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> Has anyone tried any of these FSF sanctioned tools? GNU seems to assume that average users are willing to tinker and struggle until they get something to wor

> Has anyone tried any of these FSF sanctioned tools? GNU seems to assume that average users are willing to tinker and struggle until they get something to work. Average users won't do this. If users are demanding things like animations and transitions, GNU software which can't even get onboarding right will always struggle. Personal experience: Bad: Mumble is a nightmare to admin. It has confusing popups and so forth when joining a server. UX is archaic. Bad: OBS is the wrong tool for the job (however amazing it is when used for the right job). UX is archaic. Bad: I've always been pretty bullish on XMPP. It's a really great solution that's still looking for a problem to solve. That being said, I have yet to find a client that has the polish of modern chat apps. Bad: IRC. I still fail to log into freenet some 40% of the time, and I'm an technical user. NICKSERV is a complete DISERVice to the platform. Having to switch to alternate nicks if you disconnect is bizarre. Middleground: Riot (not mentioned) needs UX work, but comes close. Middleground: Installed Jami. The onboarding is uncharacteristically competent. Haven't used it for a call. Good: Mattermost (not mentioned) has a daft name (which users care about!), but competes with Slack pretty nicely. Good: Discourse is pretty damned incredible. Good: Etherpad, but has limited use for average users.

smichel17 7y ago
Counterpoint: Mumble is by far the most reliable audio conferencing application I've used. Yes, the UX is quite old-fashioned and sometimes confusing. But once you've got everyone set up with it, audio transmission works flawlessly, and at the end of the day that's more than I can say about many of the alternatives.
- zamalek 7y ago
  Oh totally. I used it for years for gaming and there has never been something as reliable. Once set up, the security was also really great. The average me will just struggle to get the average family to use it.

smichel17 7y ago

Counterpoint: Mumble is by far the most reliable audio conferencing application I've used. Yes, the UX is quite old-fashioned and sometimes confusing. But once you've got everyone set up with it, audio transmission works flawlessly, and at the end of the day that's more than I can say about many of the alternatives.

zamalek 7y ago
Oh totally. I used it for years for gaming and there has never been something as reliable. Once set up, the security was also really great. The average me will just struggle to get the average family to use it.