Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent), Amazon and Facebook dominate the tech landscape. Their dominance is so broad they account for more than 20% of the S&P 500.
There are many things to admire about Apple’s hardware and software. Apple make great looking (albeit expensive) hardware. Over the years key successes include the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and the MacBook Air. The company designs its own hardware and software. This gives them the power to make an operating system and suite of apps that are tailor-made and optimized for their hardware. Apple also operates the Apple Music and Apple TV media distribution platforms.
macOS is Apple’s proprietary operating system for its line of Macintosh computers. Its interface, known as Aqua, is highly polished and built on top of a BSD derivative (Darwin). There’s a whole raft of proprietary applications that are developed by Apple for their operating software. This software is not available for Linux and there’s no prospect of that position changing.
In 2020, Apple began the Apple silicon transition, using self-designed, 64-bit ARM-based Apple M1 processors on new Mac computers. Maybe it’s the perfect time to move away from the proprietary world of Apple, and embrace the open source Linux scene.
Motion is used to create and edit motion graphics, titling for video production and film production, and 2D and 3D compositing for visual effects. The software lets users create and play back visual effects and motion graphics.
Motion is commercial proprietary software and not available for Linux. What are the best free and open source alternatives?
1. Natron
Natron is a superb compositor for visual effects and motion graphics industry. Natron has flexible Roto and Rotopaint tool-set that can generate unlimited layers of masks, mattes and shapes. Natron also offers a powerful 2D and Planar tracker for tracking jobs. There’s also keying tools, curve & dope-sheel editor, as well GPU and network rendering.
Natron supports plugins following the OpenFX 1.4 API. Most open-source and commercial OpenFX plug-ins are supported. There’s a whole raft of tools from the open source plugin developing community.
2. Blender
Blender is 3D computer graphics software toolset.
The software can be used to create 3D visualizations, stills as well as broadcast and cinema quality video, whilst the incorporation of a real-time 3D engine allows for the creation of 3D interactive content for stand-alone playback. Blender has a huge variety of uses including modelling, animating, rendering, texturing, skinning, rigging, weighting, non-linear editing, scripting, compositing, post-production and much more.
3. Synfig Studio
Synfig Studio is a vector-based 2D animation software. It can produce feature-film quality animation. Its vector tweening lets you transform any vector shape into another.
All articles in this series:
| Alternatives to Apple's Products | |
|---|---|
 | Bonjour is an implementation of zero-configuration networking; technologies that includes service discovery, address assignment, and hostname resolution. |
 | Boot Camp is a utility that comes with a Mac which lets users switch between macOS and Windows. The utility also guides users through non-destructive disk partitioning. |
 | Compressor is a video and audio media compression and encoding application with support for common formats. |
 | FaceTime is a videotelephony product for making video and audio calls. FaceTime forces many to stay locked into a proprietary world. |
 | FileMaker is a relational database application with a graphical user interface and good security features. |
 | Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear video editing software programs. Log and transfer video, edit, process the video, and output to a wide variety of formats. |
 | GarageBand is a line of digital audio workstations for creating music and podcasts offering a complete sound library. |
 | KeyNote is a simple and elegant presentation software that's part of the iWork productivity suite. |
 | Logic Pro is a Digital Audio Workstation and MIDI sequencer providing software instruments, audio effects and recording facilities for music synthesis. |
 | Mail is a simple email client offering the ability to send, receive, and view email with good organizing capabilities. |
 | MainStage is a music application designed for use in live performance. This software lets you run a live rig. Transform your keyboard, guitar, or vocal performance with an enormous collection of plug-ins and sounds. |
 | Messages is instant messaging software for sending messages, images, videos, and documents. There's location data and stickers. |
 | Motion creates and edits motion graphics, titling for video production and film production, and 2D and 3D compositing for visual effects. |
| Numbers is a spreadsheet application which uses a free-form “canvas” approach that demotes tables to one of many different media types placed on a page. |
 | Pages is a word processor that's part of the iWork productivity suite. It's marketed as an easy-to-use application that allows users to quickly create documents. |
 | Photos is a photo management and editing application. Organize your collection into albums, or keep your photos organized automatically with smart albums. |
 | Safari is a graphical web browser which uses the WebKit and Nitro engines. It's the default web browser for Macintosh computers. |
 | Shazam identifies music, movies, advertising, and television shows. There’s nothing more annoying than hearing a new song not knowing the identity of the artist. |