What if commercial software developers for popular Windows products sold Linux versions to a waiting market of open source users? Think in terms of paying a subscription fee to use a Linux version of Adobe’s Photoshop image manipulation software, for starters.
Is porting commercial products like Photoshop as a licensed — that is, paid — product for Linux a viable idea? That is precisely what one Linux server administrator wants Adobe to find out.
Honestly, Adobe is one of my most hated software developers. Everything they make is invasive, vulnerable, bloatware. The GIMP is a far better option for Linux and I do think that some day it will be better than Photoshop. As for the remarks about gpu drivers for Linux. Now that Valve has put some muscle behind graphics for Linux, both nVidia and AMD are starting to put some real resources into developing their Linux drivers, and recent versions of their drivers have shown marked improvements in performance.
If that continues, and the SteamOS is a winner for Valve, we might some day see Linux graphics drivers with better performance than Windows drivers - the GNU Linux base, the kernel, provides a more stable, more flexible and better performing base for drivers than anything that Microsoft has yet released. There is no reason why properly supported graphics drivers shouldn't surpass their Windows equivalents.
1. The downright hostility to the idea of of a stable driver ABI and closed source drivers have resulted in downright pathetic GPU performance and Photoshop is tending to try to use GPUs for certain effects. The Linux version would take a measurable performance hit. The Linux community needs to attract Windows users and that means offering something that is at least as good as the Windows version.
2. Adobe will demand that the Linux Photoshop be self funding. On Windows, once the product is out the door all that is left is bug fixes and developing the next version. On Linux, some developers will have to work full-time to fix the breakage from the perpetual 6 month update death march Linux seems to be stuck in. Not to mention the time needed to get a version that works with all the slightly incompatible versions of Linux. This means that the Linux version of Photoshop will be significantly more expensive than the Windows version, to the point where buying a windows license will be the cheaper option.
Honestly, you'll see Photoshop for BSD before you see it for Linux, since they will be able to write the program once and then work on the next version or bug fixes. I'd love to use Linux as much as the next person, but I love working sound, video card drivers, and not playing Russian roulette with 5 loaded chambers when I apply updates more.
If someone put forth the money and polished up BSD for the home user, got hardware and software vendors on board, and sold it for $20 per license to fund continued development with a full-time team, it could sell very well.
Adobe has repeatedly stated that they will NEVER release a Linux version of Photoshop. Period. It's been in their user forums for years.
The only way to efficiently use Photoshop in Linux is to have a virtual Windows machine with Photoshop installed on it, unless you really want to deal with a dual-boot system.
The GIMP is a very nice photo editor, but it isn't in the same league as Photoshop, but they keep improving it. At some point, it will be just as good and Adobe will have a really big problem.
I would vote, but I've already contacted them many times in the past and even got into arguments in their forums. They always had some excuse...
Another Idea IMO, would be a petition for the Humble Indie Bundle to add Gimp / Krita / blender, etc. and other open source tools as part of their charities to support.
Gimp only has 2 or 3 developers, imagine what could happen if they had double or triple those devs!
Gimp could become the equivalent of Html5 to flash!
Indies benefit and give back and linux users win! And best of all No more Begging to adobe!
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Dear Adobe: Make Software for Linux Too
Posted by: Jack M. Germain February 18, 2014 05:27 PMWhat if commercial software developers for popular Windows products sold Linux versions to a waiting market of open source users? Think in terms of paying a subscription fee to use a Linux version of Adobe’s Photoshop image manipulation software, for starters.
Is porting commercial products like Photoshop as a licensed — that is, paid — product for Linux a viable idea? That is precisely what one Linux server administrator wants Adobe to find out.
If that continues, and the SteamOS is a winner for Valve, we might some day see Linux graphics drivers with better performance than Windows drivers - the GNU Linux base, the kernel, provides a more stable, more flexible and better performing base for drivers than anything that Microsoft has yet released. There is no reason why properly supported graphics drivers shouldn't surpass their Windows equivalents.
1. The downright hostility to the idea of of a stable driver ABI and closed source drivers have resulted in downright pathetic GPU performance and Photoshop is tending to try to use GPUs for certain effects. The Linux version would take a measurable performance hit. The Linux community needs to attract Windows users and that means offering something that is at least as good as the Windows version.
2. Adobe will demand that the Linux Photoshop be self funding. On Windows, once the product is out the door all that is left is bug fixes and developing the next version. On Linux, some developers will have to work full-time to fix the breakage from the perpetual 6 month update death march Linux seems to be stuck in. Not to mention the time needed to get a version that works with all the slightly incompatible versions of Linux. This means that the Linux version of Photoshop will be significantly more expensive than the Windows version, to the point where buying a windows license will be the cheaper option.
Honestly, you'll see Photoshop for BSD before you see it for Linux, since they will be able to write the program once and then work on the next version or bug fixes. I'd love to use Linux as much as the next person, but I love working sound, video card drivers, and not playing Russian roulette with 5 loaded chambers when I apply updates more.
If someone put forth the money and polished up BSD for the home user, got hardware and software vendors on board, and sold it for $20 per license to fund continued development with a full-time team, it could sell very well.
The only way to efficiently use Photoshop in Linux is to have a virtual Windows machine with Photoshop installed on it, unless you really want to deal with a dual-boot system.
The GIMP is a very nice photo editor, but it isn't in the same league as Photoshop, but they keep improving it. At some point, it will be just as good and Adobe will have a really big problem.
Another Idea IMO, would be a petition for the Humble Indie Bundle to add Gimp / Krita / blender, etc. and other open source tools as part of their charities to support.
Gimp only has 2 or 3 developers, imagine what could happen if they had double or triple those devs!
Gimp could become the equivalent of Html5 to flash!
Indies benefit and give back and linux users win! And best of all No more Begging to adobe!