What Windows software can you not do without?

[AndyMH]

Thought I'd start a hare running here, having just dragged out an old USB drive (so old it has a separate power supply) and installed Photoshop and SmartDraw under Wine from it.

Been using Mint since March on my own laptop (dual boot with win7), work laptop is win7. Hardly ever boot own laptop into win7 and don't like doing it. Reasons for using win software generally fall into two camps - I can't be bothered to learn a new interface/programme or it simply isn't available under Linux.

So my list...

• Excel - Top of my list. I earn my living driving spreadsheets (estimate the costs of complex v. expensive programmes). First used Excel in the late '80s on a Mac, suffered (and complained a lot) with the change in the user interface in 2007, but wouldn't change back now (occasionally MS know better). I know Excel inside out and would my VBA work in anything else? Work laptop is 2013, own laptop is 2007 under wine.
  
  Word - as Excel, on a Mac in late '80's, bought V1 for win (3?) as a 'grey import' when it came out in the early '90's. Don't have to think where something is when using it. Work laptop is 2013, own laptop is 2007 under wine.
  
  Powerpoint - don't use that much, so only for work = work laptop and no choices.
  
  CorelDraw - have used since V1 (think under win7 I have X6 which is 'garbage' under wine), but have installed Inkscape, for what I do I'll probably make the switch, looks similar does the same things.
  
  SmartDraw - a Visio look-alike but cheaper. LibreDraw does the same stuff, but I know how to use SmartDraw/Visio. As with most things, mine is old = V5.
  
  Photoshop - in my case V7, I'm sure Gimp is the same/better, but I know how to use Photoshop.
  
  Home Designer - a real one off, 3D CAD tool for buildings. Used it for various extensions, kitchen remodelling, etc., excellent for the money (think it cost me $50). Again old, >10 yrs, no linux alternative. Interestingly the version I have (6.0) runs better under wine than win 7.

Thinking, I struggle to add to the above list, and all the stuff I've listed is running happily under wine (with the exception of ppt). Stuff that was a 'no-brainer' is:

• Internet - always hated IE, so early days was Netscape Navigator (which from memory came out before IE), then switched to Firefox then Chrome. So didn't have to think about Chromium.
  
  Email - again Netscape in early days, then Thunderbird, so no change there.
  
  Audio - was a fan of winamp. You can get audacious to look the same!

Thoughts...

[Pjotr]

The application to update my TomTom navigation device with. It's Windows-only.... That's why I run a virtual machine with Windows 7 from time to time, in VirtualBox in Linux Mint.

I've no use or need for any other Windows applications. Never did, in 10 years of fulltime use of desktop Linux.

[BigEasy]

If I had money for Microsoft Office+CorelDraw+Adobe Photoshop+Home Designer I would never been concerned about hot it works under Wine.

[Flemur]

Photoshop - in my case V7, I'm sure Gimp is the same/better, but I know how to use Photoshop.

Gimp is pretty complete but can be amazingly frustrating until you get used to it...but sometimes I'll still run P-shop under V-box (PS tends to either act weird, or work for a while and then quit forever under wine).

"Try this one weird trick": start vbox, then start photoshop in it. Now exit vbox and save your session without closing PS. Next time, start vbox like this ( "vmwindows" is a name you've chosen for the saved state):

Code: Select all

virtualbox --startvm  vmwindows 

and you'll have photoshop up and running faster than starting it under windows.

Other windows software I choose not to do without are foobar2000 and irfanview, both of which run great under wine. Edit: how could I forget Audition 1.5 - also runs perfectly under wine.

[Habitual]

Microsoft Onenote is pretty darned good.
Scrap book collects everything!

[Fred Barclay]

Libreoffice Impress can't compare with PowerPoint so whenever I have to give a presentation I end up borrowing someone else's (Windows) computer to create the slides.

[Moem]

My list is very short:

- PaintShop Pro
- Dreamweaver
- a certain game

All of these run just fine under Wine.

Things I have replaced with Linux equivalents:

- CyberDuck -> DragonDisk
- Paint -> Pinta
- Irfanview -> GThumb
- Miranda -> Pidgin
- FoxIt -> EVince

Things I was already using and am using still:

- VLC
- SeaMonkey browser + email + usenet reader + HTML editor
- LibreOffice
- FileZilla

[Moem]

Internet - always hated IE, so early days was Netscape Navigator (which from memory came out before IE), then switched to Firefox then Chrome. So didn't have to think about Chromium.

Email - again Netscape in early days, then Thunderbird, so no change there.

Since you liked Netscape for both browsing and email, it might be worth looking into the SeaMonkey suite.

[Bolle1961]

Adobe Digital Editions, Kindle for PC + Calibre with deDRM plugins, to deDRM some ebooks*
Maps on my Garmin GPS devices I can update with Linux (OpenStreetMap maps)

*An old version of Adobe runs under wine, but I don't like wine

[jimallyn]

Can't think of any Windows software that I can't do without.

[srq2625]

Like Pjotr, there's only one reason I keep any version of Windows around .... for my Garmin update software.

What I use instead of Windows version:

• Photoshop/Lightroom - Darktable, GIMP, GThumb
• MS Office - LibreOffice; I don't have much need for more than basic presentation. Calc does fine for spreadsheets. And, I don't use macros
• IE - Firefox, chromium
• Netscape Mail (way back) - Thunderbird
• MS Streets & Trips - Google Maps

[majpooper]

I had to use Windows for work - no choice - so I knew it and it's programs pretty well.
Gradually I figured out there was nothing I couldn't do on my personal PC with Linux that I could do with Windows but it took some time - probably two years. I started out running Linux as a guest OS in VB then reversed and ran Windows as a guest OS in VB. Eventually I got rid of VB all together. The only program that I could not find a replacement for was PlayOn TV (not Palyon Linux) I ran it on VB for a while - the only Windows program I used in VB but finally just gave up on it because I have so many other TV alternatives I really didn't need it and it just did not run very well in VB. After that I ditched Windows and VB and have been 100% LM ever since.

[AndyMH]

I'd forgotten about irfanview, long time since I used it. TomTom is gathering dust in the glove box, latest car has satnav built in. Kindle - have installed under wine but do all my reading on my paperwhite. How could Amazon not release a PC version running under Linux when that's what it's running on my paperwhite? Finally, the WIS for my other half's Saab 9-3 (she's had four 9-3 convertibles on the trot) is only available for win. Having said that, it will only run on XP (on win7 have running as virtual machine) so will probably run under wine. Will have a look at seamonkey.

Thought I'd provoke a response...

[z31fanatic]

Most of the software I use is professional CAD/CAM which none are available on Linux.
SolidWorks with HSM Works
Autodesk Inventor HSM Pro
Mastercam
Autodesk Fusion 360
AutoCAD

Can't do without any of these. They are industry standards.

[eatenimpinia]

Quicken and Steam.

I'm lucky, though. Quicken now runs under Crossover and a reasonable subset of games now run under the Linux version of Steam. I still have to boot into Windows to run those other games (currently doing that with Borderlands).

[ajgreeny]

The application to update my TomTom navigation device with. It's Windows-only.... That's why I run a virtual machine with Windows 7 from time to time, in VirtualBox in Linux Mint.

I've no use or need for any other Windows applications. Never did, in 10 years of fulltime use of desktop Linux.

I do exactly the same as Pjotr; I also have no need for any other Windows applications and have not used them for 11 years.

[Neil Edmond]

At work we use Quick Books Pro... so Windows is a must.

At home I have a Windows VM that runs my very old (2001) version of Quicken, just because I'm too lazy to switch to a native Linux personal accounting package. And Works 4.5 because many, many of my files were created in Works back in the Win95 days, and Libre Office won't open them.

I have run all that stuff with WINE in the past, but have found that a Windows VM is much more efficient than WINE.

[Dngrsone]

Adobe Digital Editions, Kindle for PC + Calibre with deDRM plugins, to deDRM some ebooks

This. Can't seem to get the Calibre plugin to de-DRM Kindle books downloaded through wine.

Additionally, Amazon music downloads-- if I buy an album, I have to download each song individually from Linux, or go to Win to download the entire album automatically.

Third, while I generally use Libre Office for most things, the compatibility is only 90-something percent and sometimes I have to use Office to make things usable at work (luckily, I can get a decent deal for Office through my job).

[TooMuchTime]

TurboTax.

Unless you are a very in-depth user (macros, forms, automation) of the MS Office suite, LibreOffice works just fine. And I am an in-depth user of MS Office and I still think LibreOffice is pretty good. I've created slideshows in Impress and they're fine. Spreadsheets for home use are good and LibreOffice Writer is a damn good replacement for Word.

The only thing is that I really don't want to learn a new scripting language for automating my spreadsheets and databases. VBA is very intuitive and I have to say that python and basic included with LibreOffice just don't stack up. And don't start with Java because it is limited. There are SO many things you can do with VBA/Visual Basic/VBScript that just leaves Java in the weeds. Of course, that's Windows and I just need to put my mind to learning a different scripting language now that I'm moving to Linux. Maybe this old dog is just reluctant to learn new tricks.

[Fred Barclay]

I just need to put my mind to learning a different scripting language now that I'm moving to Linux. Maybe this old dog is just reluctant to learn new tricks.

Well, you know, you do have too much time.