...because you work primarily with Windows-only software?
i'd love to jump on the free bandwagon ( free as in zero-paid , i don't care about 'open', 'source code' , ' share' etc. i got work to be done , use screwdrivers, not make em you know. no interest in learning how to make screwdrivers either ). free is good.
but, i have not found 'worthy' alternatives for the stuff i frequently use to make the full switch to linux.
i have tried. i still do once in a while. i play with things like inkscape (its not quite the same as illustrator yet ... 50% at most). i love notepad++
There is good 'free' software , but the one that is out there tends to exist both for win and linux. In short the linux world has NOTHING ( for me) that requires me to have a permanent install. if it were a 50/50 (like 50% of the stuff i use exists on linux unaltered ( not a copycat , but the real deal )) i might switch. right now it's 0/100 %
openoffice is 'not quite' microsoft office. like it or not. if i send a native openoffice document somewhere it will come back. 'can't open that.'
inkscape is not quite illustrator
gimp is not quite photoshop. ( there is thousands of 3d party plugins for photoshop )
aperture is not quite lightroom ( in fact i'm pissed at apple they pulled the plug on aperture . i paid for that ! , fortunately i discovered lightroom )
altium ? no contest
Various toolchains like Keil / IAR ? (i'm playing with a few processors form infineon and TI right now and the delivered toolchains / programming software is win only...
Quartus/Modelsim. ? from the official quartus install: RHEL5 or RHEL6 anything else ? sorry we don't guarantee it'll work or even install. you can fidget with it but if goes wonky don't come crying ...
well bugger that !
like i said : i have not encountered anything i need (professionally) that exists on linux only ( apart form when i messed around with silicon. those are *nix tools only because of the legacy coming from Sun. but even there the user environments run on a windows box. due to the other software people need like outlook , word, excel, powerpoint , and other stuff.
again : my world , not someone else's. but when i look around in my world i don't know of anyone that uses a dualboot system. if they do have a need for both linux and win it is either a dedicated machine or they run it in a vm. rebooting to swap programs is just too annoying.