I Can Has Linux?

Earlier this week I asked on my local LAN party’s forums, “Windows users: What would it take for you to make the jump to Linux?” I got a lot of good commentary and many well thought-out answers, you can read it here.

But there’s a problem. Nobody really asks these questions on a larger scale. I set out on Google to find a list of the top requested Windows applications for Linux. Surprisingly, nobody has really asked this question in the past. That is, except for Novell. In 2006, Novell hosted a survey asking what Windows applications Linux users wanted. You can read the published results at Linux.com here.

The list isn’t all too surprising, most of the big-ticket applications are listed:

1. QuickBooks
2. AutoCAD
3. Photoshop
4. iTunes
5. Dreamweaver
6. Visio
7. Lotus Notes
8. Quicken
9. Macromedia Studio
10. Act!

Nothing unexpected here, although you can tell this survey ended up with more business respondents than home users. Although with iTunes at number 4, you can tell that the home users still made a big showing.

So, where do these applications stand right now in Linux? Do they work via WINE? Are there any plans for a Linux port? I want to know these things. First, I want to focus on the applications that aren’t typical business/profession oriented software.
Which, arguably, only make up 3 items:

• Photoshop
• iTunes
• Quicken

These are important pieces of software for many people. I don’t know why more focus isn’t put onto 100% support for these products, but it seems to fall by the wayside. A number of editors and writers come up with these catchy headlines for Linux as a whole, like “Is 2007 the year of the Linux desktop?” but they miss the boat. Until a user can install these applications as easy in Linux as they can in Windows, it will never be the year of the Linux desktop. These three just have to work and work well, period.

So I guess we’ll go through the list one at a time. I’ll start with Quicken.

Quicken
Is it possible to make Quicken run under Linux? The short answer is maybe. See this thread here. We’re still miles away from just popping in the CD and installing, though. This is a big hangup for would-be users who have jobs and pay taxes. Not so much of a hangup for Ed and Elaine Brown, though.
What do people do when they have 10 years of Quicken data and are faced with the temptation of Linux? They stay right where they are, in a Windows environment.

iTunes
Doesn’t work. From scouring the internet, I’ve yet to see anyone get a fully functional iTunes installation operational via WINE. While your iPod may work with a WINE install of iTunes 4.0, you still can’t buy anything from the iTunes store, and just for another kick in the pants, the iPhone requires iTunes 7, which isn’t even close to useable in WINE. It’s just not there under Linux.
Luckily, though, there is an alternative which even the most devout iTunes users end up liking if they have to: Amarok. Here‘s a post on how to switch from iTunes to Amarok.
It’s little consolation. If you have an iPhone, you’re going to end up booting OS X or Windows anyway.

Photoshop
From my research thus far, it looks like none of the Photoshop CS releases work properly in WINE right now. It seems that Photoshop 7 works rather well, which would be fine if you’re content with the best that 2002 has to offer. It seems that Photoshop CS has a bronze support rating from the WINE apps db, which means it works with some gotchas. CS2 and CS3 appear to be right out, though.

What to do
So you wish these applications worked, and you want to know if you can do something to help?
Fortunately, you can help contribute to the process in the following ways.

• Register for the WINE App Database and contribute your results in getting these applications to work.
• Vote for your favorite applications at the WINE App Database
• Donate to WINE (down the page and to the right) via PayPal and tell them to get these apps working ASAP.
  
• Write Apple, Adobe, and Intuit and voice your desire for a native Linux port of these applications.

As it stands, there are only two paths for full support: Native Applications for Linux, and 100% WINE compatibility.

Part 2 of this series will cover the other 7 apps in the list. Part 3 of this series will involve me personally testing every one of these Top 10 applications that I can get my hands on, and reporting my findings.

See you on the next go-around!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 12:19 pm and is filed under linux, windows, wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.