For like a month or two I decided, screw it, I am going to use all the programs I cannot use on Linux. This was mostly games and music making software.
I guess it was fun for a bit, tries different DAWs, did not play a single game because no time.
Basically, it was not worth it. The only thing I enjoyed was OneDrive, because having your files available anywhere is dope, but I also hate it because it wants to delete your local files. I think that was on me.
Anyways, I am back. Looking at Nextcloud. Looking at Ardour. I am fine paying for software, but morally I got to support and learn the tools that are available to me and respect FOSS. (Also less expensive… spent a lot on my experiment).
Anyone done this? Abondoned their principles thinking the grass would be greener, but only to look at their feet coverered in crap (ads, intrusive news, just bad UI).
I don't know. I don't necesarily regret it, but I won't be doing it again. What I spent is a sunk cost, but some has linux support, and VSTs for download. So, I shall see.
If you're doing anything professionally (even freelancing) that's not often an option. No matter how good you are with gimp if client demands that you deliver PSDs to them. Even if you could model the next Titanic at the most beautiful way on freecad it's worth nothing if client demands solidworks files. And so on.
Self imposed boycott is of course fine if it works for you. I've been using Linux since RedHat 5.2 as a daily driver, but since I make a living with computers as well I need to have Windows around for this and that. More often than not it's of course paid by the company, but I've been doing freelance stuff as well and there I need to pay for my tools.
I swear whenever I mention I need my Adobe programs everyone is so quick to offer alternatives but NOTHING will be an alternative to a .psd/.ai file made in Photoshop or Illustrator. I need to make vectors in Illustrator, texture then in Photoshop, send the layers to After Effects, make some more vectors in Illustrator, use the same psd in InDesign… I can go without the cloud or streamlined UI but I really need that interoperability layer to function. Any time spent fiddling is costing me money as a bottom line.
And as someone who's been spending hours learning FreeCAD, you're really hitting me where I'm sensitive 😅
Let's be clear, it's not that you need to use Adobe products, it's not that nothing will be an alternative to them, it's that current FOSS alternatives just aren't feature compatible, no matter how much the lay person likes to pretend they are. That's fair, and that's why I dual boot windows; some proprietary products are just better, and in a competitive industry, you can't afford to use subpar tools.
But there's no reason the FOSS version can't be as good or better, it's just a matter of funding and vision, which are both hard to come by in a non-profit world. I hope that one day we will see a cohesive suite of tools that can replace Adobe products, but I fully acknowledge that gimp 2, krita, inkscape, and blender ain't it.
Eh, partially agreed but Adobe does have a stranglehold on the market due to proprietary encoding. The world still runs on their licensed filetypes and that's a big hurdle for FOSS to overcome. A paradigm shift could happen but a lot is stacked up against it for now. Certainly not an issue that's unable to be solved but we need some seriously clever minds dedicated to the problem.
Yeah clearly, that's why I did start by saying I don't know the situation of OP.
I'm speaking as an user/gamer, who do things just for myself mainly ^^
I don't have the same consideration and focus as an freelancer like you. Clearly.