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Comment by jonpalmisc | Hacker News Reader

For me: pro & creative apps. GIMP/Inkscape will never replace Photoshop/Illustrator/Affinity. Ableton, Logic, Pro Tools, etc. are not available on Linux and with the exception of REAPER, the alternatives are awful. And even with a Linux-compatible DAW, very few plugins are available on Linux.

On macOS, I can work on hobby software & graphics/music.

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As far as I know, current Photoshop works fine under Linux woth wine [0].

[0]: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Adobe-Photoshop-2025-Wine-Patc...

This is a bit like claiming that a flat head screwdriver can sort of work with a Philips head screw… until it strips the head, you can’t see it and you don’t know how to fix it.

How's Bitwig these days? I've not checked it for years.

https://www.bitwig.com/

Not bad, but different DAWs cater to different workflows. To me (and most), Bitwig feels much more optimized for creating electronic music than recording guitar or drums. It wouldn't be my first choice for the latter workflow, where I'd prefer REAPER or Logic. You also still have the issue with plugin compatibility and that 99% of commercial plugin vendors don't support Linux.

> 99% of commercial plugin vendors don't support Linux.

It's a bit softened by the fact that many of them can be replaced/recreated with stock bitwig devices (if you're into that). There's also yabridge, though for me personally it has been a bit hit and miss.

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