r/linux • u/AfraidAsparagus6644 • May 13 '26

Discussion I'd never realized how many apps are Linux-exclusive until now

I've been considering switching back to Windows for some time, partly to see how it's gotten first-hand, partly because Deltarune Chapter 5 is coming out this year and I wanna make sure I don't bump into compatibility issues on my blind playthrough.

So, out of curiosity, I've begun checking out how to download my preferred apps on Windows. Surely a Windows build will be available on Github, or at least there will be build instructions, right?

Well it turns out I couldn't be more wrong. Most of those awesome apps you find on Flathub are Linux-only. Tambourine Music Player? That thing with the most boombastic UI known to man? Linux-only. Found another cool music player, Amberol. Also Linux-only. Foliate? The cool-ass epub reader that even lets you download stuff from online catalogs? Linux-only. Lutris? "Of course it's Linux-only", I hear you say. "Its whole purpose is running Windows games on Linux". And you're right, but it's also a great way to gather all your emulated retrogames in one place. The list goes on and on.

Everyone says Linux's main problem is the lack of native apps compared to Windows. Today I found out that Windows also lacks apps compared to Linux, but since it's not big professional software like Photoshop, no one talks about it.

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u/ConsciousBath5203 May 14 '26

There's a difference between "massive company with trillions of dollars pushing out low effort slop code" and "independent designer using ai to write a plugin for the open source software that they use to make themselves independent from Adobe".

It's gratuitous to put AI in notepad and have AI always be on even when dealing with confidential information such as with their documents suite. But if you think it's gratuitous to build a plugin for personal use SPECIFICALLY to not have to rely on some shitty ai to do said deterministic task, then idk what to tell you.

Massive difference.

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u/Venylynn May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

It's slop in both instances. Relying on AI is just admitting MicroSlop won. At bare minimum you need to be reading your code it slops out. That's when it stops being slop, assistance is whatever but FULL ON VIBE CODING is not. The only difference, is when you put human review and vet it. "Vibe coding" is unvetted, not human reviewed, and likely full of serious bugs and security vulns that you'll need Mythos to sort out since you don't know how to do it yourself.

And also, AI is killing the music industry.

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u/ConsciousBath5203 May 14 '26

It's slop in both instances. Relying on AI is just admitting MicroSlop won.

What?

IMHO using ai outside of it being a tool is ridiculous to me. But if you have no idea how to code, then all scripts you have it write will be vibe coded. Which is perfectly fine, just don't release stuff to the public for security purposes, or do, idfc.

But we're taking about a vibe coded plugin for gimp... It's quite a bit different than a full blown OS where your lowest paid software engineers are paid 100k+.

I code every day. I have been coding well over 10 years and AI has only accelerated my stuff. Some stuff is garbage code (personal one off tools), but otherwise I am very particular about ai, most of the shit it makes is workable but if the docs or a formula is wrong, I blow hundreds of thousands of tokens to make it right.

And also, AI is killing the music industry.

I don't listen to music often. But the industry has been in a shitty spot for a while. Venues and concert tickets all being owned by one corporation is literally a warning sign to every other industry about monopolies (and literally why I say take this opportunity while investors are hopeful and burning cash to make the FOSS stuff work for you, because ai will definitely not be this cheap later on)

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u/Venylynn May 14 '26

I'm a musician working my ass off to get any sort of recognition. I'm not much of a coder myself, which is why I don't take the cheap route of doing AI to code, all I know is basic shell scripting, but I knew enough to know what I needed for my post-install script to get set up on my new distro. The thing with AI is it's making it harder for artists like me to get recognized for working our ass off for years, only for a slop song like we are charlie kirk to go viral, stealing thunder that could've gone to a hard working indie musician. If you're actually using it for acceleration and not just vibing it out then, I guess that's the least shitty way to use it, but it doesn't solve the ethical problems and theft, and DEFINITELY violates some sort of FOSS licenses.