just wondering .... when will coreldraw be available on linux?
today, corel is the only application which holds me back from switching
Probably never gonna happen. There is the sK1 Project, which is somewhat of an attempt to make a CorelDraw clone native to Linux, but it hasn't progressed very much in awhile.
Check out https://inkscape.org/en/about/overview/ . It's big (big enough to have books published by major presses; a search on Amazon reveals around five hardcopy, not just electronic, books, and one of them is from Prentice-Hall). With a vibrant developer and user community it's clearly here to stay. You can even try it out on Windows before moving over to Linux--for free, as it's open source. Not as powerful as Draw yet, but in seven or eight years it will be as competitive in the vector sphere as the Gimp is for bitmaps. Also, Inkscape is admittedly not quite a CorelDraw clone, but is nonetheless based on the same type of UI as Draw. I'm not sure on the details, but apparently there was a very early vector application which Corel cloned when they first created Draw, and the Inkscape designers also went back to that same app for their UI--or something like that. At any rate, despite a lot of specific differences, for some historical reason or other Draw and Inkscape share the same basic type of interface, so if you're used to Draw it's easier to move to Inkscape than, say, to AI.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Linux is getting easier and easier to use, more and more folks are climbing on board (the Windows 10 debacle will only accelerate that trend), and the Gimp has given Linux users native pro-level raster capability for a long time now. The lack of the same level of vector support was a gaping hole that the community had to plug. And it has, with resounding success. Sadly, it could have been CorelDraw; ten or fifteen years down the road Corel execs will be wishing they'd done more to keep at least a finger or two in that pie. Too late now, though. Inkscape is way too far ahead on the Linux platform for Corel to catch up. As other posters have noted, it would require a horrific amount of work. And then there's .NET. I use an older version of Draw, but if a previous poster was correct when he said that the newest versions now depend on .NET, that does make it pretty much impossible for Corel to port Draw to Linux.
1% let alone 5% of all personal computer is not worth programming for.
Linux is still a small marketplace. There's not a significant growng on the past then years. Even Linux enthusiast talk about 5% or less
www.techrepublic.com/.../
And since almost all linux software is free, there's not a good reason for invest time and money on this development
Ironword said:It was bound to happen sooner or later.
It seems that it will be later. There are no prospects for change on the horizon.
Ironword said:Linux is getting easier and easier to use, more and more folks are climbing on board (the Windows 10 debacle will only accelerate that trend)
Windows 10 debacle? Where do you get the news from? From the Windows haters club? I advise you to look for better information ...
Linux desktops account for around 3% of the market share. Linux servers around 11%. I mentioned sK1 as they billed themselves as a Draw inspired program. But they are close to dead. Linux Desktop, in total is hanging by a toenail. The servers do better.
Linux is not getting easier to use. You still need command line ability to get things done. You still need to poke around in configuration files to customize anything. There are too many interfaces and Windows Managers for any standardization to materialize. I have a Kubuntu 14.04 desktop in a bed room, mostly to watch Youtube. I left it on that version as the new KDE dropped some key things I liked even though the verison I have is years out of date.
LInux is a great server. It's free and powerful. That alone will keep it going for some time to come
I like Inkscape. I keep it around and mostly play with it. I go to Draw to begin a project, and complete it in Draw. I might go to Inkscape for something specific, but mostly I just like to tinker. Inkscape and Gimp though have practically zero support for CMYK and spot colors. A dead end for many in graphic design. There are some kludges that can barely, and I mean barely, get you there, and they are working on improving it.
I guess if you work in print the CMYK etc. is a problem. I don't--strictly web--and in that milieu Inkscape is already far more than a toy, though I love my Draw and am not going to be abandoning it anytime soon. I'll grant you the print issue, and Inkscape is so web-oriented that it may never adequately address that. And we can agree to disagree on Linux growth. But the OP and a number of other posters in this thread want to work on that platform, and their question concerns vector on that platform. Re that issue (and setting print aside), I stand by my original assertion: Inkscape is the future--and a very bright one.
"Windows 10 debacle?"
Nobody I know personally who's 'upgraded' to 10 (mostly from 7) has been happy with it. They get downright angry when they talk about how 10 hijacks their computer when they're in the middle of doing something. But if you want more than anecdotal evidence, it's easy to find complaints like this one (I didn't contribute, BTW): www.sevenforums.com/.../410657-no-end-sight.html