I had to test/fix something at work and I set up a Windows VM because it was a bug specific to Windows users. Once I was done, I thought, “Maybe I should keep this VM for something.” but I couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t a game (which probably wouldn’t work well in a VM anyway) or some super specific enterprise software I don’t really use.
I also am more familiar with the Apple ecosystem than the Microsoft one so maybe I’m just oblivious to what’s out there. Does anyone out there dual boot or use a VM for a non-game, non-niche industry Windows exclusive program?
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Adobe Lightroom Classic. I have darktable installed on Linux, but I haven’t mastered it yet. Lightroom is the software for photo editing, unfortuntately.
The only thing I need on Windows is the Adobe suite for my uni graphic design stuff. I could use GIMP, darktable, Krita, etc, but my lectures teach us how things work on the Adobe suite. I use FOSS when it is for personal stuff though.
Adobe CS is the industry standard in some fields. You should absolutely learn them if you’re in school for that.
https://github.com/Gictorbit/photoshopCClinux
I have been using this on linux during my studies. But there are also newer versions “packaged” by other people on github.
I’m sure the rest of the adobe suit can be installed in the same way with some tinkering.
Only for very specific terrible chip vendor software which I hate but have no choice but to use because certification reasons.
Lots of firmware and driver updater programs seem to require Windows or Mac and I can’t get them to run with wine. For example, I need Win to update the firmware on my car stereo and my 8bitdo game controllers. I also need it to run the tax software my CPA uses.
Visual Studio (Not VS Code), C# is fantastic these days cross-platform wise and a pretty solid general language
But the non-ms IDEs for it…are lacking…and MS just terminated MacOS support for VS (Not that it really mattered the macOS version was a bastardized version of VS anyways) so I don’t think their flagship is coming (officially) to Linux anytime soon.
I run Scrivener, which is a writing software that’s only for Mac & Windows (well, there is a Linux version but it’s ancient), but I just run that through Wine rather than a VM. That’s about the only thing I haven’t found a good equivalent for on Linux though.
Nope.
GenoPro. I don’t use Windows for it, as it’s packaged with wine as a snap.
Directory Opus
Except for video games, all software I use daily is open source and cross platform by now, but when college demanded for me to use Adobe software, I would boot my Win 10 VM. I also boot that VM to test if the software im developing works well on Windows. I also run my Logitech mouse software in a VM with USB passthrough.
Besides games, I think the only Windows program I run with wine is a tool to extract the BGM from the official Touhou games.
Before I had a 3DS, I would use a Windows tool on my VM to decrypt my totally legally acquired ROMs
I am sure I use linux exclusive software… I can not think of any windows exclusive software I ever needed.
MusicBee, Stardock Fences, obligatory Adobe mention, all VR everything (unless something has changed recently, I haven’t looked in while).
Xbox app for game pass. But i would cancel that if i didnt also needed windows for Sunshine streaming. Linux REFUSES with everything its got, to make hardware acceleration work.
Oh and geforce now, which is still since release broken on linux when using hardware acceleration since colors close to black are just black. So darker games do not work.
The only reason I have windows is to test apps that I write.
The apps are cross platform. I use it in Linux. But I also have users in Windows, so I just fire up a windows VM for testing releases. Thats it.
I have a Windows VM that runs Visual Studio and a small number of developer tools so I can test my code on Windows. And another windows VM that runs Daz3D, Clip Studio Paint and the Epic Launcher (to download stuff from the Unreal Engine Marketplace).
Sometimes I misuse either VM by creating a snapshot and installing Garmin Connect so I can update the music library on my watch :)
