Linux Support for Illustrator on the Desktop

[AliKesgin]

Dear Adobe Team and fellow creatives,

I just wanted to throw this out there: it's 2025, and we still don't have native support for Adobe Creative Cloud on Linux. I know it's been requested for years, but I really believe there's a growing need for it now more than ever.

As a design student who uses Linux daily, it's incredibly frustrating having to jump through hoops—like using Wine, virtual machines, or switching OS—just to run apps like Photoshop or Illustrator. These workarounds often break, lag, or simply aren’t reliable for professional work.

I know supporting another platform is no small task, but just look around—Linux is everywhere. Designers, developers, and students alike are choosing it for its flexibility, privacy, and speed. There’s a whole creative community here that would gladly pay for native Adobe tools on Linux.

Please consider this. Even if it's just Photoshop and Illustrator to start with—something would be a game changer.

To other Linux users: if you feel the same, let’s make some noise and show Adobe there's real demand here! 👇💬

Thanks for listening.

[stevenh82357022]

Thanks for putting this here. I recently built a PC with a 5070 GPU so that I can render in Blender a lot quicker. I've got Adobe on Windows but it's just not the same.

i got super excited to read about running Adobe on Linux and tried it. It's so hard though and buggy. Linux feels so much more like OS X and I'd much rather be running that instead of Windows. 

If Adobe were to bring out a Linux version I'd switch in a heartbeat and never use Windows again. I mean it works. But it's just so horrible compared to OSX and Linux. 

[Corniger]

Off topic: Blender on Linux was one of the reasons I had to return to Windows, btw. - insurmountable problems. TIFF-Errors in textures, and most addon devs don't know a thing about Linux, so they named files wrong (capitalization matters!) and in the end, I had to render the exact same files in Windows without issues. Cost me weeks. Render times weren't that much faster, but still better. But I'd try again, this was about 2 years ago. 

[thepixelsmith]

Isn't Linux only about 5% of all computers worldwide?

Are there any numbers on how many users in the design community are Linux based.

I work out of NYC I have never seen a Linux based agency.

[stevenh82357022]

Yeah maybe. Mac OS is only 8-10% though. I guess people don't buy Linux generally installed so it might be hard to know what exact percentage of users. 

[thepixelsmith]

But in the design industry the percentage of Mac users is consider higher than in the general population. 

[stevenh82357022]

Yes, very good point. 3D designers though generally use Windows machines as they need dedicated GPU's. Only reason I now have Windows. I'd much rather have OS X or something similar like Linux though.

[Corniger]

Well... if the design tools can't be used on the system, of course there are less users.  Doesn't make much sense running a dual boot setup when the core of your activity forcibly has to happen on Windows.  My audio software, 3D, Video (DaVinci)... all run on Linux.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What percentage of _potential_ non-server users are on Linux? I'm only seeing total market share of around 3-4%. 

Assuming only a small fraction of those subscribe, how long would it take Adobe to start making a profit?

[MesumHussain21879351h77v]

You are not taking into account the amount of Android and Chrome OS users out there which could be the potential users of Adobe apps when they grow up.

You are right that Adobe might find it difficult to make profit from them because Figma and Canva are already taking a big chunk of market share, they are available on every platform and they also offer a free tier. 

Adobe is bound to lose massive market share if they take their current market dominance for granted, continue with the anti-compitative attitude and fail to adapt to the future tech. Cross platform is the future, no matter you agree or not.

We shouldn't forget what happened to Windows when they took their market dominance for granted and delayed adapting to the mobile form factor when smartphones were invented. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Adobe would be better off making their software SaaS, similar to Acrobat. (But not give up their desktop versions.)

[Corniger]

I don't know.... pushing enormous files throgh the internet has gotten me off "the Cloud" for the most part. This process is just way too slow. I really don't wanna have to battle lag or anything, or have them,  like in some cloud applications I'm using, deny processing files larger than X by Y pixels.

[MesumHussain21879351h77v]

I would prefer if they aim for WebAssembly as a compilation target platform and make a good suit of well performing Webapps which can run on any platform. 

[Bobby Henderson]

Using an Android phone isn't quite the same as using Linux on a desktop computer. Most of those Chrome OS computers being sold are low-cost units with anemic hardware not powerful enough to run Adobe applications effectively; those are computers most commonly sold to public schools.

Regarding Figma and Canva: those applications are not aimed at a professional user base. The biggest attraction about Canva is that it has a free version. Why should Adobe try going after customers who don't want to pay money for anything? That issue holds true for many Linux users too; open source ideology has been a pretty big thing with that platform.

The bigger problem I have with Canva is that it's lousy at exporting usable artwork. The users often don't know the difference between pixels and vectors either, which complicates the situation. I have to deal with a fair amount of customer provided artwork in my job. Logos and graphics thrown together in Canva is one source of problems. Logos and graphics cooked up by AI bots is another worsening problem. Both create a lot of garbage and wasted time for a graphics work flow.

Regarding Windows, yes Microsoft failed at creating a mobile phone operating system that could dominate the market. But Windows is still, by far, the most common operating system in personal computers. I don't expect Linux to make any inroads there. If anything, Microsoft and Apple will continue their tug of war in the desktop/notebook computing platform.

[thepixelsmith]

@Bobby Henderson 

>>Regarding Figma and Canva: those applications are not aimed at a professional user base.<<
Figma is a professional design program built for digital designers. Please don't lump it in with Canva. While it's true Figma isn't made for graphic designers or the type of motion graphics that I personally do that doesn't mean it isn't a prefessional level application. AutoCad is also not made for my type of professional work but that doesn't mean its not made for a professional user base.

[MesumHussain21879351h77v]

If you missed the latest tech news, I was referring to Google collaborating with Qualcomm to bring Snapdragon X Elite based Android laptops. 

It's the most powerful arm ship out there, made in response to the M series chips from Apple. 

If these laptops release, Android would be the third option for a laptop OS. And I really don't see why people wouldn't love those laptops, because Android is very mature OS. It has plethora of video games, and well supported hardware and software stack. And on top of that, it has a very mature AI ecosystem which neither Windows nor MacOS has.

With regards to creative software, I would say "professional" is really subjective nowadays. There are so many individual creators working as a freelance, so many social media influencers with small teams, all of them are doing amazing "professional" work. And many of those young people don't mind trying out new software. Part of the reason why apps like Figma and Canva became so popular in the first place.

I have worked in some places where we use Figma and Canva a lot in our office for various tasks. It's simply convenient to pull up a light webapp and immediately get started working..... Maybe the same reason why VS Code replaced traditional IDEs for majority of the workflows, even though it's not so "professional" coding environment.

[Bobby Henderson]

I don't think the term "professional" and how it applies to creative software is very subjective at all. The term "professional" implies the work being done is paid work, often involving a team of other people to get the final product made. It could be a magazine publication, newspaper, a video production for TV, outdoor signs, a vehicle wrap, etc. Even someone working freelance often has to send artwork to other people or firms to get the project completed.

Adobe's software is very well established in these kinds of work flows. Various creative industry niches have their own industry-specific applications. Adobe's software often meshes with that software in various ways. For example, my workplace has 2 different RIP applications to run 5 large format printers. The apps have Adobe PDF print engines and we primarily use PDF files, often made in Illustrator, for the print output.

Canva doesn't work well in those environments for two basic reasons. The app doesn't export files that are edit-friendly in Adobe's software, particularly Illustrator. The second reason is Canva is aimed at a largely amateur user base. It has lots of clip art and other pre-made elements, but they're a mix of different artwork types. Many people using Canva don't know what they're doing. They don't understand the differences between pixels and vectors along with a host of other issues. But they want to save money by trying to do graphics work themselves in an application they can use for free.

I lumped Figma in with Canva since it has a free-to-use version. Its drawing app is pretty basic compared to Adobe Illustrator. But it's at least an actual vector drawing "module."

Regarding ARM chips, Windows has a version that runs native on Snapdragon X CPUs. Adobe has betas of various apps for those ARM versions of Windows.

Android is a "lite" OS compared to Mac OSX and Windows. It's focused on mobile devices like phones. Google has the Chrome OS for devices like notebooks, but those devices are very basic compared to higher performance notebooks running OSX or Windows.

[Devkay]

WHAT ADOBE IS MISSING IN 2025:

THE MARKET IS ALREADY HERE:

· Generative AI developers running Linux servers for Stable Diffusion, Midjourney alternatives
· Blender's 4.0 revolution - Linux-first, outperforming Adobe on creativity tools
· DaVinci Resolve - Professional video editing thriving on Linux
· Entire countries (China, Russia, developing nations) prioritizing Linux for sovereignty

THE UGLY TRUTH ADOBE DOESN'T WANT TO ADMIT:

You're losing the next generation of creators:

1. Students who start on Linux in CS programs never switch to Windows/Mac for design
2. Developing nations where $60/month subscriptions + $2000 Macs are impossible
3. Ethical creators rejecting telemetry, forced updates, and subscription slavery

THE IRONY IS PALPABLE:

Adobe makes tools for creatives, yet ignores the most creative operating system on Earth.

Linux users are:

· The people building AI tools you're trying to compete with
· The developers creating plugins for your ecosystem
· The sysadmins running servers for your Creative Cloud
· The students who will become agency owners in 5 years

THIS ISN'T A REQUEST - IT'S AN ULTIMATUM:

The open-source alternatives are ONE GENERATION AWAY from being good enough for 100% of professionals.

When that happens, Adobe won't just lose Linux users - you'll lose the thought leaders, educators, and innovators who influence what entire industries use.

This isn't 2010 anymore. We're not begging for scraps - we're telling you where the future is heading.

Every day you delay, another 1000 creators master Blender, Krita, and Inkscape. Every month you ignore this, another studio switches to DaVinci Resolve's Linux workflow.

The creative revolution is coming. Adobe can lead it or be crushed by it.

Choose wisely.

#DigitalSovereignty #LinuxCreatives #FOSS #AdobeWakeUp"

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What are the numbers of USERS of Linux that would subscribe to Adobe software? That's what will get Adobe's attention. 

Note: I'm referring to desktop users, not total Linux system; also ones that would actaully subscribe as opposed to using other software such as open source.

[Corniger]

That will be impossible to determine. But since Windows just decided to jump into the void for allegedly around 1 Billion of users/systems worldwide who either don't WANT to switch or who can't afford to trash a perfectly good system, it could be possible to calculate for Adobe by numbers of Win vs. Mac users - I'm quite sure they have system specs of every user. So it's not unlikely most remaining Win 10 user would rather switch.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

That was my point. Without hard numbers, Adobe is not going to invest the time (money) to support another OS. Even Adobe FrameMaker dropped support for it Unix base years ago. 

[Corniger]

Years ago - I think the situation has shifted massively. But I'm no expert - as opposed to @Devkay who does have more to say than me just giving my single user opinion. 

Other than me not wanting to switch OS on the 1/3 of computers that would be switchable and having to discard of 2 oder workstations for no good reason AT ALL at some point, it's up to Adobe to gamble. I can very well see validity in @Devkay 's post, where I live, if you don't use Apple you're already a loser, that's how far behind thinking is around here. Stuck in the 90ies.

[Devkay]

You dont have to be an expert to see this coming, it's just a matter of time before the bomb stops ticking,

Then we all know what happens next......

[fierce_Lullaby7405]

I litterally made an acount for the sole reason of being able to upvote this coment.... how do I do that?

[Admired_Moonbeam1634]

Adobe , Please create Linux Native Applications!

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Does anyone have a link to actual and current desktop user OS percentages (not server)?

I'm only seeing about 5% for Linux but don't know how accurate that is.