Linux users aren't the majority of creatives.

Most creative generalists use Mac and/or Windows.Īs to your comments about steam attempting to justify the effort, consider this. Linux has a very small portion of creative software available for it. That is almost always Windows based because it's simply easier to install and configure, and runs well enough, plus has ALL creative software available to work with. Linux is rarely (if ever) used for production as a workstation platform.

Not only is it impossible to predict any kind of market worth focusing on of creatives using Linux as a workstation anytime soon, it would greatly bog down their streamlined iterative processes when focused on just one tight OS that has a proven and demonstrable need for a superior drawing experience. They're wasting the time of the developers. That's why I make the case that anyone positing the porting is trolling. The cost of porting that rendering engine and then building a new kind of UI drawing mechanism and the subsequent slowdown in development inherent with supporting two unique platforms would not only be incredibly costly, but SLOW THINGS DOWN. On a Mac, Illustrator runs like an incalcitrant donkey on a hunger strike. Illustrative software is a generalised field, but Affinity's strength is their custom rendering engine, and that's the weakest aspect of their main rival, which is Illustrator. Rendering is a highly specialised field, and requires so many machines that there's a cost benefit associated with using a free OS, especially one that's specifically designed for servers.Ĭreative software is used on more traditional workstations, not servers, and most creatives are generalists (in terms of software tools used) and therefore have a myriad of apps they rely on that simply are not available on Linux.

This is a myth based on the fact that a few production houses use Linux for big rendering farms. That's some seats but as mentioned they're picky. Visual effects companies use Linux (Maya, Mari, Nuke etc), almost exclusively from what I've read.

Arch linux macbook 12 inch 2015