> Linux version (foolish demand I know)

I'll buy all three Affinity apps again with a Linux or Proton version. I lug around a Mac just so I can run Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher and click OK in Xcode (or some other trivial can't-be-automated thing) from time to time. Incidentally, I do pay for quite a bit of Linux software (JetBrains, WingIDE, DaVinci Resolve)... and that is before counting all the games that I'll be buying via Steam now that I can run via Proton. Yes, I'm probably in the minority in the Linux world, but Linux (KDE desktop) is easily the most productive for me and great software is actually worth paying for. Plus, the current direction towards total lockdown of MS and Apple is going to create a lot more users just like me.

> Yes, I'm probably in the minority in the Linux world, but Linux (KDE desktop) is easily the most productive for me

Funny, I used to loathe KDE but I ended up with it by default after trying out NixOS for the first time and... I haven't left. It's great. Just fabulous. I haven't felt the need to go back to a tiling WM yet, which I still find surprising...

Same here. I used to use GNOME once upon a time, then switched to macOS, then after 5 years to Windows, and since this spring I’ve gone back to Linux, specifically Fedora with KDE. I find KDE to be fantastic. I’ve got most ergonomic setup I’ve ever used, there is really nothing to complain about it, including fantastic hidpi support. I’m really happy.

everyone ditched gnome as soon as their design head started to mandate "copy apple on everything, even the dumb things"

i wasn't even too sad with them shipping features missing 90% of the old functionality while they got the code right, but doing that just to copy apple frivolous design choices was just too much.

> Funny, I used to loathe KDE but I ended up with it by default after trying out NixOS for the first time and... I haven't left. It's great. Just fabulous.

Same here: I was a long-time xfce user but, over the years, I found myself using more and more KDE applications. For a friend I setup a Debian with the default KDE environment... I ended up using that myself - with not too many tweaks I just love it: the defaults are sane and if I want to change anything I can !

Has KDE changed that much or have I changed ?

I think KDE has changed that much. A lot of work has gone into fixing the small things and making the default saner. The solid technology behind it + all the usability fixes they’ve been working on in the last years have made it really shine. I think it’s the culmination of years of work, and I think it’s finally paying off (also the fact that Valve is officially working on KDE will give it even more momentum).

There has been indeed a lot of changes in the last three years since Nate Graham started doing weekly update about all the stuff going on each week: https://pointieststick.com/

KDE has changed, and other environments have changed.

Used to be I disliked KDE for 3 reasons: 1. it made me feel like I was Doing It Wrong and stuff sometimes didn't work if I didn't use K- programs for everything (and I disliked basically all of those), 2) it was the worst-performing and heaviest (disk, memory, everything) DE around, and 3) the config was insane, in a bad way—not that you could do it, but the GUI config manager was just a damn mess.

1 has improved a ton, 3 has improved a little, and 2 isn't true anymore—Gnome is much heavier and has terrible performance by comparison (try both on a resource-constrained device if you don't believe me).

I wouldn't be surprised if XFCE has gotten a little heavier, too, so the difference between the two isn't so stark. Especially default installs of XFCE on some distros, which include a lot of extras.

> I haven't felt the need to go back to a tiling WM yet

Try out Khronkite... It's a script that makes KWin into a tiling WM. I'm using it now.

But I don't even need it! Everything just works great! Super+arrow keys resize the window, I can even sequentially do super-left super-up to get a quarter tile. Alt-mouse to drag/resize, if I'm using a mouse at all. Easy to pin, shade, group, etc. It's snappy, does exactly what I expect nearly 100% of the time.

Why do people always have to discuss distros in every thread. Find a hobby and stop ricing.

Kind of proves the point why next year is going to be the year of Linux desktop.

After seeing a salesman voluntarily using it and getting away with it at work, multiple influential devs using it both in my organization and at customera, meetings be held with Teams on Linux desktop at the client etc I have already declared year of Linux desktop on Oslo, Norway.

Feels exactly like when Mac broke through 15 or so years ago: all the cool kids used it and advocated it, management wanted it and several people in IT preferred it and use it whenever they can get away with it.

Until one needs to plug a laptop into a customer beamer on a critical sales meeting.

>plug a laptop into a customer beamer

I've had presentations where the Macbook couldn't sync and the Kubuntu Dell rescued me. Linux video is massively better than a few years ago thanks to AMD drivers being fully open source.

The same open source Radeon drivers that have dropped support for my netbook APU, downgraded to GL3.3 from GL 4.1 without hardware video decoding as previously provided by fglrx, while the Windows 8 drivers keep providing GL 4.1, DirectX 11 and hardware video decoding on Windows 10, on the same hardware.

In other words: one more reason why it is exactly like Mac 15 years ago?

15 years ago most beamers already had a little Mac OS X logo on them.

How many have a little pinguim 15 years later?

You don't need one.

Another advantage.

Of course there are things like my Canoscan 4400F that has refused to work for years, but that is so rare I can remember that particular piece of trash a decade later.

You right, you just need to be a black belt in xrandr settings.

What are you even trying to say. You're not any better when you leave bait in every single thread even remotely connected to open source. Now go on a tangent like always and watch me not reply.

It looks like a reply to me.

Here is the thing, what you think about me, doesn't matter at all.

> I'll buy all three Affinity apps again with a Linux or Proton version.

Same here. I already own Affinity apps for Mac and on Windows but I don't see anything wrong with buying next Designer or Photo for Linux (with or without Wine/Proton). However, I know it is massive effort and still very complex errand to deliver even comparable experience on Linux as on Windows. I do still keep fingers crossed for Serif but it is frantic demand.

Well, maybe if everyone drops them an email...

[email protected]

There are hundreds of "Linux requests" (most popular [0]) on their forums and they were very resistant to give although a small chance to make it happen.

[0]: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/47502-affi...

The community asking for it is a good marker for a passionate community. Affinity being resistant about implementing it is a good marker for a functional company.

Thank you for the reference for "Breaking Paragraphs into Lines". I attempted to implement something like this (quite naively) a few years ago; to read something in detail makes me realize the impressive lengths people go to in order to do something as 'simple' as breaking paragraphs into lines and further realize how little I appreciate 'tiny' things like this.

Yes, I came to write this. If anyone from Affinity is reading this, I really hope they take notice of the demand for the Affinity suite on Linux. It’s really the missing bit on Linux.

I own the suite on Mac and Windows and I’ll gladly buy it a third time for Linux. Otherwise, at least better Wine support will be very welcome. I’d even take part in a Kickstarter fund raise for this.

> at least making it possible to run Affinity on Proton/Wine.

I would be overjoyed even it was unofficial/at-your-own-risk. They previously stated on their forums that they were worried that they wouldn't be able to deliver the experience that they wanted[1]... or recoup costs.

[1]: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/626-affini...

I got PhotoLine running under Wine. The interface is not as "sexy" but the capabilities of PL are great and in many ways better than PS or Affinity Photo. PL has been around almost as long as PS but is not as known. I believe two brother from Germany maintain the software. It is much better than GIMP too.

Proton/Wine support would be a great improvement over not being able to run Affinity software on Linux at all. Definitely worth another purchase if Linux is supported in some way. They could try crowdfunding development if they're not sure about the demand.

Seriously, I'd drop $100 for the effort without promises or guarantees. Just because I feel their software is amazing value and I'd love to have it on Linux.

How is the hostility situation of Linux users towards non-OSS software?

Pragmatic people install them in a VM or inside Flatpaks and make the permissions more restrictive. Dual boot between two encrypted isolated distros is also possible. It doesn't seem so overkill when you have to use not only proprietary software but also things like npm and containers.

Many pretend they don't use proprietary software while they still install what could be called malware directly from Steam. We're all forced to use proprietary software inside our CPUs and other hardware anyway. It would be easier to fight back if more people used and supported free software and hardware to move society to a better place. By the way I'm not implying that being open source or not has something to do with software quality.

There are a few that is very hostile it seems.

Most of us just want a choice between good desktops, 30% faster compiles, cli commands (e.g. git) that completes in milliseconds instead of seconds etc.

Most reasonable persons, even the more free software loving ones are happy to run 50 - 75% free rather than 100% proprietary :-)

Another question: with Pantone support could there be an oss version?

I'm OK with it unless security is the top priority.

A consequence of using block-justified texts is creating gaping chasms or rivers of white between words, that looks amateurish.

It's not a consequence of that, what you're describing is a consequence of poor justification algorithms + no manual justification. For books, generally want block justified text without rivers, that's why you need a good tweakable algorithm, which is what GP is complaining about. Lack of that makes it problematic for use in professional publishing work

Even with very good justification tools (InDesign's being the obvious example, as it's a direct competitor) a professional end result still requires a lot of manual work -- adjusting tracking and kerning, actually editing the text. But without that solid basis it's entirely slow manual work.

I am sure the ROI would be Amazing!