WSL2 is pretty good. j/k

excel for vba support

Visual Studio (Not VS Code), C# is fantastic these days cross-platform wise and a pretty solid general language

But the non-ms IDEs for it...are lacking...and MS just terminated MacOS support for VS (Not that it really mattered the macOS version was a bastardized version of VS anyways) so I don't think their flagship is coming (officially) to Linux anytime soon.

non-game, non-niche

Nope, that's actually strictly my reason for having a dedicated Windows rig. Games, and niche homebrew apps.

Family tree maker. https://www.mackiev.com/ftm/

[email protected] if I am donating GPU power to science research. There is a BOINC client for Linux but packaging is a hot mess (though getting better) and compatibility with graphics drivers is hit-or-miss. So any crunching rigs I have w/ GPUs all run Windows.

Nope.

There are some programs I still use that are designed for Windows, but use cases are "niche" or at very least specialized:

1. Guitar Pro 8 - Guitar Tab software

2. Line 6 HX Edit - Helix Settings Editor

3. Line 6 Powercab Edit - Amp Settings Editoe

4. Line 6 Updater - Firmware Updater for Line 6 Products

5. Steelseries GG - Configuration Software for Steelseries Peripherals

6. Numerous VSTs and other Audio Plugins

These are just what I remember I use off the top of my head.

I do use Guitar Pro 8 with Wine, but the others won't work through Wine. I did try to use the others with a Windows KVM through QEMU but I ultimately gave up and left one windows workstation because of my issues with my Nvidia RTX 3090.

Anyone using ReactOS for this?

I have a Windows VM that runs Visual Studio and a small number of developer tools so I can test my code on Windows. And another windows VM that runs Daz3D, Clip Studio Paint and the Epic Launcher (to download stuff from the Unreal Engine Marketplace).

Sometimes I misuse either VM by creating a snapshot and installing Garmin Connect so I can update the music library on my watch :)

I run Scrivener, which is a writing software that's only for Mac & Windows (well, there is a Linux version but it's ancient), but I just run that through Wine rather than a VM. That's about the only thing I haven't found a good equivalent for on Linux though.

Yeah. I use quite a few windows exclusive programs. I know it is a long list but can't be helped. Good support and stability beats ideology and these apps provide me that. Here is the list:

I hope this list is helpful to others as well ☺️

Adobe Lightroom Classic. I have darktable installed on Linux, but I haven't mastered it yet. Lightroom is the software for photo editing, unfortuntately.

GenoPro. I don't use Windows for it, as it's packaged with wine as a snap.

Not currently running a VM or anything, but I might need to set one up for iTunes and Garmin stuff.

Directory Opus

I have a Windows 11 VM which I keep around. I was forced to use it for iTunes because I needed to sync my old photos onto the phone (fortunately a one time process).

I also played around with RemoteApp because I wanted to use Visual Studio or Office on Linux through the Windows VM, but I have not managed to get it working.

MusicBee, Stardock Fences, obligatory Adobe mention, all VR everything (unless something has changed recently, I haven't looked in while).

Gamepass

I haven't been able to get Vectric Aspire to work yet, even under wine. It's used to layout tool paths for CNC operations, so it may be a little on the niche side, but it's pretty popular there.

QFIL aka Qualcomm Flash Image Loader but only because the rooting of my XR headset (Lynx) https://lynx.miraheze.org/wiki/Rooting_Process relies on it.

I've done it successfully so now I understand a bit better how it works. I could try to use instead https://github.com/bkerler/edl which looks even more complete and reproducible.

notepad++ with textfx edit, textfx tools, and hex editor. I've tried a lot of other things and it is still my favorite.
I don't actually use it for coding, but I often have to futz with files received from customers/QA or test data that I create.

I have mac for work and have been mostly hating BBedit. I keep meaning to try Cate and I guess the folks that made Atom just released something new.

Edit: just remembered: I did try Cate but had really weird UI issues using any dark themes (menus, etc. all became unreadable) and gave up.