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Making the jump to Linux is making more sense all the time. Now with the stable release of WINE 1.0, you can run most of your favorite Windows applications on the Linux platform.

The main reason a lot of people have held off from changing over to Linux is for just that reason. It’s hard to want to relearn a new software as extensive as Photoshop, so we just stay with Windows or Mac because it’s more comfortable. Not to mention time saving when there’s a business decision involved. But WINE claims that Photoshop CS2 runs on Linux with it installed on your machine, along with 10,336 other Windows based applications.

The biggest problem for them is going to be keeping up with the changes and upgrades to Window’s operating system. And to make it even more difficult, keeping up with the software changes to the individual applications themselves.

A little bit about WINE.
WINE (WIN Emulator). The name is actually derived from the acronym Wine IS Not An Emulator. The project has been in the development stage now for 15 years. The project has proven to be very time-consuming and difficult for the developers because of the continuous advances in software technology. Wine is always going to be having to play “catch-up”!
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It’s been a month now since I installed the Linux platform with the Ubuntu bundled package. I spent a few days tweaking things, and exploring some of the different plugins. It comes bundled with the latest FireFox 3.0.

I was very pleased with how easy it was to install. There is a very user friendly interface, with a menu running along the top of the screen. Under the “System” tab, there is a full suite of Administrative/System tools at your disposal.

There is a vast catalogue of open source software that can easily be installed simply by using the very user friendly “Add/Remove” tool. You can choose from different categories such as:

Accessories

Education

Games

Graphics

Internet

Office

Other

I must admit, this is much more user friendly than I thought it was going to be. I’ve read that in the past, the Linux user interface required some technical understanding beyond the every day user’s capabilities. However, after some recent upgrades, someone coming from Windows or Mac could easily get started.
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I’ve been seriously considering checking out Linux for a couple of years now. The only thing that’s been stopping me is the fact that I can’t use my favorite apps like Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

There are great open source alternatives available, but I’m mostly just too lazy to want to
relearn. Not to mention, Photoshop is the industry standard for professional graphics designers and web developers. I’ve invested a lot of time into Photoshop.

For those of you that are unaware of what Open Source is, it basically refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge. For a complete understanding, you can read more at the official website of the Open Source Initiative.
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There is some great software available that can easily replace the expensive popular ones. If you’re on a budget, then here’s a list of some great alternatives you can check into! I’m only going to list the most popular, but if you were to do a search on this, you’d definitely find more.

1) Windows This is of course the most obvious one, so we’ll start with it.

Alternatives:
Linux Taken straight from the Linux site. “Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers all over the world. Linux is freely available to everyone.” Personally, I have always wanted to learn more about Linux and try it out, but I don’t want to have to give up Photoshop and other Windows and Mac based softwares I’ve already invested so much time into learning. Still might make the jump someday though.

2) Adobe Photoshop Probably the most well known and widely used graphics editing software.

Alternatives:
Paint.Net An open source bitmap drawing and editing application. Known for their simple and easy to use application with an intuitive user interface.

Gimp Probably the oldest and most well-known open source graphic application. It’s been around since 1995, and has become a widely used alternative to Photoshop. You can also checkout Gimpshop, it’s a modification of GIMP, intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop.

3) Adobe Dreamweaver This is the most widely used WYSIWYG editor on the market. The most expensive, too!

Alternatives:
Quanta Plus Steadily becoming a worthwhile competitor to the commercial web editors on the market. Quanta Plus’s features include multi-document interface, and WYSIWYG editor.

KompoZer It’s a wysiwyg HTML editor aimed towards advanced users. I’ve heard this comes equipped with a very good CSS editor.

4) MicroSoft Office Very expensive on it’s own.
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If you occasionally have to create a letter, or a document, and you fire up Word 2003 or Word 2007, only to become frustrated because it’s too complicated and too difficult to work with, give WordPad a try.

I know Word can certainly make me crazy. Of course though, part of that comes with my age I think. A lot of people 40 + just aren’t that familiar with the program. Did I mention it’s free? Well, free aside from the fact that it comes with Windows operating system. So okay, more of a bonus than free.
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