There are an abundance of creative tools with free software licenses.
A poor artist blames his tools.
Don't fall for the user-lock-in of the likes of Adobe.
I'm an artist since birth. Using the computer, foremost, for art, and in 2003 when I decided to switch from M$windows, I had already seen, in college a couple years prior, from using sgi machines with IRIX, that there are alternatives out there for creative use, so that maybe eased my way out of the mind-capture of the user-lock-in, already having that ignorance smashed by experience. When I sought an alternative from the abuses of M$ windoze, I at first was thinking I would be taking my familiar Adobe tools and softimage|XSI with me. But in the search, I found the free software philosophy, and the notion of even falling back on using wine to continue to run the software (and software (licensing) paradigm) that had been abusing me withered away too.
Awareness of how easy and nice it is, seems a greater hurdle than how easy and nice it is. From my experience, [in 2003, with my first install of suse as a fresh windows refugee] it was already easy enough before ubuntu came along advertising that it made it easier and nicer (~ I noticed no significant change from ubuntu to how easy and nice it was, they just had stronger marketing).
People just don't know [how easy and nice it is].
Same as they don't know the distinction of free software being an entirely different philosophical paradigm to live, not just another platform to be abused by.
Gotta keep telling them about the 4 freedoms of free software, showing how it's not just another platform for consumers to hope their daddy corporation is the kindest to them.
Even from a development side, not just user configuration side. They mend something and break something else. Many perfect features, but never at the same time.
After 2y on Linux I can say with full confidence that switching from GNOME to KDE (for me) is a bigger barrier than switching from Windows to Linux ever was.
Huh?
How's that a bigger barrier?
You install it, you select it from your login("display") manager on next login, et viola, you're using it... and you still have access to all your prior installed programs too. No backup required, no complete operating system install, no great leap of learning an entirely different operating system paradigm, no reading new software licenses... it's just install it, and log in to it.
How important is a DE to you?
None at all.
Xmonad's been my fave since around 2007-2008ish.
Tried dozens of other window managers. [Special honourable mention to herbstluftwm.]
Tried over half the desktop environments too.
Much more nice without unnecessary clutter and resource wastage and faff of a desktop environment, and just a window manager.
And, as for trying new DE/WM, and needing to log out and back in to try them... even that hurdle can be eliminated. ;) There be ways to switch them without losing everything you're currently running. https://codeberg.org/Digit/wminizer
Before I tried gentoo (or rather sabayon, for 3 years before gentoo proper), from all the "you have to compile everything", I imagined that as a lot of running "make". I didn't realise it's even easier1 than other package managers.
1emerge is shorter to type than e.g. apt-get install
what shell is that, that uses "
," between commands?