My story and why I want your support:

Creating and listening to music is my passion. I've been using Microsoft Windows since the days of my childhood. But I am no longer a child, and Microsoft Windows has changed dramatically. It is no longer an operating system I can trust and rely on for my content production. The way Microsoft has implemented more and more cloud functionality with Windows 8 and changed the UI to an inconsistent and unpleasant hybrid made me skip that version.Then they built Windows 10 to observe the user, collect all data they can and annoy us with unwanted advertisement in return to give it away for free - if we want it or not. They do everything they can to force and trick users into the upgrade. While I can somewhat understand their goal to unify the Windows platform as much as possible, the tricks they use (like changing the way how delaying the upgrade works) are not acceptable for me. The sheer amount of data collection in Windows 10 is alarming, and so are the default "privacy settings", which can not be trusted with certainty, as the system is closed source.

Apple computers are no alternative to me either. The latest versions of OSX have changed the way how audio software interacts with the system and caused some incompatibilities with major audio creation software. The newest OS versions also tend to have significant bugs, less performance than older versions and of course are in no way better than Windows in terms of user privacy and data collection. Apple's terms and conditions try everything they can to prevent any responsibility from Apple and are taking away the users rights as far as it is legally possible.

That leaves only open source operating systems like Linux and BSD to me as valid options for my system. Especially Linux has grown and evolved dramatically in the last 2-3 years. Gaming appeared almost out of nowhere since the gaming giant Valve software started to support the platform. This move has improved the driver situation a lot, especially the graphics drivers. More and more great software from many categories is available, and desktop-focused Linux distributions like Linux Mint and Ubuntu are easier to use and better than ever.

The problem:

While pretty much anything a desktop user could want is already available for Linux, proprietary and professional software for content creators is still missing.

Don't get me wrong: Some amazing and proprietary DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) have been made for - or ported to - Linux. The most notable examples: Ardour, Renoise and Bitwig Studio. More, like REAPER seem to be on the way. With these great tools, it is possible to record external sound sources and instruments, create mixes and master the projects to fully produce music on a professional level.

Unfortunately, musicians like me, who prefer to work with virtual software instruments and effect plugins are forced to use either Microsoft Windows or Apple computers, as almost all great software plugins are only released for these two platforms.

Products like Native Instruments Komplete, with their amazing sampler Kontakt, outstanding synthesizer plugins like U-He Bazille or Cakewalk's Z3TA+2, all the great and creative effect plugins by companies like these are all locked to Windows and OSX.

This needs to change. Linux has become a robust and reliable platform for any productive environment. It has become easy to use, does respect the user's choices, freedom and privacy. It is secure, cost-efficient, fully customizable and highly scalable to any environment. It deserves to be recognized as the new first choice for professional content production environments - or at least as an equal choice.

VST plugins can be made compatible to Linux under certain circumstances, but the best solution would be to implement the existing DSP code into already existing Linux native plugin formats like LV2, LADSPA or DSSI. Especially LV2 is an advanced format that should offer all required features to realize a port.

While it is possible to use WINE to get some Windows software to run on Linux, it is not a real solution for these plugins. Often, they are bound to copy protection mechanisms which might not work on WINE, and overall the experience includes a lot of tinkering, is often broken and has worse performance than a native plugin would have.

The solution:

Companies like Native Instruments, Steinberg, Cakewalk, iZotope, U-He, MAGIX and Softube need to support Linux with their software plugins. Instead of reacting to current Linux market share in the desktop segment, these companies need to create a market by making their products available on this platform.

I strongly believe that Linux is a more reliable, attractive and professional operating system for studio environments. Please give us content creators a choice and start a true platform-independent future for your products.