I like how smooth the Adobe eco-system works so much that for quite a few years now I was willing to overlook all of their short-comings in regards to software licensing or how their walled garden tried to keep my data … even from me.
If it wasn’t for their total lack of support for Linux and their express attempts to keep me from even trying to run their software through wine etc. … I would very likely still be overlooking those shortcomings. But my spontaneous decision to go back home to linux changed that. Still feels like coming home even though overall I was longer on Windows for work/play now than I ever was on Linux…
It is really strange in some ways … but I feel my digital life is much freer now–sometimes with a bit less comfort and sometimes a lot of frustration (do not try to sync files with # or + in their names/directories with Nextcloud)… but I quickly forget the frustrations.
And to everyone here who feels put off by some of the shenanigans I write about: I tend to have very complicated requirements and niche use-cases because I am a techie and a dev and I like to do complicated stuff with computers when I can. And on Linux I really can.
A modern linux desktop is not much different from windows with the user experience at surface level. It installs trivially:
choose distribution when in doubt Ubuntu, Mint or Fedora which ever screenshots you like best on their websites
download ISO image
use Rufus.ie to create an USB Stick with that image
go to bios change boot order and boot from stick,
click through the installation and forget you ever were on Windows
I went back to Ubuntu about 4 years ago. I run a beelink mini alongside my Mac mini. Over time I have realised that even my Mac is losing its unique use cases versus the Linux box.
Can you run Adobe as a wine app and I don’t really mean basic wine but rather install it in Heroic Launcher or Lutris? I installed Affinity DTP that way (there is a blog that talks you through it) since then you get the full support of gamers and updates.
Do you use Heroic Launcher for your non Steam games? It’s excellent actually supports Epic, and GoG and Amazon games and even Steam ones.
All my PC games run just just fine and my setup is very minimal AMD box.
Using PWA is my best approach to Microsoft apps for when I need to use them, Edge is fully supported on Linux, and is quite capable of managing the MS apps. Xbox cloud streaming also works fine.
Have you embraced the new Linux kernel 7.0 yet? It’s meant to be a step ahead, but you do need to keep your Nvidia drivers in step. I can wait until Ubuntu 26.04 goes to point release 26.04.1 later this year but I am itching for it and Gnome 50.
I am sure you know the ProtonDB which will tell you which games run best and tweaks. Heroic Launcher has most of the toggles and options for that but frankly the only game I needed to move from default was Homeworld, which is not considered runnable reliably, and although the title sequence is blank, it then brings up the start screen and is smooth.
Now.. Adobe. Mmm. I used darktable which is on most OS and FOSS then Krita. Worked fine. But then I bought DxO for the lens adjustment and then Affinity in photo mode. I can run Affinity on either OS but DxO is Mac so my photography machine is my Mac.
I just did a search and (a) it’s only eleven days old(!), and (b) I found this comment in one article:
“What distinguishes 7.0 is not a single headline feature – it is the convergence of several long-running engineering projects all reaching maturity simultaneously”
Which tells me that I am definitely not going anywhere near the initial release!
Not that I would anyway, mind. I’m also using Ubuntu, and I’m currently running 22.04 which has another year of support. After that I’ll update to either 24.04 or 26.04, depending on how many complaints I’m seeing about 26.04 at that time. I dislike upgrading immensely, so I do it as infrequently as I can, and try to get as many years of stability between upgrades as I can.