I really don’t want to continue this line as it is getting off-topic but just one thing I have to say is that I use Win10 Pro and I have the ability to use an off-line account.
You say that they can’t remove the ability to have a local account in the Pro version of Win 11 but that is exactly what they have done as it was there in Win10 Pro.
The local users and groups panel isn’t going away. They’d screw over their corporate customers if they removed it by breaking tons of stuff businesses need.
I can create hundreds of local users if I want, no workarounds, using the official tools. Again, they can’t remove this because for business customers it is not optional.
I’ve got no problems with creating local accounts on Win 11 Pro, however, I am watching the space carefully in case Microsoft loses their collective minds. They did change the setup procedure with 25H2 from what I could tell, but there are workarounds. If they ever do completely remove local accounts, it will be a very bad day for me, and I will likely just give up and say, screw it, I’m finally going to Linux.
As I’ve mentioned in other threads - probably in this one too - I’ve tried moving to Linux many times, and my last attempt was really, really close, but I still missed some key software I needed, including of course Cubase and Nuendo, and I really like what they’ve been doing lately.
HOWEVER, if I can’t create local accounts on a future version of Win 11 Pro, that will likely be the end of the road for me. I’m NOT going back to Macs, and I’m NOT going to set up a Microsoft account. It will be game over for me, and I’ll just suck it up and phase out Windows, period. And that includes tons of Windows apps and plugins I rely upon right now.
But so far, I do agree with @mducharme that I don’t see evidence that they will ultimately, truly, finally do it… I agree that would be very damaging to their corporate customers, so I think the “Pro” version of Windows 11 will most likely continue to offer the option… but they do make me nervous sometimes! As for “home” users, well, that’s a different story.
At the expense of reviving this post I am making a couple of points - possibly addressing some of the comments made on this Feature request till now - some possibly repeating or obvious but trying to tie them all together in a more cohesive manner.
“Linux is not a relevant platform in the music/audio world”
The DAW running in a certain OS doesn’t mean the produced output or projects might not be editable on other platforms - just like you can open an MP3 file on any platform. Standardizing file formats is the key there.
Developing for Linux doesn’t mean that other platform support goes away. it simply means that the company has more options open in areas of getting new customers and pivoting towards optimal options based on the future of different platforms. So if you are on Windows or Mac and its working fine for you then I would expect you to chill out rather than trying to say no to a Linux release.
Microsoft’s focus is moving away from Windows to Azure (their cloud platform) - that is their real money maker - that is why they have moved all of their tools to be operable on Linux and even provide tools such as WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) which host/run a version of Linux within Windows.
Even on Azure, the most used platform of machines is Linux as well.
Do I make the above argument saying that usage of Virtual Machines in cloud (servers, etc.) is the same as personal computers ? No. The reason this argument is being made is to demonstrate real-world stability and cost of running the Linux OS.
Linux wasn’t a relevant platform for gaming ten years ago. Look where we are now. Things change - that is progress.
“Who would actually even buy a Linux version”
Given the bloat and privacy issues being poured into Windows as time moves forward a lot of institutions and people are moving off of Windows. Would you like your “crazy new album” to be used for training Microsoft AI (and flooding the market with tons of songs “similar to your song” before you even release it ? I guess not: That is the reason why people would like to move off of Windows.
In fact, so many institutions/companies are moving away from Windows, this little company called Dell is having a hard time selling about 500 million PCs running Windows.
Why would anyone on Linux buy Cubase - Why have I bought it today ? Because it helps me more than a free software.
“What market? Nobody I know uses a Linux computer professionally.”
Linux usage is not much compared to non-Linux platforms but slowly and steadily climbing - Globally close to 4.7% now.
The core reason people don’t go on Linux nowadays is because major products have not migrated on Linux so the penalty to ditch Windows or Mac is very high (a decade ago the prevalent reason used to be complexity). There is a lot of money that changes hands to keep companies developing their products only on specific platforms.
The companies that move their products to Linux stand to gain the First to Market advantage and capture all the people who have been eagerly waiting for the product to get there.
Would the Linux version be “Bug Free”
No - Every software has bugs.
But we are talking about the platform here - which has the capacity to be very stable - and possibly fully controlled by Steinberg (if needed) making the product to be tested from bottom to up with a very specific release of the OS making it extremely stable.
“This is an ask repeated by Linux Fanatics for decades and is as false as ever”
Much as changed for Linux in the last decade (not even going back) - mostly good
Much as changed for Windows in the last decade - mostly not-so-good
Nowadays Linux doesn’t require you to be a nerd and can be as hands-free as Windows
The bloatware and the anti-privacy features that could smuggle your IP out of your machine and train an AI on your content before you can release it is a reason enough to move off.
Yes, the Linux fans will probably keep asking for applications to be ported to Linux regardless - its their right to express their opinion and more so their wish - no worries there. However, the company should evaluate if the ask makes business sense (points below).
Tldr; Yes, the request has been made for decades. Now the reason and the people making the request have reasons aligned to the current realities.
“Very few people need super computers or data-centers when making music”
Correct
Linux can run on machines that would find it hard to run Windows.
Linux can give more system resources to Cubase (to your music production) than Windows can.
It would make the cost building a music production machine a bit cheaper.
Tldr; a person can get more life out of their “non-super-computer machine” if running Linux.
“Someone asked it a while back - the answer was Windows and Mac”
Successful companies know how to pivot looking at the market conditions and forecasts - they know how to read writing on the wall (or at least always trying to).
The answer given at that time was correct for that time - the answer now would consider the realities of today.
The answer could still be the same - as long as the Steinberg thinks that
The cost of development and maintaining a Linux release would not be sustainable as their customer base grows
In this day and age of every DAW trying to add similar features to other top selling DAWs - Weigh the upfront or running development costs alongside the risk that are they ready to deal with playing catch-up with a competitor product that is First to market on the Linux platform and has captured ? Once a strong enough base is acquired on the Linux platform, it might be hard to move it to another DAW if the original DAW is responsive enough to keep listening to its users (most at least try these days).
the users who wanted to migrate off of Windows
new users
Perspective: Cost Management
Software development processes and tools have come quite far as well. As mentioned below - even Microsoft tool-chains offer ways to efficiently develop Linux versions of programs.
As mentioned in comments above, a customized Linux version from Steinberg (just like Steam OS) would help reduce scope of development and testing.
Of course, the same code base can be tweaked to make it Android (add Chrome OS to this) ready.
That said, there definitely would be extra cost - and that cost is the cost of to gain supremacy in a relatively competitive field (point above)
Hello @MrSoundman - this is all typed by hand. In fact, it even has a typo where I inserted a line and forgot to make it a separate subpoint. I cannot convince you or anyone (nor am I interested in) that it is not so I am not even going to go there.
That said, it is definitely sad for most humans that they think any decently long and well formatted piece of text is going to be AI generated.
That’s because, unfortunately, it usually is. I’ve become allergic to it due to a past experience where everyone involved was using ChatGPT to answer each other, when I knew that most of them couldn’t even spell, let alone use a spellchecker. The problem was, I still had to waste the time to read through their garbage …
These days, I even shy away from overly elaborate formatting, knowing that naive guardians of the pure doctrine might accuse me of using the devil’s work: AI!
(I’m worried that the previous sentence was already too polished and error-free…)
MrSoundman, honestly, I don’t pay too much attention to these things, even if that was a copilot recap I mean, what I consider is the substance of the speech and I fully agree with Highlord. Do you?
This thread has been running since 2021. @Highlord’s post says nothing that hasn’t been said numerous times throughout the thread. In that sense, it looks a lot like an AI summary with no new insights (it’s even formatted like an AI post), so I can see why @MrSoundman got the impression they did.
- I’ve tried moving to Linux many times, and my last attempt was really, really close, but I still missed some key software I needed, including of course Cubase and Nuendo, and I really like what they’ve been doing lately.
However, the company should evaluate if the ask makes business sense (points below).
(this MS AI thing seems to be built to propose action plans and recap sheets to humanity)
