Most people don’t give much thought to their operating system, but with Windows 10 support ending in October 2025, many will start searching for alternatives...
I think your Adobe comment isn’t quite right. I have two family members who are professional photographers and use Photoshop; Photoshop is so important to their workflow they can’t give it up just to use Linux. They thus stick with Windows (though one’s work had them using Macs for a bit, so they see it as acceptable).
In contrast, although I sometimes used Photoshop in hobbies (a euphemism for memes), I never used any features so specific to Photoshop that I couldn’t just replace it with a combination of Inkscape and GIMP.
I think the truth is as much as I hate Adobe, Photoshop is the best at what it does right now compared to competitors; GIMP 3.0 has a dismal UI and a weaker feature set, and the latter is largely true of a lot of the web-based editors as well.
I approached this as they are more techie than a regular user, so they can learn Linux faster if they want. Otherwise, it’s their job and they are not a regular user. It’s the same for MS Office too. If it’s related to someone else’s job, it’s most likely irreplaceable. However MS Office is not a must for people who just want to write or do some spreadsheet.
Basically I exclude jobs from “everyday users”.
Well, it’s true that Photoshop has no real competitor, at least in the FOSS world. Otherwise we wouldn’t have this conversation. :)
I think your Adobe comment isn’t quite right. I have two family members who are professional photographers and use Photoshop; Photoshop is so important to their workflow they can’t give it up just to use Linux. They thus stick with Windows (though one’s work had them using Macs for a bit, so they see it as acceptable).
In contrast, although I sometimes used Photoshop in hobbies (a euphemism for memes), I never used any features so specific to Photoshop that I couldn’t just replace it with a combination of Inkscape and GIMP.
I think the truth is as much as I hate Adobe, Photoshop is the best at what it does right now compared to competitors; GIMP 3.0 has a dismal UI and a weaker feature set, and the latter is largely true of a lot of the web-based editors as well.
I approached this as they are more techie than a regular user, so they can learn Linux faster if they want. Otherwise, it’s their job and they are not a regular user. It’s the same for MS Office too. If it’s related to someone else’s job, it’s most likely irreplaceable. However MS Office is not a must for people who just want to write or do some spreadsheet.
Basically I exclude jobs from “everyday users”.
Well, it’s true that Photoshop has no real competitor, at least in the FOSS world. Otherwise we wouldn’t have this conversation. :)