Adobe, Linux Support, and the Linux Foundation.

[gai.ra.III]

While generally I've only lurked the Adobe forums I've finally worked up guts to post this. I also know that about every 1-2 months this question is asked but I think it deserves a another go around.

My premises is this:

Adobe joined the Linux Foundation in 2008 for a focus on Linux for Web 2.0  Applications like Adobe® Flash® Player and Adobe AIR™. Currently Adobe holds a silver membership status with the Linux Foundation. So why in the world do they not have any Creative Cloud Programs available in Linux without the need for WINE and other such workarounds. I think it's a sucky move to support the Linux Foundation and use Linux in the back-end while not doing anything to support actual Linux users who have for at least a decade requested Adobe desktop products on Linux. Sure it's going to take a lot of manpower, financial resources, etc. But to truly support Linux and the Linux Foundation I think it's necessary that y'all do make things like Photoshop and Lightroom available for the Linux desktop. In any regards the wider Linux community would most likely help with testing and debugging programs. We're used to it.

[Abambo]

gai.ra.III  wrote

While generally I've only lurked the Adobe forums I've finally worked up guts to post this. I also know that about every 1-2 months this question is asked but I think it deserves a another go around.

I feel that all has been said about this. Why not participating in the latest Linux discussion?

gai.ra.III  wrote

Adobe joined the Linux Foundation in 2008 (...) So why in the world do they not have any Creative Cloud Programs available in Linux

Because they decided it was not worth the effort for the current user base.

There is no sense in a Linux discussion. If Adobe does port their software on Linux, they will do it and announce Linux at a time.

In the meantime use the Bug/Feature request to let Adobe hear your request: Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[Mylenium]

Same answer as always: As long as only a infinitessimally small fraction of people even use a desktop Linux to do stuff, there is no point even discussing this. It really comes down to that "normal" people in the creative branches of the industry Adobe caters for simply don't care much for Linux to the point of a majority not even being aware that such a thing exists. Even if the products existed for Linux already, nobody would use them on this system. This is the simple, harsh truth here, no matter how much this is being trotted out hypothetically. The numbers simply don't add up.

Mylenium

[jackdawrabbit]

I also have a simple truth : In percentages, linux users are still a minority, but in actual numbers there are hundreds of thousands of users if not many millions. I've seen thoses numbers but can't remember where, and I was thinking, if only a fraction of those users would subscribe to Adobe cloud, that would still mean a lot of money.

[Abambo]

I'm a subscriber to CC and I'm a Linux user. Does that mean anything in sales for Adobe? No certainly not! Any for profit company will jump on Linux when they see a possible market. That's why some companies have some of their products on Linux.

[jackdawrabbit]

But then you must also be a Windows or Apple user? I tried Adobe a while using VirtualBox on Linux, but that didn't really work the way I hoped. Now I'm thinking of buying a minimal Windows desktop so I can run LR, but on the other hand, I really getting used to Darktable.

[Abambo]

Yes, I'm a Windows user and an occasional MacOS (not only Apple!!!! as I use an iPhone and iPad) user.

[OscarNebeAbad]

Im subscriber since years to Complete CC and I work in MacOS and Windows because I cant use it in Linux if not I moved out years ago...the other tools I need: VSCode, Alicevision Meshroom, Blender. Substance and Davinci actually works on Linux... C'mon Adobe, wake up! Even Valve struggle for gaming desktop in linux with Wine fork Proton...

[Nancy OShea]

Linux appeals more to coders than designers.

Maybe that's why Adobe Brackets works on Linux.

Brackets - A modern, open source code editor that understands web design.

[Abambo]

You may submit your wish:

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[OscarNebeAbad]

I think better I will push to remove Adobe CC from my workflow.

[VkonArch]

It's not the numbers that don't add up. It's the fact that many users have dual boot systems, and only Microsoft records the data and reports it.

I've been an avid Linux user for 3 years now and I do all my visuals there, including all my business material with ease. Lately the OS has become extremely viable with good support by both companies and it's community. And now with Valve's Proton, even the latest Windows games play flawlessly. I've actually tested it, so I know it works.

Back to the visuals, Black Magic is doing big steps to secure the Linux market, and lets be honest, all major VFX studios have Linux as a prerequisite. That's because all major applications work there much better and crashes are minimal, if non existent. The only app crash I've seen are in beta testing. Additionally, the reason there are so many companies that support Windows and Mac for their utilities especially, is that there are no alternatives. So, most seek the easy solution for video transcoding, audio reformatting etc.

The C language basically depends on two major things: the compiler and the external libraries. I played a little with the C++ and I have options to compile for any platform, as long as the respective compiler is there. Therefore, I trust the real technical issue is the libraries. Adobe uses Directx, Linux uses Opengl and Vulcan. The latter is up to par with Directx. Not to mention Apple uses mainly Opengl, so that isn't exactly an excuse either.  Therefore the effort to port the applications is minimal. The true reason I suspect has to do with contract partnerships between Adobe, Microsoft and Apple. Because imagine, should the Adobe Suite and the Office 365 become available on Linux, it will sooner or later spell doom for the two companies. Perhaps not so much for Apple that builds hardware and locks it, but Microsoft will definitely feel it.

[WaywardHam]

Hi Everyone,

I just thought I'd bring up a different perspective. Everyone talks about private computing, or corporate users, but it honestly surprises me the complete disregard that the research world seems to get. Maybe because they don't get out much... who knows.

I've been using Linux in various flavours since 2001, and the general user-friendliness of distributions like Ubuntu have addressed most of the problems long-associated with Linux. The biggest obstacle now, (at least in my experience) is the availability of industry-grade software for Linux. Imagine if Adobe wasn't made available for MacOS? How many people would be using it today?

Linux users seem to suffer from the "chicken and egg" situation caused by corporate inertia. Every software company complains about "how few people use Linux" to justify doing nothing. It would only take a few big software firms to start supporting Linux like Autodesk and Adobe (and that's just the As)  to radically change that landscape, and encourage much wider adoption of Linux in the general population.

The ability to build custom PCs with a good performance-to-value ratio, drop a stable, free OS like Linux on it, and use commercial software to get stuff done would be the holy trifecta for many users, ranging from small businesses, researchers, students, and even larger organizations. We'd finally be able to squeeze more performance from our systems, regardless of the price we'd paid for it.

I've worked as an IT Systems Administrator, Systems Engineer, and Solutions Architect for several research schools for the Australian National University. In the Research School of Chemistry, in the computational Chemistry division alone, there's 50 users running Ubuntu who'd desperately appreciate the ability to use Adobe products without dual-booting into Windows. In the Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering, I can think of another 100 people who'd dump Windows in a heart beat if they could use Adobe's and/or AutoDesk's products with it. The cost savings in the digital media school, if they were suddenly freed from paying Apple prices for borderline-adequate hardware, could afford some serious upgrades in RAM, CPUs, Video cards, NASs, more than enough to upgrade to a rig capable of editing vast tracts of 4K footage, and high detail 3D rendering.

While MacOS X does have some proprietary elements. It still has a strong basis on Unix. Building a precompiled binary for a common distribution like Ubuntu shouldn't require the "reinventing the wheel" level of difficulty implied by others here.

As a web designer, IT support, in-house research photographer, and now a small-business operator. I can assure you that businesses and universities alike are cutting costs, and are all about the Return on Investment. (ROI). Stale arguments about Linux not being worthwhile are short-sighted.

Honestly, I consider myself amongst the first people who would ditch Windows if I could run Adobe software on Linux. I'm just unwilling to pay Apple prices for hardware, and I'm honestly tired of the unnecessary bloat, constant update-based restarts that Windows forces upon it's users.

I know my opinion isn't worth much, but I'd happily offer any assistance, testing, and feedback toward getting Adobe to join the Linux bandwagon. 🙂

Please pass this request on to whoever might like to take the challenge up.

Kind Regards,

Hamish.

[AndBoe]

Sorry to say that You are terribly wrong, because You totally missed the fact that from the beginning of next year W7 is EOL and Microsoft does not seem to be able to provide a follow-up operating system.

So the users are forced to select Apple or a Linux platform.

I cannot understand why Adobe sticks to MS and not even makes reasonable attenpts to provide Linux compatible software. I can only imagine very valuable contracts being the reason for that.

[Guest]

I'll add my name as a Linux Ubuntu user and would like to see Adobe available for this OS.  I have dumped Microsoft and will never again use MS for anything. I'm fed up with the nonsense one has to go through on an ongoing basis to use it.  Simply tried to connect my phone hotspot to MS Win 10 and was told I had to sign up for something.  No I don't. I switched to Linux and connected my phone with no issues.  No bloatware now. No MS agravation.  Happy as a duck in water.

[resourceful_Moonlight5C80]

Ok, fair enough - but at least for a share of Mac and Win users, that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Users like myself would've been on Linux since 2011, if it wasn't for the lack of Adobe CC support.

By refusing to port even just one of their apps to Linux, Adobe is preventing a good share of users from using an OS they'd find more comfortable, as well as losing potential revenue from other users already working with what they have in Linux.

I know that if Adobe had had Linux support, I would have bought my current machine (Dell XPS 9380) with Ubuntu pre-installed, and saved myself some money to put towards my Adobe subscription. Adobe software is the only non-free/open-source software I use on my machine, and I know there's many like me - or at least enough to have threads such as this one everywhere all the time.

[ls_rbls]

Duplicate content removed by forum moderator.

[Abambo]

@AndBoe: Windows 7 is old stuff and some of Adobe's latest products don't even run any more on Windows 10, first iterations. Windows 10 is a very valuable follow-up OS of Windows 7 and 8, and it works great apart from some upgrade disasters.

You really should consider getting your own company and creating competitors products to Adobe on Linux if it is a platform that is easy and lucrative to support.

[Abambo]

First: why posting twice such a big junk of pictures.

Second: The MacOS kernal is also based on a UNIX system (BSD if I'm correct: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XNU).

Windows has great similarities to Unix.

Again and again: Adobe is a great commercial company and if Adobe would see an important market potential to port their software to UNIX (Linux flavour...), they would do so.

The little apps you are posting icons about are by no way a proof of any market potential of Linux. They are a consequence of the success of the tablets and smart phones. And smart phones/tablets are a different environment than a Linux desktop PC.

[ls_rbls]

Hi Abambo long time, no read.

Is always great to  get attention from you and your feedback.

You keep people in-line and honest.

I apologize if I posted  twice my reply.

It was not my intention to be annoying, this was an error when I was uploading my replies  in different threads at the same time while using my mobile device.

Also, I didn't posted the screenshots from my Android device thinking of them from an art appreciation standpoint; much less it was my itention  to agitate  the bee hive.

I just didn't wanted to continue to type  in my extensive reply all of the  Adobe apps that are finally available and supported for the Android linux kernel.

I can tell this topic becomes sensitive, and I can clearly tell the difference between how it feels to be welcomed or not welcomed at all... just the same way it feels during  job- hiring interviews when I've applied for computer jobs during the last 20 years.

Let's not forget that I am also here in these forums helping MS Windows and Apple users. 

It would be greatly appreciated to see  answers marked as correct too for those individuals that take  the time and efffort in learning linux.

I have stated before in these forums that I am a linux enthusiast, but I am extremely vendor neutral as well.

So when it breaks down to the content that I've just posted, I really  know what I'm talking about.

Nothing in my content was aimed to put down the MS Windows family  of operating systems, nor the Unix-like operating systems in the macOS and iOS families of operating system.

I am sorry, if in the past I've been sarcastic to macOS  users and  have engaged unnecessarily  in heated discussions with other community users and MVPs.

If my participation is not welcomed in these forums, all you have to say is we don't want you here, and I'll leave the forums.

Is there a way to delete the duplicated thread ?

[Abambo]

You have an opinion and there is nobody who wants to suppress that one. We just happen to have different opinions...

Unfortuneatly we cannot delete any more threads or parts of threats. My only option is to move the first or the second post out of the view of the readers.

[stefanolinc]

• Linux is the OS of 1.85% of all desktop operating systems worldwide.
• The market share of Linux in India was 5.67%.
• In 2019, Linux ran on 100% of the world’s 500 supercomputers.
• 95% of the servers that run the world’s top 1 million domains are powered by Linux.
• In 2018, Android dominated the mobile OS market with 74.13%.

[from gs.statcounter.com, last 12 months data]

I don't know how can you call it nobody. Moreover, if software houses developed also for Linux, I bet many people would switch to a free OS which is more customizable, safer, faster and more ethical than Windows. It's hard to think that Microsoft and Apple don't have any role in this decision (that I've never seen justified officially) .

[Filip98]

+1

I don't even know who records these statistics, there's hundreds of Linux distro's with a huge amount of activity on their communities, true the average PC has Windows pre-installed but when they have Windows and Mac builds this is a choice

[SrMizuki]

Not to say that  I would count as "many people" but, I'm a windows user just because I cant use Photoshop and Illustrator on Linux, so I tend to agree with you.

[Nancy OShea]

As of 2020, Adobe currently supports the following devices and operating systems.

DESKTOP APPS

Windows (Win7 and Win10)

Mac (Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina)

MOBILE APPS

iOS

Adobe mobile apps support iOS 9 and later running on iPad Pro, iPad 2 and later, iPhone 4s, 5, 5s, 5c, 6, 6S, 6 Plus, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and iPod Touch 5th Generation.

Android

Adobe mobile apps support phones running Android 4.1.x and later.

ADOBE FRESCO (iOS 12.4+ and Win10, 1809+)

• iPad Pro (all models)
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad (5th and 6th generation)
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• Microsoft Surface Pro 4
• Microsoft Surface Pro 5
• Microsoft Surface Pro 6
• Microsoft Surface Pro 7
• Microsoft Surface Book 1
• Microsoft Surface Book 2
• Microsoft Surface Book 3
• Microsoft Surface Studio 1
• Microsoft Surface Studio 2
• Microsoft Surface Go
• Microsoft Surface Go 2
• Wacom Mobile Studio Pro
• HP ZBook Studio x360 G5 (2020 Model)
• HP Spectre x360 Convertible 15-eb0xxx(2020 Model)
• HP ENVY x360 Convertible 15-ed0xxx (2020 Model) 
• HP ENVY x360 Convertible 15m-ed0xxx (2020 Model) 
• HP ZBook x2 G4 (2020 Model: enable hybrid graphics)
• HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14-dh1xxx. (2019 Model)
• HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14-dh2xxx (2020 Model)
• HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14-dw0xxx (2020 Model | Intel i7 processor) 
• HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14m-dw0xxx (2020 Model | Intel i7 processor)
• Dell XPS 15 9500
• Dell XPS 17 9700
• Select HP ZBook workstations