Damn, it looked like candy to me too until I read your comment. Now all I see is candy guitar pick.

I’m going to second the comment to leave well enough alone. Do NOT mess with your machine if its what makes you money.

I know you commented you don’t have funds for a second computer to test with but that really is the best step for you.

This is especially regarding some of your other details. You are not in for a quick and smooth transition (sorry to say).

VSTs are “sort of” supported on Linux. Basically they’re not and there are work arounds that I haven’t done using wine for compatibility.

I run a virtual machine for the windows software I am reliant on. So basically my Photoshop etc I use Affinity in a windows VM and it works fine. Depending if you get intensive with your work you might need a lot of resources or experience lag. But for the most part it should be fine. Look into virt-manager for your VM if you want to go that route.

Besides the VST issue, audio recording will probably give you additiinal problems. I haven’t delved into it because he rabbit hole went too deep for me, but from what I’ve read there tends to be issues with audio in VMs (tremendous lag for one).

But all that being said, there should be a solution for all of your needs. It probably won’t be straight forward though given your use cases. I don’t want to sound negative with my warnings, I just want to make sure you don’t shoot yourself in the foot with your work.

I would highly recommend this as I did something similar. I ran Linux on an older machine separate from my main machine. I did so for about 10 months. Plus I built out a gaming machine for somebody and set up another old machine as a media center, both with Linux.

I finally made the 100% switch just a few months ago. I bought a new M.2 drive and swapped out just like you are planning. I really needed to make sure I had no hitches for work purposes. I haven’t even considered swapping back (though in full transparency I have Windows running on a VM for some apps that I can’t get in Linux)

I’m fully in support of LibreOffice and the fact that it can do a lot for free. However it is far from an enterprise product.

I’m still waiting for anybody to make a true competitor to Excel. There’s some decrnt spreadsheet software but there’s really no comparison to the functionality of Excel. Even Google sheets is a distant second.

My point is, when there are power users involved LibreOffice just won’t cut it.

OK thanks for confirming. I’ll stick with Affinity for now. I didn’t know abit kdenlive, something to check out. I’m still getting use to davinci resolve as it is.

You have a good point in needing to try other things, but there’s also a reasonable need to stick with the workflow that works for you.

One of their pledges when they were bought was to always have a standalone product to buy so people don’t have to do subscriptions.

That’s what I do. There’s few programs I still need windows for so I just spin up a VM for them.

How’s the gimp/krita/inkscape transition going? I’ve used Gimp and Inkscape, and they are fine tools, but I don’t think they are Affinity level yet. Though admittedly it’s been a few years since I last touched them.

Question, are you running it? I got really hopeful about it but feedback I read said it wasn’t very good. It worked, technically, but was buggy making it less than ideal. I forget all the details but it was enough to make me not want to even try it.

There’s something about simplicity that is underated.

Technically my first ditro was SuSE a loooong time ago but I didn’t stick with it. Then back when Ubuntu became he new hit thing I tried that, but again didn’t stick with it.

I have now loaded up Mint and that’s the one I’m running with. Mind you, all distros have come a long way since my prior Linux dealings but Mint is the one to make me permanently switch.

I agree with you, but there’s two sides of the coin.

I would rather pay for a finished product that is good. Sure I can download Linux for free, but I’d rather pay for it. I’d rather support teams that are putting out a product to ensure it is the best it can be and be continually maintained.

FOSS doesn’t have to be free. Nor should it be.

However when projects get organized like that they become organizations. Organizations become businesses. And that’s fine. Let’s support them so they can eat and feed their kids.

So it begs the question, if I feel that way about them is it fine to support non open source orgs and software? Of course it is.

So it basically comes down to the complaining that the software is not good enough.

Of course “good enough” isn’t binary, so if its on the threshold of usability I use it and if its severely lacking then I don’t. No big deal.

If its free, then there is no reason to complain regardless. If you’re paying for it, I think your opinion has a bit more weight. Of course there’s still a scale. If it’s so far removed from usability then I just don’t buy it. Windows is a good example of that. But if its close, voicing your opinion that you want certain features is more than fine. It doesn’t remove your support. Wanting Affinity on Linux is a fine desire. If they haven’t said they aren’t going to then asking isn’t a complaint. It’s a want.

I use Affinity because its the best solution I can find. I would love to have it on Linux. Maybe one day it will happen, but I’m not holding my breath. Supporting Affinity in hopes that they make it better for me (for my preferred platform) is OK, because I’m finding a way to use the product that suits me today. If that way becomes too much hassle tomorrow, I’ll move on. But if they make it easy for me to stay with them then I won’t. But either way, supporting Gimp won’t make it Affinity. It’ll just make Gimp a better Gimp.

I guess it boils down to, do you support something that isn’t what you want in hopes it becomes what you want it to be or do you support something that is exactly what you want, hoping it will go to where you want it?

Sorry I rambled on there (I’m tired). I do agree with you but there’s a counter point I also agree with. I don’t think they are exclusive.

When the acquisition happened they made a pledge to keep affinity as a separate product and to have perpetual licenses.

Technically they can always introduced a subscription in addition to perpetual licenses but the implication is that they wouldn’t do that.

For what it’s worth, they understand their user base and were vocal about their plans. Maybe they’ll disappoint, but they haven’t really given reason to doubt so far.

I recently swapped to Mint and have been enjoying it. I still have Windows as my daily driver and I have a handful of things that I still need windows for, but I have a media center and a gaming PC set up both on mint. There was an odd quirk with Steam where it didn’t launch after some update, and it was a bit asinine to be honest. But after a few hours of research online I found the issue and modified a file so it loaded properly. Stuff like that sucks, but it gives me experience navigating the OS and understanding how it works.

To your point though, it overall just works. My wife uses it no problem and is getting use to where things are. I maintain the system though, ensuring updates are applied and searching for solutions when needed (for instance, we use caffeine to stop the monitor from going to sleep when playing games with a controller)

I’m assuming the windows machine is a work PC and the Linux is yours right?

Because what you describe doesn’t sound like a “windows” issue but rather an IT management issue.

You can put off updates and reboots a very long time. And always be able yo postpone them.

Applying updates on boot daily sounds dumb to me. But I’m also figuring your IT dept has poor (or no) sense in managing their inventory well. Most updates can be applied silently at a scheduled time.

Also, your machine sounds old and/or poorly maintained the way you describe it. If its more than 5 years old your company is just cheap.

I’m all for griping about Windows but this seems off to me.

I have a hard time making the connection that DMS is making.

OnlyOffice is a Russian company, so it naturally has “ties” to Russia.

They have not condemned their government for invading Ukraine, which can be for many reasons. Maybe they approve of it as DMS concludes. But maybe they don’t want to get political at all (hell, look at what a single comment from Andy Yen has done to views of Proton). Maybe they don’t want their government making life difficult for them. There could be a multitude of reasons they didn’t say anything.

The way the statement is written is condemning for lack of evidence. Which is fine as an opinion. But that’s all it is.

Don’t get me wrong, I followed your link because I wanted to know and appreciate the heads up. If there’s shady stuff then I’ll avoid them. I have no ties to OnlyOffice for anything.

But being honest with the info doesn’t support the DMS claim. I’m happy to be wrong if there’s other information out there, but their biased statement makes me distrust DMS more than OnlyOffice.

Oh nice. I’ll have to look into this as it looks like a good solution. Much appreciated

Affinity is on my list of reasons I don’t go 100% Linux. People have gotten it to work (I myself have not tried) but it always seems janky and not a long term solution.

There are alternatives to Affinity, but that’s another discussion. Why you want it, your use cases etc.

I am currently deciding between a dual boot scenario vs a VM of Windows. I’ll probably choose the latter, but your situation might not want to even go down this road.

I think you put too much weight on everything, including your opinion. I am not trying to be insulting, just realistic.

I can equally say that I hate how so many people say, “just switch to Linux, its easy and does everything.” Neither of those is the case because it doesn’t factor in the learning curve nor does Linux do everything.

So if you want more Linux users, focus more on being helpful. Ask what their specific concerns are, or what apps they must have vs would be nice to have. Point people to distros that would fit their use case (it’s mind boggling as a non Linux user to just look up what distro to get). Then point them towards how to find answers to their questions and troubleshooting steps.

Nuture the seeds you plant and they will grow. Yelling at them that they aren’t growing isn’t going to help.