Windows 11 might be usable if it gets a wine port so it can run windows apps.
Technology
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots

i would hope every new version of wine runs windows apps in linux and mac better than ever.
Patch notes: “Made the app a little worse just to keep things interesting.”
That's the Microsoft strategy, but they forgot to make it better sometimes too
It still probably doesn't run two applications that I like to use, that is paint.net and the latest free version of SketchUp (unavailable for download officially).
At this point, and given the current state of Proton (👍) and the current state of Windows (👎), the question should be, "Does the new version of Wine run Windows apps better than Windows?"
What about software outside of browsers of gaming? Lemmy talks about gaming a lot but it remains to be seen if working professionals are able to leave W11 behind
For software developers Linux was and is the superior choice. For media based professions (video editing, digital art etc.) there's still a long way to go. There's way more choice on Windows and not everything works smoothly through Wine
Professionals will be trapped forever in windows because of custom banking software.
This is a funny take given that for most of Linux history, the majority of Linux desktop user have been “working professionals”, largely IT workers and developers to be fair.
At this point, you cannot really make a blanket statement about who Linux is appropriate for. It is down to individual use cases and preferences.
I have been using Linux for decades and, while I have also used Windows and macOS, other operating systems are frustrating to use due to the many limitations. And I have been several kinds of “working professional” over that time at many different levels of seniority. But I recognize that this is because all my workflows and expectations evolved on Linux.
The “working professionals” you imagine likely have the same issue. It is not that Linux could not work, or even that it is not a better place to start. It is document compatibility and familiarity.
At this point, Linux “being ready” comes down almost completely to a tolerance for learning and change. Nobody says you have to change of course. But working differently does not mean that something else does not work.
There are of course still some software gaps. CAD is not great on Linux (getting there). Print graphics professionals (people with CMYK workflows) will hit real roadblocks. Some debugging tools available on Windows are worth the productivity for certain workflows. Pro audio too I guess though this not my area. And “office document” users may encounter display inconsistencies when sharing documents depending on which features they rely on. Perhaps the latter is what you mean.
As for gaming, it depends on what titles you favour. Some Windows games play better on Linux. Some worse. And of course some not at all.
When choosing software for a company, I consider something that cannot work on the Linux desktop or through the cloud disqualifying. I can think of few cases where that has been the wrong decision.
Professionals left Windows decades ago

White collar professionals who spend their days developing and deploying software or working on compute infrastructure? Sure, some of them have been on Linux for decades. Although many big corpos love Windows and Microsoft products, so at best you're going to have a foot in both worlds if you work at one of these companies.
Some admin jobs that don't require bespoke software (ie very little beyond say an office suite) have started making the jump recently to save $$.
Basically every other white professional that needs to work on a computer with industry specific software like people in medical, engineers, business? Odds are they use windows since the software they use for their job is probably only built for Windows and maybe Mac if they're lucky. Very few employers are going to mass deploy Linux to run applications via Wine. These employers have support contracts for the major software products their employees use and they won't get support if they're not running software on its native OS.
Software outside of gaming usually has native alternatives, so unless you are forced by your employer to use a specific program it is less of an issue (since you are probably also forced to use Windows)
Sadly I had to abandon Linux as I had no way of getting the pen pressure for a tablet to work for Zbrush 2022. It's an essential part of my workflow and there's no Linux native version. Tried Wine and virtually every method possible but still couldn't get it to work. Dual booting for one piece of software seemed silly. Really unfortunate that this was my deal breaker as I was really enjoying the experience.
For music production you sadly only got Ardour and Reaper and I consider neither of them good enough to work professionally and fast workflow in writing sessions, else I’d be over to Linux already
Davinci works better in Linux. Vapoursynth mostly works better in Linux.
RAW photo editing is already horrible in Windows if you’re trying to do HDR. To be fair, it’s horrible in Linux too. As much as I hate it, they can’t touch Apple there.
See this post I just made: https://lemmy.world/post/41751454/21613633
iOS will render HDR JPEG-XL, AVIF and tiled HEIFs straight out of a camera; no problem. Heck, it will even display RAWs in the photo app. But it’s a struggle on Windows and Linux.
And if by “professional use” you mean “Adobe,” I view that in the same way as still being on Twitter. At this point, subjecting yourself to Adobe on Windows is something you should do through gritted teeth.
I can't speak for other programs, but for example, Photoshop runs under wine mostly. The issue is certain features like the content aware tool are locked behind the stupid Adobe Creative Cloud BS and is reported to have issues depending on which version you're using and what tools you care about. IIRC, it's mostly the newer AI tools that are affected so maybe linux users won't care as much, but its still a downside worth noting nonetheless.
Most of the time when Adobe products are mentioned in this context, people will instead offer alternatives rather than telling you to run it under wine. It really depends on what programs professionals are using at their jobs though, and I imagine most will just use Windows on a separate work computer and not deal with the random issues with compatibility and troubleshooting. I think most wouldn't want to risk losing important work related projects either. If its something more simple like Microsoft Word then you could probably get away with using it on linux though.
It really depends on what programs professionals are using at their jobs though, and I imagine most will just use Windows on a separate work computer and not deal with the random issues with compatibility and troubleshooting
If you're talking about professional VFX tools, then they all have 1st party Linux support. And no, Adobe Premiere and After Effects don't fall into that category.
If its something more simple like Microsoft Word then you could probably get away with using it on linux though.
You can just use the PWA versions of Microsoft 365 Copilot App (formally known as Microsoft 365, formerly known as Office 365, formerly known as Microsoft Office). And better yet, LibreOffice is fully supported on Linux and arguably better than Microsoft 365 Copilot App.
I need a modern version of office working well.
What you are referring to as "office" is actually copilot/Microsoft365 and i forgot the rest of the copypasta
Copilot for Copilot you mean? Now with extra Copilot.
Could be one without copilot ;-). By modern I mean something in the last 5 years. Maybe even I could go 10. I mean I need something that my IT department will let me into my email with at a minimum.
If you have the activation key/account, you could try installing it through Winboat or similar on your distro of choice, since Winboat's essentially a per-program VM that should theoretically have perfect compatibility.
Thank you. I will check it out.
2007?
Good stuff Wine.
Windows aged like milk while wine is wine.
I am just hoping the Steam Frame provides the foundation so that in the years to come I can get off Windows for VR development. Feel trapped right now.
Wake me up when it can run Adobe Lightroom.
shake shake
"Hey, you! You're finally awake. Trying to run Adobe software right? The boys managed to get things working smoothly with a virtualized method. They call it Winboat, a cut down VM that breaks Adobe's windows infatuation."
Last time I checked, Winboat just wasn't there yet, see e.g. https://www.xda-developers.com/tried-cutting-windows-out-my-life-with-winboat/
However, your comment made me google again, and I found this thread that looks pretty promising. Will definitely investigate further. So thanks! https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1qdgd73/i_made_adobe_cc_installers_work_on_linux_pr_in/?tl=de
Sometimes I forget macOS exists
I love it because its existence means I get a good chance of having a UNIX-based machine in new corporate dev positions. If a company is giving me a work laptop, I'll take a MBP over a Windows laptop any day (assuming I can't install Linux)
I guess this isn't really even "news" to Linux gamers now, but once in a while it's nice to make an article about what constant progress has happened in a certain sphere. Certainly many people staying on Windows out of inertia blinked and missed it.
My fervent hope is that, someday in the future, people can build a gaming PC and just forego Windows to save $100.
My fervent hope is that, someday in the future, people can build a gaming PC and just forego Windows to save $100.
Who's building a gaming PC and paying retail price (or any price) for the Windows license anyway? I think anyone who knows anything about technology knows how easy Windows has always been to pirate, and that keys are readily available for cheap
I mean, isn't that kinda the goal...?