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While I love the FLOSS ecosystem I don't see how it's anything but a rounding error for consumer electronics. Unless there was a massive societal shift I don't

by kfprt 5y ago

While I love the FLOSS ecosystem I don't see how it's anything but a rounding error for consumer electronics. Unless there was a massive societal shift I don't see any future that includes a plurality of users owning FLOSS PC's or phones. The best place to start would be to get software freedoms included in the school curriculum.

zozbot234 5y ago
We don't need a plurality share of the market, we just need it to be useful for power users, like FLOSS operating systems on PC are today. That will make for a great starting point already - disruptive innovation will do the rest.
- kfprt 5y ago
  This has got to be absolute peak HN bubble. OS's success is almost entirely defined by network effects. This is why the UNIX wars ended with everyone using Linux. It was available (for free) and lots of people used it. It wasn't better in any way, that came later. 'Disruptive innovation' in software is a myth. 'Power users' on HN are 95% software developers who have a very good experience with FLOSS because everything from the OS to the apps is written by them for them. This is absolutely not the case for anyone else. The number one reason people don't use FLOSS is because they can't get Adobe and MS Office. Without users FLOSS will never get these. Until FLOSS products are the plurality available on store shelves it will never reach the mass market. No one who isn't a software developer is switching to FLOSS and without a massive restructuring of society that will remain the case. I just wish we could be more realistic and work on finding strategies that would actually move the needle. Chiefly by lobbying governments.
  - zozbot234 5y ago
    > This is why the UNIX wars ended with everyone using Linux. It was available (for free) and lots of people used it. Right, which is more than you can say today about Android given the reality of current mobile hardware lifecycles. Make Linux-for-mobile available today, and people will gladly use it to extend the usability of their otherwise "obsolete" devices. The overall setting is in fact remarkably similar.
    - kfprt 5y ago
      I would very much enjoy seeing you trying to teach my grandma who has a deep fear of technology to install Linux on her obsolete iPhone.

by kfprt 5y ago

zozbot234 5y ago

We don't need a plurality share of the market, we just need it to be useful for power users, like FLOSS operating systems on PC are today. That will make for a great starting point already - disruptive innovation will do the rest.

kfprt 5y ago
This has got to be absolute peak HN bubble. OS's success is almost entirely defined by network effects. This is why the UNIX wars ended with everyone using Linux. It was available (for free) and lots of people used it. It wasn't better in any way, that came later. 'Disruptive innovation' in software is a myth. 'Power users' on HN are 95% software developers who have a very good experience with FLOSS because everything from the OS to the apps is written by them for them. This is absolutely not the case for anyone else. The number one reason people don't use FLOSS is because they can't get Adobe and MS Office. Without users FLOSS will never get these. Until FLOSS products are the plurality available on store shelves it will never reach the mass market. No one who isn't a software developer is switching to FLOSS and without a massive restructuring of society that will remain the case. I just wish we could be more realistic and work on finding strategies that would actually move the needle. Chiefly by lobbying governments.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  > This is why the UNIX wars ended with everyone using Linux. It was available (for free) and lots of people used it. Right, which is more than you can say today about Android given the reality of current mobile hardware lifecycles. Make Linux-for-mobile available today, and people will gladly use it to extend the usability of their otherwise "obsolete" devices. The overall setting is in fact remarkably similar.
  - kfprt 5y ago
    I would very much enjoy seeing you trying to teach my grandma who has a deep fear of technology to install Linux on her obsolete iPhone.