Windows to Linux: App Alternatives for Everything

Switching from Windows to Linux doesn't mean giving up your workflow. Almost every category of software you relied on has a capable Linux equivalent — and in many cases the open-source alternative is actively maintained and genuinely excellent. This guide maps the most common Windows applications to their Linux counterparts, with honest notes on where the replacements are seamless and where you'll notice gaps.

Office and Productivity

Microsoft Office → LibreOffice

LibreOffice is the standard replacement and handles .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx files well for everyday use. Complex formatting, macros, or heavily styled PowerPoint decks may not survive import perfectly. Install it from your distro's repositories — avoid the Snap version on Ubuntu if you care about font rendering and system theme integration.

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install libreoffice

# Fedora
sudo dnf install libreoffice

# Arch
sudo pacman -S libreoffice-fresh

If you need real-time collaboration, OnlyOffice renders Microsoft Office formats more faithfully and integrates with Nextcloud. It's available as a Flatpak on any distro:

flatpak install flathub org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors

Microsoft Outlook → Thunderbird

Thunderbird handles IMAP, SMTP, Exchange (via the Owl add-on or the built-in Exchange support added in v115+), calendar, and tasks. If your employer requires Teams integration, look at Geary for lighter mail or keep a browser tab open for Outlook Web.

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install thunderbird

# Fedora
sudo dnf install thunderbird

OneNote → Obsidian / Joplin

Joplin is open source, syncs via Nextcloud or Dropbox, and imports Evernote archives. Obsidian stores notes as plain Markdown files — no vendor lock-in. Both run natively on Linux.

Photo and Image Editing

Adobe Photoshop → GIMP + Darktable

GIMP covers compositing, retouching, and scripted batch processing. Its UI differs from Photoshop, and there's a learning curve, but it's fully capable for most tasks. For RAW photo processing and a Lightroom-style workflow, Darktable is the serious choice used by professional photographers.

# Install both
sudo apt install gimp darktable        # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install gimp darktable        # Fedora
sudo pacman -S gimp darktable          # Arch

Adobe Illustrator → Inkscape

Inkscape is a fully featured SVG vector editor. It handles most illustration and print design work. PDF and EPS import/export work well; CMYK colour support is limited, which matters if you send files to commercial printers — check with your print shop first.

Adobe Premiere / After Effects → Kdenlive / DaVinci Resolve

Kdenlive is a solid open-source video editor installable from any repo. DaVinci Resolve from Blackmagic Design is free (with paid Studio tier) and the closest functional equivalent to a professional NLE on Linux. Download the official installer from the Blackmagic website — it ships as a run script.

Audio Production

Audacity (cross-platform, but worth confirming)

Audacity runs natively on Linux. It's the direct replacement for itself — install it and carry on. For recording and mixing, it integrates with PipeWire (the modern audio subsystem replacing PulseAudio and JACK on current distros).

sudo apt install audacity        # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install audacity        # Fedora
sudo pacman -S audacity          # Arch

FL Studio / Ableton → LMMS / Ardour

LMMS (Linux MultiMedia Studio) is the closest workflow match to FL Studio — beat-based, pattern-driven, with a built-in synth library. Ardour is a professional DAW aimed at multi-track recording and mixing, comparable to Pro Tools or Logic. Both use PipeWire or JACK for low-latency audio.

# LMMS
sudo apt install lmms

# Ardour (use the official binary from ardour.org for the latest version)
# Community builds available:
sudo dnf install ardour6    # Fedora

Development Tools

Visual Studio / VS Code

VS Code runs on Linux without any modification. Download the .deb or .rpm directly from Microsoft, or install the fully open-source build VSCodium without Microsoft telemetry:

# Official Microsoft .deb (Ubuntu/Debian)
wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor \
  | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/microsoft.gpg] \
https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install code

For full Visual Studio (C#/.NET, ASP.NET), Microsoft now ships a native Linux build of Visual Studio Code and the .NET SDK. The heavy Windows-only Visual Studio IDE has no Linux equivalent, but JetBrains Rider (paid, free for open source) covers C# professionally.

Postman → still Postman / Bruno

Postman has a native Linux client. If you prefer open source, Bruno stores collections as plain files and has no cloud dependency:

flatpak install flathub com.usebruno.Bruno

PuTTY → built-in SSH

You don't need PuTTY on Linux. OpenSSH is installed by default. Just use the terminal:

ssh [email protected]

Gaming

Steam + Proton

Steam's Proton compatibility layer runs a large majority of Windows-only games without any configuration. Enable it under Steam → Settings → Compatibility → Enable Steam Play for all other titles. Check game compatibility at ProtonDB before buying.

# Ubuntu/Debian (enable 32-bit first)
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install steam

# Fedora
sudo dnf install steam

# Arch
sudo pacman -S steam

Non-Steam Games → Lutris / Bottles

Lutris manages GOG, Epic, and standalone installers with preconfigured Wine runners. Bottles is a more modern GUI for managing isolated Wine environments. Both are available as Flatpaks.

flatpak install flathub net.lutris.Lutris
flatpak install flathub com.usebottles.bottles

Browsers, Communication, and Utilities

• Chrome / Edge — Chrome and Chromium run natively; Firefox is installed by default on most distros.
• Slack / Discord / Teams — All three ship native Linux clients. Teams is Electron-based and works fully in browser as well.
• WinRAR / 7-Zip — Use p7zip on the command line or PeaZip / Ark as GUI alternatives. The file-roller archive manager handles zip, tar, 7z, and rar transparently on GNOME.
• Notepad++ — Kate (KDE) or gedit/GNOME Text Editor for simple editing; Mousepad on XFCE. For power users, micro or neovim.
• VLC — Already cross-platform; install and use identically to Windows.

Verifying Your Setup

After installing replacements, confirm nothing critical is missing before decommissioning your Windows install (or partition). A quick checklist:

1. Open a recent .docx file in LibreOffice and check formatting against the original.
2. Send a test email with attachment from Thunderbird through your work account.
3. Run a Steam game with Proton enabled; check ProtonDB for your title's rating first.
4. Play back a mixed audio file in Audacity and confirm PipeWire output is clean.

# Confirm PipeWire is running (systemd user session)
systemctl --user status pipewire pipewire-pulse

Expected output shows both services as active (running). If not, your distro may still use PulseAudio — check your distro's documentation.

Troubleshooting

LibreOffice fonts look wrong compared to Windows documents

Install the Microsoft core fonts package. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer. On Fedora, install the cabextract package and fetch fonts via the msttcore-fonts script from the RPM Fusion repo.

Steam games crash immediately with Proton

Right-click the game in Steam → Properties → Compatibility, and force a specific Proton version (Proton Experimental or a numbered release). Also check that your GPU drivers are current — NVIDIA requires the proprietary driver; AMD and Intel use Mesa which is in standard repos.

# Check Mesa version (AMD/Intel)
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"

# Check NVIDIA driver
nvidia-smi

Thunderbird won't connect to Exchange

Exchange autodiscovery works in Thunderbird 115+ with the built-in Exchange provider. If it fails, check that your server supports EWS (Exchange Web Services) — some corporate setups disable it. The paid Owl for Exchange add-on is more robust for complex setups.