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Affinity for Linux


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2 minutes ago, SrPx said:

For me it is. If We had ALL (not just Affinity suite, lol....) what we have on Windows, in Linux, I'd have zero probs in moving. One of the biggest issues is the market standards. You go to a job interview, and they don't want you to handle Davinci Resolve, Fusion.  They don't care if you are an ace with Scribus. They want you to master in and out InDesign.They want you to be an absolute expert with Premiere and After Effects. In freelancing, there's more room. But again, you are constantly facing the wall. You get into projects where other freelancer or company intervened, made part of the job, or provided files to start from. And they'll be industry standard native files. Often not something u can open 1:1 in non industry standard apps. Being very often a critical issue. A show stopper.

For you and me, yes. As I said earlier, I view myself (and, based on posts written by you and seeing your experience) you as exceptions. I haven't met many designers willing to be so open-minded about switching when certain software would be available on Linux. It generally isn't that simple.

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18 minutes ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

They wouldn't. And Linux HAS design software that is very good (like Krita). But barring David Revoy, I haven't seen masses of digital painters move to Linux. He is the exception to the rule. I have seen quite a few digital painters move to Krita, but stay with their OS.

Krita is a raster software, I know about krita, I use it over photoshop when it comes to illustrations, but that's not a design tool.

18 minutes ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

In my experience, the availability of (niche) software by itself is probably not a major or viable reason to switch to a different OS platform. Much more is needed than that to make the switch (whether from Mac to Windows, from Windows to Mac, or from those to any Linux variant).

When Affinity Photo was released for the Mac, many Windows users lamented the fact that it wasn't available for their OS. How many of these users made the switch to the Mac platform just because Affinity was available? Right, a negligible number, if any worth mentioning. Instead, they waited until it became available for their Windows platform.

It is their choice whether or not to switch to another os, and if they're comfortable with windows that's fine by me. I think what me and the other linux users are arguing for is the people (like myself) who already want to switch but are held back by one component, in this case a capable design software (There is Gravit but it can't be compared to Affinity Designer)

18 minutes ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

Software doesn't seem to be a major driving factor to switch to a different OS for designers, or most mainstream users. If it were, graphic designer wouldn't care about the platform they work on, but reality tells us something very different: Mac is preferred. So other reasons take precedence.

Thinking that the availability of Affinity would increase Linux adoption rates across mainstream desktop users or artists/designers is most probably an oversimplification of a much more complex set of real-world factors. I don't think it would make even a small dent.

Why IS mac preferred though? Is it not personal choice too? Because, in terms of design, the only differences are one video production software and one UI software (Sketch). In terms of other features they're all subjective.

18 minutes ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

Thinking that the availability of Affinity would increase Linux adoption rates across mainstream desktop users or artists/designers is most probably an oversimplification of a much more complex set of real-world factors. I don't think it would make even a small dent.

As before, it would at least put linux in view to a few users that would otherwise not even look at linux as a main OS because of its lack of professional design software. That and the users who already want to make the switch but can't. True it would not make a small dent in short-term, maybe not even in long-term, but it would make linux have another area in which it is a viable competitor to windows and mac (I am in no way arguing for a philantropic gift to the linux community in form of a port, I understand the costs and the high possibility of low returns + further fragmentation of the development team that is already behind on fixing issues of the existing releases)

13 minutes ago, SrPx said:

I'd be to believe that the issue runs deeper than that. I have tried my entire family (and several friends) to use Linux, believe it or not. NON are graphic artists. Even more, they don't even make anything graphic, at all (u know, they could make the eventual meme, a family photo edit... not even that). They dislike the other apps available for specific (non graphic) professional area , or just regular office work (and yeah, I do love Libre Office, is what I have installed (windows version), solely...But they definitely don't love it) , they dislike (their words were often WAY stronger) also that they find the OS much harder to use than Windows and Mac. I'm repeating what they tell/have told me, trust me. And that counting on that I made step by step tuts with them, teaching how to use things. It doesn't matter, once they're alone with it, they find some obstacle that they remember they had it solved easily in Windows (or Mac) and end of story. Next phone call is for me to come to their house, have some coffee with biscuits, but pretty plueaze, remove that Mint, Ubuntu, whatever, and re-install their Windows. Am tired of doing that. I lately was only doing it for avoiding them the 140 bucks expense. Not even having that motivation, either. If I'd "hate" Linux, I'd push hard in them not even having the thought of trying and using Linux. I mean, would I have ever installed one single distro. And I have NO ISSUES with Linux, I need to say. I think even the distros of 10 years ago were already very easy to handle, let alone today's. But one thing is the geek, other the average jane and joe.

I can understand that, my family is also not that tech-friendly however the argument lays heavily on the distro you use, because lubuntu looks extremely similar to windows in many regards so that is quite an easy distro to get into, but something more exotic like standard gnome or elementary might be seen as quite hard to get into. Either way that is a story that is not specific to linux, we are not saying linux is the holy grail of OSs and everyone can switch to a linux distro and is encouraged to do so because every other OS is beneath any linux distro. You would have the same problems getting someone to switch from Win to Mac and vice versa.
Also, this issue is more about less than tech savy people, they always complain because they can't get into something, but i'd argue if you can figure out the mess that is adobe's UI for its apps then you can figure out that the taskbar looks slightly different or that in order to install something you go do it another way. Other than that, linux has been getting more and more user friendly, to the point i've seen a few testimonials of people not having to use a terminal at all, or even if they had to it was basically copy-pasta (nvidia drivers for example)

1 minute ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

For you and me, yes. As I said earlier, I view myself (and, based on posts written by you and seeing your experience) you as exceptions. I haven't met many designers willing to be so open-minded about switching when certain software would be available on Linux. It generally isn't that simple.

Ditto on that, I have close friends who also do design who don't want to even try affinity, not even talking switching to another OS.

 

Mădălin Vlad
Graphic Designer
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52 minutes ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

Tiny adoption rate as a platform & tiny subset of target users  = no hope in heck to earn back your investment over a semi-long term.

You are correct that the Linux market share is the smallest. Looking at the numbers from december last year, Linux has a desktop market share of 2.78%. It's a fraction. However, if you compare it to the MacOS desktop market share of december last year, you see that it is 10.65%. So if MacOS is an interesting market, just be advised that Linux is ~25% their size. Now it's no longer a fraction. It's a quarter.

Besides, I believe the Affinity team has explained that their products consist of one bigger easily portable multi-platform "server" component, and one smaller platform-specific GUI/UX component. Only the latter would need to be ported. They roughly estimated that developing the GUI/UX component for Linux would cost $500,000. When a more serious initiative was started to crowdsource these funds, Affinity decided that they did not want to grow the team for that purpose, but rather focus on the two GUI/UX components they are developing right now (for Windows/OSX). This is a choice and their prerogative, but it was not stated or insinuated that it was because of money.

Corel AfterShot Pro had the same choice. Starting from Corel AfterShot Pro 2, they did port their software to Linux. AfterShot Pro 3 is available for two distro's (rpm based and deb based). I don't know if people from the industry ever run into each other, but perhaps Affinity can ask some Corel folks if it was a good, bad or neutral move, and if they sold more than 3 copies.

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23 minutes ago, Redsandro said:

Corel AfterShot Pro had the same choice. Starting from Corel AfterShot Pro 2, they did port their software to Linux. AfterShot Pro 3 is available for two distro's (rpm based and deb based). I don't know if people from the industry ever run into each other, but perhaps Affinity can ask some Corel folks if it was a good, bad or neutral move, and if they sold more than 3 copies.

AfterShot Pro is dead - the very definition of abandonware.

Tells the story, doesn't it..?

 

Keith Reeder

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1 hour ago, Redsandro said:

You are correct that the Linux market share is the smallest. Looking at the numbers from december last year, Linux has a desktop market share of 2.78%. It's a fraction. However, if you compare it to the MacOS desktop market share of december last year, you see that it is 10.65%. So if MacOS is an interesting market, just be advised that Linux is ~25% their size. Now it's no longer a fraction. It's a quarter.

Depending on the source, Linux market share falls somewhere under the 2% margin. A checked a couple, and they tend to fall around %1.7-8?  It is only part of the story: I think it is not enough to merely take OS market share percentages at face value: that is why I also mentioned that only a subset of Linux users would be interested in a commercial professional design application. Only a fairly small percentage of all users would be interested in investing the time and effort in learning a full-on professional level design application. Most users could not care less.

The Mac platform is far more popular with graphic designers than Windows is, which explains why companies such as Adobe and Affinity invest in a platform which lingers around a deceptively small 10% desktop platform share.

Windows is almost 90% of the desktop market, and while the relative percentage of graphic design users is probably far lower compared to Mac, the brute force of the numbers of users will more than balance out the difference.

Linux has a far lower percentage of graphic design users than Windows AND a tiny market share. Is a market like that viable enough to jump in for Affinity or Adobe? I think both have done market research, checked the numbers, and their current Mac and Windows stats, and decided it is too much of a risk.

I do think that if you are a game or app developer working on a development system that easily exports a Linux version, you would be daft not to cash in on that as long as you develop from the start on deploying on all platforms. But even in that case Linux fragmentation causes headaches to make sure your game / software runs on a broad enough range of Linux systems. And then there's the graphic driver issues between platforms, and Apple's OpenGL deprecation in favour of Metal.

If Affinity code base could be directly converted to Linux, it might be worth it. But as it stands, the Mac and Windows versions use different GUI layers (as I understand it), and Linux would add a third one. Then to realize how long it took for the Affinity team to port to Windows...

It is quite understandable why Serif is avoiding the fragemented Linux desktop platform. I wish it would not be so, but I myself wouldn't put myself in that risky business venture. Perhaps first focus on getting the Mac and Windows version up to version 2 or 3, and then take a second look at the market.

Although at this point I tend to agree with the assertion that Linux is a failed desktop OS. Unless a miracle occurs, or MS and Apple pisses off their global user bases in a dramatic way, this will remain the case.

Linux is extremely successful in other areas, of course. Civilization would come to a standstill if Linux would disappear overnight. But as a mainstream desktop platform for designers? Unfortunately not.

 

 

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3 hours ago, mvlad said:

Krita is a raster software, I know about krita, I use it over photoshop when it comes to illustrations, but that's not a design tool.

Yes, of course, I was merely quoting Krita as an example to explain that even if Affinity would become available on Linux, it wouldn't convince many users to Linux. Only a handful compared. People like SrPx and myself, perhaps, but of all the designers and students who I encountered throughout the years? Hardly anyone.

3 hours ago, mvlad said:

I think what me and the other linux users are arguing for is the people (like myself) who already want to switch but are held back by one component, in this case a capable design software (There is Gravit but it can't be compared to Affinity Designer)

That would probably include myself ;-) The question is whether this tiny fragment of users would be sufficient to make it worthwhile for Affinity or Adobe? No.

3 hours ago, mvlad said:

Why IS mac preferred though? Is it not personal choice too? Because, in terms of design, the only differences are one video production software and one UI software (Sketch). In terms of other features they're all subjective.

Of course it is subjective! And that very subjectivity prevented other "better" or more advanced technologies to gain the upper hand in the market before. Mac is the preferred choice, for many historical reasons, subjective reasons, and emotional reasons, and so on, and so forth.

Unless something dramatic occurs, humans are incredibly inert to overall change, self-oriented, and tend to be (very) short-term bi-polar minded thinkers. To the point of destroying their fragile little planet.

Which explains why Mac, Windows, and Linux users often find themselves in a scuffle over something so inane as which OS is "the best". Utter waste of time and energy, of course, but that seems to be the human condition rearing its ugly head again and again, to the detriment of humanity.

25 minutes ago, j0e.org said:

Yes, because there is no software for designers on Linux.

Perhaps. I think it is more complicated than that, and far more factors are involved, and not a black-and-white situation (nothing ever is: it is human nature to turn things into a yes-no thing). I highly doubt the impact of releasing Affinity on Linux would make even a noticeable dent on Linux as an OS of choice for designers. Like @SrPx stated in an earlier post, the issues run deeper than that.

This is not a matter of simple "chicken or the egg".  If that were so, someone would have released a successful high level design application on Linux by now.

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4 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

This is not a matter of simple "chicken or the egg".  If that were so, someone would have released a successful high level design application on Linux by now.

There indeed lies the major problem in this whole thing. I think I spoke about it earlier. You can be easily amazed about the vast quantity, and quality of all sort of developments , libraries and etc for network, scientific, database, security, etc in the Linux community, on its ecosystem. I mean, that kind of power, that complexity, perfection, attention to almost every sub field in those areas...the love to detail in many of those apps, IDEs, network utilities, etc, etc..!!... makes you realize they DO have enough programmers, and extremely talented. Now, apart from the holy three in 2D (Gimp, Inkscape, Scribus...and yeah, some more, but am talking this kind  of stuff) , there's Blender, and some more in 3D. I'm speaking in all these areas about OPEN SOURCE development, as, they don't need for example in those other areas, network, systems, scientific, etc, really to be all the time porting versions of apps from Windows or Mac. Theirs are often even better than the closed source commercial ones.   

The comparison is even cruel. Between the effort, resources, events, money, and people's volunteer time, and code in the other areas, specially system, network, and what is dedicated to graphics production software at more than a hobbyist level.  Again, not talking about if some company of closed source nature decides to graciously divert some resource to port one of their commercial apps to linux. Not talking about charity, but the fact of how they DO have capable people inside the community to produce graphic software that could beat any commercial grade solution, and beyond. It is my suspect that simply, Linux community has an EXTREME minority of people REALLY interested in commercial grade graphics production. Look, I've had a majority of Linux users among the people I used to go out with (and a bit later, also the people I worked with at an intensive/stressful company, that meant spending most of my time among Linux people) life was strange, and... NOT A SINGLE ONE could do a simple graphic. They'd require my help in that even for the silliest thing you could imagine. Heck, they still do!.  And they came from quite different jobs and areas, they were simply gathered by a pair of friends of mine. 

This is the root of the issue, in my opinion. You don't have to look for external factors, neither blame a third party which produces since always Windows (ie, Serif's legacy line) and Mac software. It's inside, both the problem and the solution. I am absolutely positive that all those brains and expertise, or heck, a 10% of it, would put together more than one Photoshop killer. If they really wanted to. So, no egg or chicken dilema, more of a wake up to the internal reality, and start to pull some strings from inside... There's already Blender, and Krita, as extremely good examples of what can be done with just a few decided programmers. (Krita's case is a really tiny group).

Can you imagine 2D apps made with the quality and level of completion of, let's say, current Thunderbird ?  I mean, I've seen entire staffs using that as the main thing for all inside a company. Or firefox, or etc... I'd said before that Libre Office does not get well with my friends and family... but as someone has pointed out, graphic artists and any professional has a bit of (not always, you'd be amazed... some super experts in PS I know, get stuck with zipping a file or if you tell them to PASTE a line in a term window (console in windows)) higher stamina when issues or bad UIs make appearance. So, even something at the level of Libre Office would make a world of difference in graphics production. (maybe Blender is kind of comparable, here). But not only is not there even a decent small % of interest in going that route, it's way worse: The current few apps in that line, get even worse press from inside, the community, than from the expected "enemy", the other platforms. Which always shocks me to a great extent. 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
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About the point whether or not Mac or Windows users are "hurt" by a potential Linux version: Yes, of course it would hurt existing users, because money and effort would have to be redirected towards a Linux version. It would also hurt Serif's business in the long run, and probably raise product prices.

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18 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

This is not a matter of simple "chicken or the egg".  If that were so, someone would have released a successful high level design application on Linux by now.

Bill Gates said, that no one will ever seriously need internet.

How many people said, when Steve Jobs presented the smart phone, that the smartphone will end up in a niche product (like here people talk about linux).

 

The truth is, we never know.

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1 hour ago, Requester said:

Bill Gates said, that no one will ever seriously need internet.

How many people said, when Steve Jobs presented the smart phone, that the smartphone will end up in a niche product (like here people talk about linux).

 

The truth is, we never know.

A complete irrelevant analogy. 

Linux has had more than enough time by now to have proven itself as The Next Big Thing.

Unlike the internet and smartphones, it has singularly, self-evidently failed to do so.

QED.

 

 

Keith Reeder

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2 hours ago, Keith Reeder said:

A complete irrelevant analogy. 

Linux has had more than enough time by now to have proven itself as The Next Big Thing.

Unlike the internet and smartphones, it has singularly, self-evidently failed to do so.

QED.

 

 

Linux is not the big thing, it is a grown Alternative that got mature.

Since Microsoft is making Windows (with Win10) very unpopular with its policies anyway, the desire for real alternatives is greater than ever.

Affinity products on Linux would be a big thing.

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23 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

The question is whether this tiny fragment of users would be sufficient to make it worthwhile for Affinity or Adobe? No.

I believe the question is valid, but this answer is your guess. It literally hasn't been explored yet.

Affinity has said that it is possible and they can do it and it would be interesting if the $500,000 point would be reached. But when we were "going to find out" through crowd campaign, they thought about it and decided did not want to do it, but rather keep the team as it is. Maybe in the future, but not in the near future.

It does not mean there is no market. It means it was not within their vision. I think we can safely say there is a lot of professional creative users on Linux. I know there are commercial audio production and DAW software with Linux versions. I don't know a lot of them because it's not my area, but there's Tracktion (added Linux support since version 4) and Harrison Mixbus.

For cartoons there are some commercial options. I guess TVPaint Animation Pro is the most famous. Then there is a lot of commercial video software, like LightWorks, DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic Fusion, Nuke and the Autodesk series (flint/smoke/fire/inferno).

And finally the heavy stuff not for the small business or hobbyist, like Houdini, MASSIVE, and Maya). Competition is strong, even with the high quality FOSS alternative Blender.

The only thing that just isn't there is quality Photo and Vector editing software. I don't think the aforementioned anecdotal evidence subscribes to the idea of lack of creative market on Linux. It can be interesting for multiple reasons. Unexpected market due to being the first. I just think that you're underestimating the market. I accept that you think that I am overestimating the market. But the thing is, we both don't know. Just saying there is or is not a market is an argument without value to the other side, so I think the market discussion is exhausted after 17 pages of repeating ourselves to each other.

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5 hours ago, chakko007 said:

About the point whether or not Mac or Windows users are "hurt" by a potential Linux version: Yes, of course it would hurt existing users, because money and effort would have to be redirected towards a Linux version.

Effort would be hired with money gathered from a crowd-campaign and pre-orders. So no.

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10 minutes ago, Redsandro said:

But the thing is, we both don't know.

The scientific side of me (even if I give way more weight lately to the poetic and philosophic one...)  could agree with that. As seems pretty hard today to get fully reliable stats on anything. Also, because even when it is the case, stats depend on a ton of factors : Is interpretation and processing of those stats what seems to be more important than ever. (specially for political reasons : outside the tech world are being used constantly as a weapon to convince the masses...people believe the first number thrown at them and wont dare to study those further...).

But...

On 2/16/2019 at 7:28 PM, Redsandro said:

Linux has a desktop market share of 2.78%

While I refrained myself (to avoid anyone thinking it was an evil and hidden attack or sth) to ask from which source you got that (this thread has a history on that: Is very different evaluating stats from a server or portal , or an app dedicated to Linux users, than a more global, "full planet" desktop stats ). I worked as a SEO guy, and woah, was it difficult to rely on stats from any site (IE, Alexa for traffic, etc). But if we'd be to rely on those (the ones you mention do match some that I have checked) , on that 2.78 %, how would you convince Serif that the amount of time, resources, and developer hours (+marketing, etc) is not better put into whatever the project of the platform that has a huge percentage of users (depending on how you measure, place you look at, and what portion of the cake, from 60% to 90%) , that is, Windows, or the one that having a 10%, (Mac OS) which as someone mentions above, has since always a vas majority, the largest percentage of its users being creatives of some source, being them majorly graphic creatives, but a bunch of them also, audio creatives. (extremely different to Linux, being Windows somewhat in the middle in proportion terms)

This is absolutely unbiased thinking, trust me. I just look at that 2.78% to give it a new perspective, but can't get past the comparison.

I know that you believe that a KS campaign would be enough, but I sense that they don't trust that much in the power/sustainability of KS as a mean for the company to keep the flow with an new entire branch.  Even more : Again, due to the percentages comparison of user bases, they could as well do a KS campaign for whatever the thing (ie, the so wished DAM application) but for Win/Mac, instead. What I can't see very easily countered is the usage %. Even if inside Linux community there were, in a massive number, extremely dedicated individuals (as I mentioned before, all what I have known, were not graphics versed people : I believe there are strong professionals, I've been at Blender communities for long, I'm just speaking about global numbers here) it'd be a portion of that 2.78% versus an outstandingly larger number, in the choice of a target market.

But I would agree that I don't know, or can't ever know (probably) even a rough estimate of income in dollars with a Linux version.  I can only guess anything done for Win/Mac has more chances. But... ! Everything can have a flip side, something we're missing.  In numbers is where I see the issue. Probably what you are suggesting is that the enthusiast group, even if being only a few in global stats, would want this so bad that would counter all those proportions issues? ( I WOULD like it to be so... )

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2 hours ago, SrPx said:

if we'd be to rely on that 2.78 %, how would you convince Serif that the amount of resources is not better put into whatever the project of the platform that has a huge percentage of users?

It's an interesting question and I guess that we can't convince anyone with more than an educated guess type prediction that just might be as wrong as European Central Bank predictions for bank sustainability have proven to be wrong as often as not, even though they are made up by some of the most well-paid banking professionals.

What I personally believe is that Linux users - not everyone but generalized - are among the most creative people with a well weighed and tried preference and requirement profile that ended them up using Linux. There are also insanely creative people using Windows. However I'm making a generalization to show why I'm thinking this way, in case you're interested. People use Windows by default. Sociology student, history teacher, lawyer (working with scanned-in documents, it's crazy. But that's a different story. I talk to a lot of people on train commutes.) Most people stick to Windows, some try Mac OS. Of them, most stick to Mac OS, but some still not satisfied in need of more control move to Linux.

I mean, I know a huge amount of Windows users that just write a document, or play bejeweld or cards. See someone using a Windows laptop and talk to them. I'm pretty sure saying 1 in 10 is a creator (creative person working on some form of interesting media project) is very optimistic. But when you encounter a random MacOS user, odds are they are a creator. Maybe 4 out of 10 times when you ask what they do, turns out they are a creator, working on some interesting media project. However, when you see a Linux user on the train - which happens approximately 2.78% of the time - and you talk them, there is like a 10 to 1 chance that they are doing something extremely cool. Make music, work on a short animated movie, do some color grading or work on gaming mods.

I admit this is all anecdotal, but I meet a lot of people so for me my educated guess on the market is more like so, very rough rounded subjective numbers so I can estimate:

Desktop OS  Market  Creators Share  Weighed
----------  ------  -------- -----  -------
Windows     80%     10%      8%     45%
Mac OS      17.5%   40%      7%     40%
Linux       2.5%    90%      2.25%  15%
                                    ----- +
                                    100%

The pickiness, refined opinion and philosophy that characterize Linux users will lead others to believe they are zealots - After all, Apple markets scarcity of choice because they target an audience that prefers it, while Linux is popularized by their abundance of choice, so naturally these people won't easily see eye to eye - but I know that sketching Linux users as zero-creative freeloaders is not a fair generalization. I would guesstimate on the opposite.

Referencing the guesstimated numbers above, if you humor me and see it could be plausible, here is the extra bacon: Windows and MacOS market are saturated. You need to steal market share from some other software. On Linux you'd be the first. There are no quality competitors. Yet. The creative market share is smaller, but the share is there for the grabbing. You don't have to fight for it. The users are begging you to sell them something.

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Good post.

One gain is for sure by using Linux for creative work.... at least a 14% of faster rendering in Blender Cycles (vs Windows, not sure when compared to Mac OS). This is a ton (I should know) when doing render heavy projects. I might be a bit in one extreme of that stats chunk, as using whatever the machine, I notice that I optimize my windows a lot more than many colleagues. But still, it is a large difference, and it is absolutely evident in recent and old benchmarks. One of the many reasons why I don't oppose to the idea (Linux for graphics, not just Affinity in Linux), despite my....kind of large doubts of it being close to a reality and all. My very personal take is not jump ship into something until is 100% workable for my workflows. Even if not industry standard, but covering what a freelancer needs in every situation, merely. For hobby stuff is a very different story, can get more "risky", but graphics aren't my hobby... 

It is a convincing post (yours),  although of course, is all raw estimations. I like it probably because I'd like it someday becoming more of a reality (hopefully is not too much of wishful thinking..).

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
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  • 1 month later...

I really don't understand why Affinity would refuse to support Linux. There is obviously a large number of people who want to use it including me. In fact, I think it will make or break Adobe and Affinity. First, one to the race wins. There has been a huge push for quality professional tools on the Linux platform. I am primarily an Illustrator/Photoshop user but If Affinity released on Linux I would abandon Adobe for Affinity in a heartbeat. I am sure others feel the same way. I have been working professionally as a graphic designer for the advertising industry for around 8 years. Software like Inkscape and SK1 are not professional quality products. Linux users need tools like Affinity designer. Affinity has taken the market by storm. I see them slowly but surely outdoing adobe at every turn. With their Publisher Application addition to their tool set up and coming, if they were to release on Linux they could consume the entire Linux user base and block adobe out of the market but only if they were first to market. There are people asking for these products and Affinity should listen to them, not just their current market. They should be looking to new markets to expand into. It's just a shame they don't see how their is a major shift to Linux happening under their noses... Companies like System76 system76.com prove their are artists and designers flowing to linux market buying up computers ready to run professional quality software. There really isn't a program that provides Vector graphic creation at a professional level on the Linux platform. Medical Officer Bones said this wasn't a chicken and the egg situation. I would strongly disagree. Linux has matured to the point it is only now ready for this type of software. Like I said its more like a first one to the platform wins situation.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Agree. Linux has become a mature desktop alternative now. I have myself moved completely away from Windows. The only thing I am missing is a good photoshop alternative. Honestly, that's the ONLY thing now after one year of using only linux and I do love Affinity. I've bought it for Windows (RIP) and iOS. And I'll gladly pay again to get them on Linux.

A good approach would be to use the snapcraft package system. That allows companies such as Microsoft, Jetbrains and SERIF to deploy their proprietary software across all linux distros with automatic updates. And it's extremely easy for the end users! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey guys, I'm a Junior Game Environment artist and I really don't see why this hasn't happened till now. You just need to put up a page saying the amount of money needed the port Affinity to Linux. I'm an Arch Linux user and I love using Linux a million times more than Windows. I honestly don't see how any Linux lover won't want to pay ONCE for Photo and Designer. I know for a fact that so many Windows users will switch to Linux after Affinity drops.

Right now, us 3D artists are bound to use Windows for our work, when we know that Linux is so much more performant. Blender3D is now gaining a lot of popularity in 2019 and this means a lot. You can see that just the fact that more people are switching to Blender has gotten them more financial aid in just two years of the Blender 2.8 project. As more and more people are trying to free themselves from Autodesk for Blender, others are trying to leave Adobe for Affinity. It might seem one-sided here, but I'm really loving the idea of a future when I can use Blender, Affinity Photo and Designer, Unreal Engine, Substance Painter, Designer, and Alchemist, PureRef and XNormal for game development.

I get that it will cost a ton to make this happen. If you can't port it without financial aid, all you need do is put up a page about it and you'll see just how many people have been waiting for this. The community will spread the word is you take a step forward!

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My colleague is using PS CC 2018 in Linux. Claims it works fine. 

With the new Wine 4.0, Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 seems to work on Fedora (Silver), Ubuntu (Bronze) and OpenSuse (Platinum):

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=36206&iTestingId=104933

On Wine 3, it can be done but requires some work:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7ql4kl/the_screenshots_of_photoshop_cc_2018_64bit_on/

I have not tested this myself. I unsubscribed from Adobe CC years ago because I am not using it enough to warrant a fulltime fee each month. I'm following the developments with interest though, because as we all (some) know, the first software that works fine across distro's without the need to do a lot of workarounds will win the Linux market share. (Unless it's Adobe CC because that's simply too expensive for freelancers that won't use it fulltime.)

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10 hours ago, Theophile Eyong said:

us 3D artists are bound to use Windows for our work,

Depends on what you do. I only use Wings3D and Blender since many years (despite having been a hardcore 3DS maxer at companies). Well, yeah, and a bunch of freebie and mid cost tools, but that for being a tech fanboy more than anything. I know and can do everything just with Blender itself. Since 2.28c where I started to enjoy more and suffer less, which was not the case since my use of it with the C license (to think Blender was proprietary....). Sooo..... I  "could" use ENTIRELY only Linux (and I'm quite more savvy with it than a lot of passionate Linux defenders, for the few I have been able to speak in person, in RL, in depth about this stuff...) if was only about 3D. Indeed, is 2D what keeps (would keep, as actually I prefer Windows per se)  me more tied to Windows. If the technical side was for me the most important. I actually would be able, perfectly to use a combo of Gimp + Scribus + Inkscape and Little CMS. I have done print work so at companies, and is more doable than people think. But I know for certain I wouldn't enjoy as much as the more evolved and varied graphic software available for Windows. Neither would I enjoy Linux more than Windows. And I have a good grip of both, more than usual, in both cases. But I meant depends on what you do, as , what is seen very frequently is people working in middle/small size studios using Unity /Unreal. And very often, for several reasons, these teams are very strongly requiring 3DS Max, yes or yes. So, if is not for pure freelancing, yeah, the limitation to Windows is way stronger in the case of 3D. For a freelancer , I'd say... Not even 2D, if one REALLY wishes to work with Linux. Gimp is way, way, WAY better than a lot of (linux) people say here. Scribus... If you get an idea with the stable...download the nightly build . Is much better in everything. Still, the UI seems to have been planned with evil thoughts, lol.  But is like many open source tools. The power is under the hood, and there is a LOT of power in any of those 3. So, yeah, a freelancer does not need Windows, today, IF is ready to use some tricks, and take a bit of heat and pain, as is not an easy road, however you look at it. But not only is NOT impossible, you can do extremely advanced graphics and artwork of every kind with what we have now (using open source, under Linux, Windows, Mac OS or Nintendo 64.)

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I actually have a bunch of friends who are graphics designers, concept artists and game artists whom I've been trying to get to switch to Linux, but they've  been all "Well, can I use Adobe software on Linux?" I've tried drafting a list of Linux software packages that destroy Adobe options and more, but it falls down to mainly Photoshop and Illustrator. For VFX, Blender is the best 3D modeling package I know (Challenges AE with their new 2.8 release coming up). Nuke is there for some intense industry level composition, Davinci Resolve absolutely destroys Premiere Pro, Libre Office is more than capable of handling paperwork, and so on. I've been preaching Linux to them for so long that they've come to really like it. They just can't take the plunge because they want a good vector creation program with a good photo editing software that doesn't look like something from the 90s (Gimp and Inkscape). I mean Gimp is a sad love story for me, and Inkscape is so not user-friendly that it reminds me of Blender 2 years ago. Blender 2.79 had a terrible interface, but I still liked it because it got the job done better and arguably faster than the other industry modeling software I'd tried. Inkscape and Gimp will have to bewitch me to want to learn them. 

 

Please bring Affinity to Linux. I'm still using Windows just because I can't get the latest version of Photoshop to work flawlessly on Linux. It all starts with a page and a tweet. The community will take over.

Edited by Theophile Eyong
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