Leaving NI for not supporting Linux

Jamie77 · 2024-02-29T05:03:19+00:00

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Sadly after almost a decade of maintaining my software I have to say goodbye. It's not NI though... it's M$. My PC is fast enough to do what I need but this year will no longer be allowed to. As such I am moving my bitwig to Linux and since NI does not support Linux in any fashion I will be forced to say goodbye. A long history of money now wasted because NI chooses to jump on the bandwagon of "you're system is too old, buy more to continue"

A shame really because some of the tripe they made wasn't that bad. At least selling all the hardware I was idiotic enough to buy will make me enough to afford a solution not under contract.

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GoaSkin

I prefer to work with Linux like never before. The Linux platform gives me the possibility to use a Desktop Enviroment of my choice, to customize my system like I want and nobody necessitates me to create an Apple or Microsoft account and to use their cloud services. My own Nextcloud server is cloud enough for me. Furthermore, I work with a self-assembled PC with components of my choice instead of anything with soldered components which I have to eat like it is.

I do not prefer open source over commercial software generally, but if no software company offers anything useful for Linux, I prefer the free alternatives.

For this reason, I bought a license of Bitwig Studio and I use also NI Komplete in WINE enviroment as long as it is usable using WINE. But if this changes with future updates, I will also say "goodbye NI" before I switch to Windows or Apple. There are others who provide native Linux versions of their plugins and if NI will put a spoke in the wheel - U-HE, Loomer and others offer usable alternatives to the Komplete stuff.

iNate

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/141076#Comment_141076

This is all projection.

Enjoy Linux, but they squandered a potential good thing by being extremely hostile to commercial consumer market software back in the late 90s/early 2000s - sending multiple large companies into [or almost into] bankruptcy after attempts to make Linux a major part of their consumer market strategy.

The Linux market has always had a Copy and Extinguish Strategy with an extremely ideological user base that would use the worse free solution over paying for the better commercial solutions. It just so happens that high end creative software is hard to usurp, especially when they lord over certain market segments (Pro Tools, Cubase, Kontakt, Media Composer, Photoshop, etc.).

This is why it's only the smaller developers clawing at market share going to Linux. Bitwig & PreSonus, for example. None of the bigger - more established - players are doing it, because Linux is still not worth the trouble, and many of these companies have been around long enough to remember what happened the last time this happened.

Linux is an enterprise platform, like BSD and Solaris. It works well there, because Enterprise machines are managed radically different from consumer desktop systems.

In the end, Apple gave the world the "UNIX for the Masses" it desired.

Cretin Dilettante

Bros, come out from under that rock you've been living in. Valve has made Linux viable for gaming, both NI & Ableton use a Linux Distro to run their respective standalones, Studio One & Bitwig have native Linux Versions, etc. Even if you dislike open source offerings, there are a growing number of companies who see the value in producing native linux versions. People are just tired of Microsoft's shenanigans, the fact that Windows OS gets worse every other generation, and they don't want to go over to Mac/Apple because they're worse with anti-consumer practices.

chk071

You may want to take a look at the home PC market share again. The amount of Linux users is still not over 2 or 3 %.

How did we arrive at this discussion again? 😂 Linux users really can't stop to evangelize the world… they're worse than Jehova's witnesses. Religious zealots, the lot of them.

You want to know why more and more developers develop Linux versions of their software? Because the Linux people shout the loudest. It works these days. 😉 Everywhere.

GoaSkin

No, the reason is much easier: More and more software companies just offer Linux versions but they don't have to develop anything for that. They just deploy Linux versions based on exactly the same code because this is possible nowadays if you use frameworks and libraries which make it possible. Specially the frameworks which allow to deploy native Windows and macOS versions without needing to make changes on your code almost allow to deploy linux versions too.

chk071

That won't prevent you from fixing platform specific bugs and testing though (not to mention a completely different audio system on Linux). So, it definitely is an overhead. With, in my eyes, very little return, and additional costs for everyone.

Anyway, it's the respective company's decision, of course.

Just reading through this gives me a headache, by the way: https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-us/articles/19214558269581-Linux-Getting-Started

Good thing I stopped using Linux years ago…

mkobain

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/142750#Comment_142750

linux is kernel… not os … but linux distros are really good alternative to have less bloatware… or software running background without user knowledge … privacy means… new windows 11 recall will pull a lot of users out of it… i think if the users pay for something the company should provide support for it… with millions of users that purchase the software they win lots of money… the sneaky hand that likes big incomes… small outcome… greedy…..

i am sure if the open the source code fot their controller that would be developers to work on it….

so i think it should have a linux version for all native software… the way coding did grow… is more easy to code in nowadays than olddays..

iNate

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/171485#Comment_171485

The kernel is the OS. A lot of the rest of that stuff is just Userland, which also runs on other OSes like BSD (FreeBSD, OpenBSD) or Solaris (which actually has functional backward/forward compatibility as a design intention, unlike Linux).

Windows Recall will be Opt-Out by Default, AFAIK, so perhaps keep up with where those things are going...

Secondly, Linux distros have a lot of background services for tons of things, especially the prepackaged consumer market distros like Ubuntu. Distros like Fedora, OpenSuSE and others are not good support targets as they send updates to users that can routinely break binary software.

Have fun rolling and maintaining your own personal distro, I guess? I prefer to use that extra time socializing, or… producing music?

Personally, I have used Linux for years with a RHEL-WS Subscription. So, not only did I use it… and have no issues using it where it makes sense… I had paid the price of a Windows XP Professional License - YEARLY - to do so (for several years). I've paid more for JUST Linux than you (and I) have paid for other OSes over the span of your (and my) entire lifespan. I am not anti-Linux.

It simply doesn't have any value to me, mostly because I don't want to have to put in inordinate amounts of work self-managing menial tasks like looking for and applying Errata Bulletins/Updates and scrutinizing updates for different system components to make sure they don't break critical software, binary drivers, etc. on my system. Also, most critical life tasks are done on mobile devices for me, anyways (Banking, Medical, etc.), so Windows Relay is a non-factor as there is almost nothing I do on my Windows PCs that is really "private" to the point that I'd care if the world saw it...

Lastly, macOS is still "the" alternative to Windows, and Macs aren't exactly breaking the bank anymore - they have actually become MORE affordable since the M-Series chips have hit the market (and routinely discounted 20-25% when new models hit the market).

Acting like Windows Relay is going to bring an apocalypse and Native Instruments must port to Linux ASAP for the people fleeing in droves (to where? Lol) is a bit hyperbolic. 98.6% of any users that flee Windows will be going straight to macOS (and Linux won't even be an option) because they need more than just Native Instruments software. This has been the problem with Linux since the 90s.

There is still a universe of other software, plug-ins, etc. that are not on Linux. Lots of people do more than just music production on their machine, and many of us can't do everything in a Web Browser window…

The fragmentation on Linux also makes it more expensive to support than Windows and macOS in the consumer market, because the people who tend to use Linux tend to be the types of people who modify their systems in unsupportable ways.

NI can tell them what kernel versions are supported, but they will still update their kernel, break the software, and then demand NI support them and fix the problem when that happens. There was a huge move to port software over to Linux back in the early 2000s and most consumer market developers bowed out because it wasn't worth the trouble.

Linux is fine for productivity, even graphics design and video editing (on supportable systems), but Music Production is a lot more difficult due to the heavy dependence on third party add-on software (Synths, Samplers, FX Plug-ins, etc.).

mkobain

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/171517#Comment_171517

you have your point… but waht happens if where the recall info has been store is hacked???!!! bank logins… software logins… all you log ins in danger?!!! only small linux distro are fragmented… the big one they keep up strong… what make a OS is big bag of( kernel… software… ) core… android phone they use linux kernel….. xD …. windows is so reallible … so good that an update did put lots of hospital .. airports out of service just because of update… and its paid…. if you think mac os became more affordable … look at the prices how they rise.. and they policy to make you buy stuff after each 5 years…. xD… and then its already proven that linux is more lightway than windows in many ways… look at the minimum requeriments….

you have your point but its not tottaly right… :D

mkobain

ps: they will do lots of money with a our info… and we paid for that…

iNate

My point is more correct than your spelling.

Choose a better hill to die on.

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