Well, having formulated and authored the board rules myself, I think I might be excused turning a blind eye to an ironic religious reference.

Well, at the moment it is only the system tray where the code has been so dreadfully messed up and for no apparent good reason. One could rather suspect that MS wants to force developers into switching to .NET or, even worse, UWP! Of course, more long term, MS really would prefer to drop the desktop altogether - Windows is no longer a revenue generator and one suspects something of a loss leader.

Yeah, I can well understand your problem with certain types of specialist apps not being available for Linux. For my own part, I'd really need a GFX ap that could save both raster and vector layers in an image without having to merge them (even under Windows there's only one, and my version is a very, very old one at that but it does what it says on the tin for me, and a first rate Acrobat 'clone', and a really decent WYSIWYG HTML app a la Dreamweaver would be my principal needs. I have a few Windows apps running through Wine without any problems - when installing from the Software app in Ubuntu, Wine is automatically set up and configured for each app.

So we're basically living under your goodwill if we're pulling slightly religiously-sounding jokes and puns? Haha, I can live with that!

Well, I don't know what Microsoft is up to. I think, while probably not giving much revenue, Windows is still what they are known for, and ditching their system would probably cause a huge stir in the world. As for revenue, it's so easy to NOT buy a license, but through a simple way just install and use Windows 10 or 11 on as many machines as you like, I can't imagine they are making much money off the OS itself anymore.

The whole graphics and video department is known, and there are a few alternatives to Adobe apps that are available for Linux, as far as I've seen. But try with audio apps: Bitwig is one of the few DAWs available for Linux, and for the core of my licenses, which are VST2 and VST3 plugins, you'd often have to use Windows installers to get all the extra files in the right places. I just know because a friend of mine is using Linux, and he didn't succeed with some of his plugins to get them running. As an ecosystem, Macs are probably best-fed with features and complementary apps and little helpers, but I so despise the whole Apple system, I won't touch it with a barge pole.

Yep, under my boundless goodwill and my tender mercy - so watch it, everyone!


Indeed, certainly not from the desktop OS. Server side is a bit different still, although Linux is more and more dominant there.


There are some superb GFX apps for Linux alright, The GIMP has come along to be a real Photoshop contender, although there are a few rough edges remaining. E.g., to save a file as .png, .tif/f, or .psd requires you to export it as, but it's no big deal. Alas, it doesn't allow saving raster and vector gfx in the same file without merging them, which I sometimes need to do. (But then, I doubt even the latest version of Photoshop manages that?) So in those cases, it's back to Windows to do that. And there are a few other superb Linux gfx apps I use. But a real good Acrobat (Pro) implementation still isn't there, let alone some sort of Dreamweaver clone. And then there are (proprietary) drivers and software for my high-end scanner which should arrive in about a couple of years' time....

And indeed, audio can be a bit problematic, especially midi and midi-related apps and plug-ins, I do get that, alas. However, even that seems to be improving. Of course, pro recording studios have, mostly, been using Linux - often using custom apps - especially for recording, mixing, and mastering since Sun UltraSPARC machines got overtaken by PC chips and Sun itself sadly went tits up. (I loved working on their machines, almost as much as on SGIs.)

As for Macs, join the club. Hate the whole ghastly Apple culture, hate the crippled OS (being a former NeXT user), and of course it's just as bad a spy on your privacy as Windows. And hate the fact that they had/have such a stranglehold on a lot of audio stuff - should never have been allowed in the first place as it is a violation of anti-monopolies legislation in most major economies inc. the UK and US. And then there was this obscene cult around 'St.' Steve Jobs, the man who betrayed former NeXT users to buy out and save Apple! The swine!

I can't help but get the impression you're a well-mannered, very positive person, and judging from vocabulary, spelling and my mythical notion for such people, even originating from the British Isles .



I know about GIMP, and was quite wrong about Affinity's apps being compatible with Linux (what a shame). As for Photoshop, since quite a while it's possible to save both vector and raster elements in Photoshop, in one file without any kind of merging. Haven't really used it for that lately, but vector seemed more like an afterthought, but one that grew more important within the last few years. Since I switched from PS to Adobe XD for UI and website design, I haven't really opened Photoshop much, except for quick photo adjustments.

Audio is becoming more open now with the new CLAP format, as a VST contender. CLAP also works natively on Linux, so things are indeed in motion, even though it takes time to establish a new format, and only mainly indie devs are already providing them. If at any point in time Ableton Live AND all my plugins become available on Linux, I'll be happy to switch.


You tick each and every box of my shitlist towards Apple. Lucky for us, there is no need to join their cult at any point in time, even though they have built a tough bond with developers. Try to find decent audio apps for Android tablets, but you'll get a load of iOS apps instead. Still not desperate enough to join the devil's club .

LOL! Well, thank you, I take that as a compliment. And yes, British Isles is spot on. However, my responses to people depend on them - I don't suffer fools, gladly or otherwise, and I can be quite abrasive even and have a pretty fierce temperament. So it's a pleasure to sometimes encounter somebody like yourself who is well mannered, positive and articulate and well-versed in the use of language.


Ah, I stand corrected there, then. My own version of photoshop is antiquated, but as I hardly ever need it for anything, I don't have any desire to enrich the coffers of Adobe.


Yeah, good plan! I too will switch completely once I don't need Windows any more. As it is, I use Linux about 85-90% of the time, Mostly Ubuntu and a bit of Fedora.


Tut tut, don't give the poor old devil a bad name - it's 'the other side' that would be my personal idea of hell, and all the really interesting people wouldn't be seen dead on 'the other side' either. No, no, Apple are definitely rotten fruit and on 'the dark side'. "Come to the dark side, Froschfinger. It is your destiny."

Spoke, and fired a missile right below his eloquent-as-always reply to my musing about his Britishness . That being said, yes, that is a compliment. Colour me a fan, especially of the British ways of thinking and speaking, even though the former might not apply to all cases (think Brexit, the works). Very glad to meet you, if ever so superficially on a forum .


But don't think too much of it. It's not a full vector app integrated, but you absolutely can bloody insert, edit and create vector elements in Photoshop. This made non-destructive web design possible in the first place, and accommodated my work for many a year. I still think it makes sense switching to a more dedicated vector app (and Illustrator has gotten powerful in that regard) if you want to go nuts.


Well, I'm not sure we're still talking software here, or a broader idea of the good, the bad and the evil, hehe. I'm assuming we're safe from insulting people with our despise for the Apple world, given we're ranting openly on a forum for very Windows-y software.

Likewise to the last. Well, as for the British way of speaking, that has been changing for a long while now, along with the language itself, and decidedly not for the better, alas. Too many 'fill words', bad grammar and syntax, and too many American imports - including gestures such as 'high fives', fist bumps, etc. - ugh!) - such as among many others 'new' to us 'fill words' of the ilk of 'like' and 'so' - infuriating! For the first time in its long history, the British English language has been deteriorating and devolving rather than evolving progressively. Even the Oxford English Dictionary is now full of American originated and, even worse perhaps, Jamaican street language originated terms. Split infinitives are now supposed to be acceptable, Latin, Latin originated, and some other nouns now commonly use the singular as both singular and plural and vice versa the plural as singular and plural! Argh! I refuse to follow these fads. Also, the people's characters and personalities have very much changed over the last 40 or so years, also not for the better I think. The whole culture has changed alongside, with alcohol now available all day and late into the night, beer gardens, lager beers outselling everything else (disgusting stuff AFAIC, I like my beer - ale, actually - warm and without bubbles and froth!), street cafés, not to mention the twin evils of 'political correctness' and identity politics (both of which we shall steer clear of here) and other nonsense. Kill me nowww!


Well, there's plenty of choice for vector gfx under Linux, more than enough for my needs.


Sure, we are safe enough expressing utter contempt and more about any OS but especially the 'rotten fruit', no problem. But yes, we have been going rather off topic. So I think I'll move our posts that fall into that category to the 'Off Topic' forum. And post something on topic in this thread.

Trying to pick up here for a minute. I totally hear you, regarding the decay of your language. Funny enough, not so much all those idioms and expressions I dearly love, but nonetheless many English expressions, ESPECIALLY American phenomenons like grammatical twists, are picked up by younger German speakers.
I witnessed this phenomenon in Norway already a good ten years ago, where people there inter-mixed Norwegian and English in a very fluent way, which was kind of cool (because I could understand more) and strange at the same time.
'Anglizismen', meaning borrowings from English, mostly in vocabulary but also in grammar, are something language societies in Germany try to fight at least since the 90s. I have two kids aged 12 and 14, and while they both have very eloquent parents and are no little eloquent and self-aware themselves, they tend to bring home and show a lot of 'slang' vocabulary, specifically tied to their almost one and only hobby/sub-culture: playing computer games. I'm trying to not overdo it, but sometimes cannot help but have to mock them with utter senseless combinations of German and English .
That being said, many English expressions and grammatical forms, while not washing over the whole of the German language, are visibly claiming their space in German and its dictionary. I still don't think language should be regulated, as the French do with all of their pride: language is and remains an agreement and a fluid element of society, subject to fluctuations and changes, some for the better, some for the absolute worst.

(Replying from the original thread)

Well, my linguistic skills are easily explained. From a young age I became intensely fascinated by the Old English/Anglo-Saxon poetry and other literature, as well as that of Middle English. (O.E. literature is, incidentally, the oldest vernacular written lit. of post-classical Europe, first written from the 8th century C.E. onwards.) Thus, I taught myself Old and Middle English - at least, enough to read some of it with the aid of dictionaries - very early, and later studied these topics more seriously, and more broadly. I always was a bookworm from the moment I could read, with interests far beyond mere childrens literature from the beginning, encompassing not only literature but also the arts generally, as well as the sciences, and also became quite fascinated by etymology and philology. I've remained something of a polymath all my life, becoming a published author among other endeavours. And so language has always been and will always remain very important to me.


My admiration and sympathy to your girlfriend - it seems to be a nightmare to teach children and especially adolescents these days. Should be kept in cages, most of them, and just have a bit of raw meat thrown them when necessary.

One of the problems I saw with modern High German is that the gulf between the literary and the colloquial language is so very wide, wider than in any language that I am or have been acquainted with. Generally, it seems the least Germanic language of the whole wider family, while the purest Germanic language remaining is Íslenska, Icelandic, which incidentally is the only language other than English that has preserved the dental fricatives (Mod. Eng. voiced and unvoiced 'th'). (IIRC, Middle Low German dropped this around the 14th - 15th century C.E., Middle High German probably earlier.)

I well understand that the German languages - both High and Low - are just as much under 'attack' as the English language and totally empathise. Alas, this is a problem for most of the worlds' languages, principally if not entirely due to the spread of the US American language as a kind of lingua franca, the wider US 'culture' (if indeed one can call it that at all!), and the general influence and indeed dominance of the ultra-imperialist US state. (And no, I'm not a raging 'lefty' - I'm neither 'right' nor 'left', just a realist, rationalist, and pragmatist. After all, the US is nothing if not the new Rome, with all the bad aspects and none of the good of that ancient empire.)(Apologies to any readers from across the pond - I have nothing against the US American people in general, just the state. )

Indeed, people have always, with each and every new generation, complained that their language is going to the dogs. Alas, in our age languages are actually devolving instead of evolving as they have in the past. And the Americanisation of modern High German seems to be one of the most extreme examples from my understanding. It also seems that almost any German under about 40 or so speaks English with an American-German accent, whereas older generations have a British-German intonation.

As for British English being easier to learn (than German), and yet at least in part more poetic in everyday use than typical German, I'm sure I have to agree with you there. The difference between literary and spoken standard British English is a fairly small one, and Brit. Eng. is a fairly poetic language, with an absolutely vast vocabulary, due to the many enrichments from other languages over a millennium or so, starting with (Island) Latin and the Celtic language of the native Ancient Britons, the Old Norse language of the Norsemen and Danes in the so-called 'Viking' era, and then the Norse-French of the Normans following the Norman invasion, Latin and classical Greek in later medieval times and beyond, influences from Jewish (Judezmo lang.) and Muslim (Arabic) refugees following their expulsion from the new nation of Spain at the time of the Renaissance, later Swiss French (through the Huguenots migrants), Hindi and Persian, and French proper. There are also quite a number of German loanwords that came into the language in the 19th and 20th century. (I'm sure I missed out on a few! ) All in all, a very rich mix that, in many cases, has given English a whole number of words meaning the same thing. In daily use, about 1,200 Old Eng./A-S words remain in the vocabulary, and about an equal number of Old Norse words - a few more in northern Eng. dialects and esp. Scottish English/Scottish (as the Scots prefer to call it, although in reality it is more of a mix of Old and Middle Eng. and Old Norse, with some Gaelic (pronounced 'Gallic') influences. (People often are little aware that a substantial part of Scotland - inc. Edinburgh - was, for a pretty long time, part of the English Kingdom of Northumbria, and large parts of both the Scottish mainland as well as the Northern and Western Isles were subject to a lot of mainly (Norwegian) Norseman and Icelandic (also Norsemen) raiders (Vikings) and settlers.)

In addition to this wealth of vocabulary, the grammar of mod. Eng. is much simpler than that of German (yet also strict), which helps substantially in making the language easier to learn and sits well with mod. Eng. poetry as well as prose.

Also, as an aside, English is written in a relatively more phonetic fashion than German.
(/Replying....)

(New post)

From what I gather, it sometimes seems as though German is being replaced wholesale by (Am.) Eng.!


LOL! Sounds like a good plan, mocking them.


Whilst, as I acknowledged earlier, language traditionally has always been at least somewhat fluid and evolving, the same no longer seems to apply. It may be fluid still, but is not evolving any more, instead actually devolving. And it's gross.

I don't think regulation of a language is necessarily a bad thing in modern times, esp. given the onslaught of Am. Eng. I don't know how well the French system works in that context, but can say with confidence that the Icelandic model works excellently. Foreign loanwords generally are not allowed and instead, new, descriptive words have to be created from within the language. Perfectly sensibly, they also have strict laws governing the naming of native Icelanders. Patronymic names are de rigueur and must be gender appropriate (this latter also applies to Icelanders of foreign origin). Any non-native Icelandic/Norse personal names are only allowed if they are capable of Icelandic conjugation (e.g. Biblical names) and can sometimes be disallowed. So are invented names - another US Am. plague inflicting terrible cankers upon cultures.

I'll have to return your compliments and say that you certainly write (and I'm sure speak) the most perfect British English and have a real flair with language, I'm truly impressed. It's a perfect delight.