6 ms·

>> typical clunky open source software What?

by davidkunz 5y ago

imNotTheProb 5y ago
Meanwhile the majority of computers use open source software as their OS....
- FredPret 5y ago
  But not the majority of people
  - gspr 5y ago
    So? Software demand is driven by the tasks software need to solve. Whether those tasks involve human interaction or not is surely irrelevant for the demand for software?
    - zepto 5y ago
      Software demand isn’t driven by the number of copies that can be duplicated across servers. It is driven by distinct use-cases.
      - gspr 5y ago
        Sure! I doubt that most use-cases involve direct human interaction.
  - marvinblum 5y ago
    Depends on what you consider a "user". You're a user of this website too, presumably running on Linux.
    - FredPret 5y ago
      Good point. Everything has free software somewhere in the system. Most content is served using open source software. But almost no-one uses Linux for general computing because open source requires configuration to be usable.
      - marvinblum 5y ago
        I'm on Manjaro Linux and didn't configure anything :D But, I know what you mean.
jiofih 5y ago
You don’t agree? A more substantial comment would be informative. Can you give us one example of a stellar open source UI you use daily?
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  Firefox is roughly as good as any other browser, which is to say it does some things better and some things worse, and many things roughly the same. Blender is one of the 2 or 3 dominant tools in its field. It's a niche field, so it's not for office work, but is nevertheless an incredible tool by any standard. For almost anyone's purposes, LibreOffice is better than any closed source equivalent tool (though some of them do have specific features that are critical for some users). The only issues with it come from being forced to interoperate with data generated by closed source applications. I don't happen to enjoy using LibreOffice very much, but there's denying its "stellar" quality compared to the alternatives. [ EDIT: I really can't fail to mention VCV Rack, a libre+gratis virtual modular synthesizer. It wasn't the first such tool, but it is by far the most successful, and by far the best, at least in terms of user experience. It has also created an ecosystem of module developers (more than 2200 modules already), which is both a reason why and an indication of just how stellar a tool it really is ] Of course, as a software developer, I could name a long list of FLOSS tools that are also stellar, but you and others would likely dismiss them as not of interest to "the general public". In the context of this article, that would probably be fair.
  - bzzzt 5y ago
    You had me at LibreOffice. It struggles to render a blank page on a mac (something to do with retina resolution which is default since 2012). I've tried to use it on all supported operating systems, but everywhere it's a slow starting, glitchy mess. Still the best OSS way to interop with Office documents, but not something I would classify as "stellar".
    - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
      Given that I know dozens of people who use it without such issues on various platforms, and come across similar kinds of show-stopping problems on forums for related software, I personally wouldn't lay this at the feet of LibreOffice. Your mileage may vary.

>> typical clunky open source software What?

imNotTheProb 5y ago

Meanwhile the majority of computers use open source software as their OS....

FredPret 5y ago
But not the majority of people
- gspr 5y ago
  So? Software demand is driven by the tasks software need to solve. Whether those tasks involve human interaction or not is surely irrelevant for the demand for software?
  - zepto 5y ago
    Software demand isn’t driven by the number of copies that can be duplicated across servers. It is driven by distinct use-cases.
    - gspr 5y ago
      Sure! I doubt that most use-cases involve direct human interaction.
- marvinblum 5y ago
  Depends on what you consider a "user". You're a user of this website too, presumably running on Linux.
  - FredPret 5y ago
    Good point. Everything has free software somewhere in the system. Most content is served using open source software. But almost no-one uses Linux for general computing because open source requires configuration to be usable.
    - marvinblum 5y ago
      I'm on Manjaro Linux and didn't configure anything :D But, I know what you mean.

jiofih 5y ago

You don’t agree? A more substantial comment would be informative. Can you give us one example of a stellar open source UI you use daily?

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
Firefox is roughly as good as any other browser, which is to say it does some things better and some things worse, and many things roughly the same. Blender is one of the 2 or 3 dominant tools in its field. It's a niche field, so it's not for office work, but is nevertheless an incredible tool by any standard. For almost anyone's purposes, LibreOffice is better than any closed source equivalent tool (though some of them do have specific features that are critical for some users). The only issues with it come from being forced to interoperate with data generated by closed source applications. I don't happen to enjoy using LibreOffice very much, but there's denying its "stellar" quality compared to the alternatives. [ EDIT: I really can't fail to mention VCV Rack, a libre+gratis virtual modular synthesizer. It wasn't the first such tool, but it is by far the most successful, and by far the best, at least in terms of user experience. It has also created an ecosystem of module developers (more than 2200 modules already), which is both a reason why and an indication of just how stellar a tool it really is ] Of course, as a software developer, I could name a long list of FLOSS tools that are also stellar, but you and others would likely dismiss them as not of interest to "the general public". In the context of this article, that would probably be fair.
- bzzzt 5y ago
  You had me at LibreOffice. It struggles to render a blank page on a mac (something to do with retina resolution which is default since 2012). I've tried to use it on all supported operating systems, but everywhere it's a slow starting, glitchy mess. Still the best OSS way to interop with Office documents, but not something I would classify as "stellar".
  - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
    Given that I know dozens of people who use it without such issues on various platforms, and come across similar kinds of show-stopping problems on forums for related software, I personally wouldn't lay this at the feet of LibreOffice. Your mileage may vary.