@HyperionZ

Have you considered Kdenlive, Shotcut or the Linux version of DaVinci Resolve?

Kdenlive has a lot of features but can be moderately steep learning. But the layout and use reminds me of Premier. It just has a different approach to editing than Vegas. It is updated frequently and available as a flatpack. Documentation is good. You can install it via most software managers. Works with older CPUs (i5 series), 8 GB or more RAM, SSD based systems (better specs will produce better results faster). Free or donate.

Like Kdenlive, DaVinci Resolve is very familiar to Premier users. But, layout is restrictive and codec support is weak in my opinion. Documentation very good and great support from the user forum. Two versions exist: A free version just called DaVinci Resolve and a paid version called DaVinci Resolve Studio. The Studio version opens more advanced features, additional codecs, and phone support (for some Linux distributions).

Finally there is Shotcut for Linux. Not as advanced as Kdenlive live, but probably easier to use. Less documentation. Personally, I didn't like it.

There would also be a middle way: making Vegas work well via WINE, a Linux compatibility layer for running Windows programs. The project has been in development for over 30 years and it is remarkable what they have achieved - many programs and games run very well with it, including pieces of big complex software. Recently I was quite surprised how well WINE works these days to e.g. run Windows VST-plugins on Linux (I have entirely moved my DAW PC to Linux now, thanks to that).

Of course, given the size and complexity of Vegas, it would certainly still be quite a bit of work to ensure that it works well. And I realize that this is currently not something that is feasible, especially not in the current situation. I just wanted to point out that there would be this other way, which would not require rewriting the Vegas code base, it could remain based on Windows APIs.

(Oh, and btw, +1 from me for interest in a Linux version... Vegas is one of the very few reasons why I still need Windows... Resolve is available on Linux, but I just can't get used to its workflow... I tried - but I just need Vegas!)

p.s. thanks @VEGASDerek for the interesting bits of history. I've always wondered why SCS suddendly came out with another video editing software back then when they already had Vegas... I had no idea it had its origins as a potential cross-platform rewrite of Vegas.

@juafromspace

Agree. Compatibility would be great. I just don't think that that will work though. At least not for a complete program without a lot of fiddling around using Wine. There is a another compatibility program for Linux called Bottles. I found the concept interesting but somewhat difficult to use.

Anyway, here's a link to the various Vegas Pro versions and how well they worked in Wine based on users comments. The track record isn't that good. Note that the layout of that list is somewhat deceiving. The gray areas and the light areas can be confusing at first, so just look for the version number on the left to make sure you're looking at the right version.

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=3467

Vegas Pro is not available for Apple Mac despite many requests over the years. There's no reason to expect that that will be any different for Linux compatibility. Vegas Pro is a Windows based program and, unless there is a third party - maybe you perhaps - willing to fund a rebuild of Vegas Pro's code for Linux compatibility, it's unlikely to happen. Should you move to Linux, you'll probably have to find a new NLE if Vegas Pro doesn't work in Linux.

If I knew how to code to that point yes I would gladly bring Vegas to Linux.

At the moment, no plans are in the works to "port" VEGAS over to Linux. As was stated, VEGAS is a Windows based application and heavily reliant on the Windows API.

A port over to a new OS would require an almost complete rewrite of the entire codebase, though I am happy to say we have made some progress in modularizing some parts of VEGAS...so if the time came to actually do this, we might only need to rewrite 80% of it.

A lesson about this...back in 2011 or 2012, we released a Mac version of Sound Forge. The main SF code, at the time, was tightly coupled to the VEGAS code so it was heavily tied to Windows. The only way the Mac version was able to be done was a complete rewrite from the ground up. Even though we were able to release it, the SF Mac was not even close to fully featured, and the effort resulted in stalling development of the successful Windows based version of SF (and ending development of Acid). In the end, SF Mac did not generate enough revenue to cover the extensive engineering cost of the development effort. This began a slow downward spiral at SCS. Once SF Mac was released, even though it wasn't hugely successful, the drive to create a Mac version of Vegas began. It took a while to get started on it, but this eventually became the Catalyst project.

In the end, the effort bankrupted SCS and they sold their mothballed properties, Vegas, SF and Acid (that were still generating a small amount of revenue), to Magix.

I stated this in the past, I would never completely shut the door on the idea of porting VEGAS to another OS like Linux or Mac, but if it were to occur, it would be many years from now and would take at a long time to complete. I would estimate about 3 years of effort for our entire team to complete this...and that would mean a complete stop of development to the Windows version of Vegas in the meantime. And considering the need for revenue right now, halting development on Magix's best selling product would probably be a bad idea.

The best hope for something like this to happen would be a huge injection of investment revenue to the engineering team.

Well not sure how to feel about this, either happy that you guys are trying or sad that that's unfortunate. But thanks for the input about it.

I don't see a major shift to MacOS as not many people are willing to spend $1k+ on laptops and desktops just to run a MacOS so the user-base for that specific OS is not as strong as the Linux community. I see however that Linux based Operating Systems are rising up slowly grabbing a higher share of the market each year for good reasons.

@HyperionZ

Have you considered Kdenlive, Shotcut or the Linux version of DaVinci Resolve?

Kdenlive has a lot of features but can be moderately steep learning. But the layout and use reminds me of Premier. It just has a different approach to editing than Vegas. It is updated frequently and available as a flatpack. Documentation is good. You can install it via most software managers. Works with older CPUs (i5 series), 8 GB or more RAM, SSD based systems (better specs will produce better results faster). Free or donate.

Like Kdenlive, DaVinci Resolve is very familiar to Premier users. But, layout is restrictive and codec support is weak in my opinion. Documentation very good and great support from the user forum. Two versions exist: A free version just called DaVinci Resolve and a paid version called DaVinci Resolve Studio. The Studio version opens more advanced features, additional codecs, and phone support (for some Linux distributions).

Finally there is Shotcut for Linux. Not as advanced as Kdenlive live, but probably easier to use. Less documentation. Personally, I didn't like it.

I've seen DaVinci Resolve, I've used in the past but not much so I know not that much about it, however my concern is when switching to DaVinci Resolve if the same plugins from Boris FX will work the same way as in Vegas.

Kdenlive I've heard about it and seen a bit of it but I haven't really considered it as I don't use Linux currently and I don't know how good I can edit videos in that program.

There would also be a middle way: making Vegas work well via WINE, a Linux compatibility layer for running Windows programs. The project has been in development for over 30 years and it is remarkable what they have achieved - many programs and games run very well with it, including pieces of big complex software. Recently I was quite surprised how well WINE works these days to e.g. run Windows VST-plugins on Linux (I have entirely moved my DAW PC to Linux now, thanks to that).

Of course, given the size and complexity of Vegas, it would certainly still be quite a bit of work to ensure that it works well. And I realize that this is currently not something that is feasible, especially not in the current situation. I just wanted to point out that there would be this other way, which would not require rewriting the Vegas code base, it could remain based on Windows APIs.

(Oh, and btw, +1 from me for interest in a Linux version... Vegas is one of the very few reasons why I still need Windows... Resolve is available on Linux, but I just can't get used to its workflow... I tried - but I just need Vegas!)

I've seen it in work before in a video but it seems an awful tool for Vegas since editing software are extremely complex and any little code gone wrong will lead to crashing and so on.