread created to voice a need to have support and many proposed solutions. The Mac is useful for many in my "position" and now the Windows subsystem for Linux too is up there so it's not the end of the world. I propose two thoughts: 1) if Serif were to break in to the Linux ecosystem would they gain customers that are not accessible via the standard platform? Perhaps a survey of some sorts? (I myself use Serif products in a VM and Adobe CC on the Windows partition) and 2) How was it built? Two native applications and two code bases? Does Serif realize Adobe is moving to browser based technologies quite quickly? Web Assembly is right around the corner... Oh and ChromeOS (Linux based) now offers Linux App support so that means A HUGE market. I know firsthand that porting software is often deemed not cost efficient BUT I am also smart enough to know that a silent question is a solid NO every time! Lastly a nice stat list: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#technology Look at the platforms... That means that POTENTIALLY there is a market for this small niche perhaps <shrug> who knows.

I find your comment a bit misguided. I believe the bigger issue is that Affinity doesn't understand a portion of their users. I think there is a disconnect between some designers and a subsection of developers who believe the Linux OS and ecosystem are exactly as you point out. That is just not true anymore just look at what is going on with Steam and the game industry and Microsoft subsystem for Linux or perhaps the RedHat purchase a company at its core open source! Closer to home I am the designer and the lead front end developer for a web and electron based application(s). I literally have to dual boot my machine to use BOTH sets of tooling design on Windows and development on Linux. None of it's pointless but its REAL work and pays REAL money. Your last point is kinda misguided I think. Many people are interested in what their computers OS is doing when it applies to the job they are trying to do. For me, its having the OS get the hell out of my way so I can do work and also so my IT staff can ensure it is the most secure system possible.

@InfoCentral I firmly believe you are spinning a narrative that is just not true at all. My wife has been running a Linux desktop (Ubuntu) complete with every item she has possibly needed for personal and business use for over 3 years now and if you asked her to open her terminal you would get a blank stare... 99% of the apps or programs she needs are on the desktop or in the "app store". The other are all cloud based. In her words she said this when I asked her if using Linux was hard... "I would say its been a better thing than Windows or my old Mac.. everything is there and easy to get, it's fast and I love that it never gets all that spammy stuff!" In addition to this my entire family has been a non-windows family for a solid two years and other than myself no terminals are in use... not needed. Also, my wife would have had to buy another laptop 5 years ago but with the addition of $200 chromebook for consults/on the go and her old MSI S6000 laptop with a ram upgrade she is still going with this setup and I see no reason to change it. With the cash she saved she invested in equipment else where! So AGAIN to anyone that says this or thinks this GO DOWNLOAD IT! I assume if your making claims like this you can run a VM... so do it then judge it for what the flaws really are. On a side note... I keep saying it over and over with Snaps and Flatpaks, etc. software distribution has never been easier under Linux. Also, with windows tightening up the Windows Store and the S versions of Windows I predict the land of Windows is going to vary greatly shortly.

I think anyone here who thinks this has not used modern desktop Linux and is poisoning the hard work of the people.... I just screenshot my Elementary OS install (daily driver) and only use terminal for starting my Angular instance... so yeah. I think many are not following market trends.. look at what a modern designers workflow is and I would bet they use the platform that the tools work best on and the same goes for developers regardless of the type they use the platform that suits their workflow. Now go take a look at the big guys and the path they are taking... Dell with the massive Sputnik initiative with top of the line Linux laptops, Microsoft with bash on Windows and now Windows Server. I for one am a front end web dev/designer and Systems Engineer/Task Lead for a major project and we use Linux, Docker, etc etc etc and the only reason we have Windows (THE ONLY REASON) is for the Affinity programs... My developers workflows require a VM up for it and its a pain. FYI we are using the Dell xps 13 Developer Editions (Kaby Lake) and they are OUTSTANDING machines that can do the VM/Design/Dev. I think if you don't stay up on the trends you would not be aware of the plethora of options that make it easy to ship across platforms (Flatpak, snaps, etc.) and now even the Desktops are closer than ever across distros with Ubuntu dropping Unity and everyone focusing on Gnome. I think if your product is worth its salt it will sell regardless of the platform...

@R C-R, Yes, but I think the whole idea is to give developers/companies,etc an answer to the often excuse of "Linux is too hard to develop for due to the amount of distro's". I don't think I can answer part two "smartly" but as MacOS is Unix based isn't some of the work done? (again I am quickly dropping off my knowledge here). @Fixx Interesting point but with the costs though.... whew!

Hello Developers/Everybody! I will get right to my question first since I am digging up an old thread so to the developers are you aware of snap packages and the "one stop shop development" that can be done with them for the Linux users you have? Here is some reading..... we all love reading: https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/06/14/universal-snap-packages-launch-on-multiple-linux-distros/ http://snapcraft.io/ http://electron.atom.io/ Now to understand where at least ONE of your Linux users are coming from I will give a bit of background on how I found your application, why I chose the beta, why I am not 100% sure I will purchase and what I do for work. I am a web programmer by day and freelance design/develop by night. I run Linux 98% of the time in my household for a few reasons 1) its cheap for a household with 6+ computers and a dozen internet of things devices (as I donate when I can), 2) I program on it for work so daily use makes me better outside of my normal work environment (i.e. my sons movie format won't play), and 3) I enjoy the freedom and security inherent in the the OS. Now I am not some snob nosed person and do have Windows 10 dual booted on my development laptop and my big desktop but I find they are only booted into for 1) Games that are not Linux supported (of which there are only two) and 2) Adobe Creative Cloud & now affinity. Many would argue that I should be just fine but I find it a MAJOR disadvantage for my workflow to have to completely drop to another OS to accomplish one task, design. People have mentioned Wine and other shitty options but if your going to do any serious work you can't use that and like others have said, you have a terminal on Mac (now Windows with the Conical help) but its still WAY overpriced on the hardware (Macs) and heavy (Windows). I challenge you to reach out to the Linux community for support on packaging for snap packages or another option with a free to use limited option or trial option (nothing wrong with that!) and push to a market that is easy to dismiss but I am telling you were out there.... waiting.... just look at the Gimp forums. Hands down I am ready to buy already but only if I can have the freedom to use it on whatever OS I choose. - Lance