• verdigris
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    1 year ago

    Sure, but there’s a big difference between the support existing within the Linux architecture and it not. Almost every issue in the parent comment could be fixed without any input from Linux developers at all.

    But fundamentally Linux and open source are ethically orthogonal to for-profit software. The fact that big software companies don’t prioritize Linux is in some ways a feature, and is why we actually have the proliferation of high-quality open source alternatives. I doubt Blender or GIMP would exist if the proprietary leaders in their fields offered Linux versions from the beginning, especially if they were free.

    There are people in the thread talking about how all Linux needs is for big software companies to ditch Microsoft and get with Linux, but that would never happen as they’re imagining. Big for-profit tech would always put itself into a walled garden. What needs to happen is that the few big unassailable tech stacks that keep people chained to the proprietary products need real open replacements – namely GIMP needs to get its redesign finished and figure out the last few features it needs for professional parity, and we need a real AutoCAD competitor. I think we already have good DAWs and professional audio through JACK/Pipewire, and there’s probably a couple others that I’m forgetting… But if Photoshop and AutoCAD alone were not viewed as unreplaceable, that would be a massive boost in the number of people who could use Linux for their jobs.