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Terminal workflows are very much not for everyone. Many people are happy to pay a few bucks for a nice and friendly GUI application. It's not such a bad thing t

by OskarS 4y ago

Terminal workflows are very much not for everyone. Many people are happy to pay a few bucks for a nice and friendly GUI application. It's not such a bad thing that people are willing to pay for software, as it is, in fact, the way many of us make our living.

nerdponx 4y ago
I think the really interesting observation here is that nobody tries to make a living selling small CLI programs, and moreover that these GUI programs tend to also be under proprietary licenses without so much as source available for viewing. I find it interesting because I think very few people are willing to go through the trouble to "pirate" a $6 app if it had a free-as-in-freedom license. Building GUI applications from source tends to be a pain in the ass, and the people who weren't willing to pay $6 aren't even potential customers in the first place.
- OskarS 4y ago
  Yeah, I agree, it's a shame that there isn't a better mechanism to pay for CLI software. I think a lot of developers would just refuse non-open source CLI software, but that really shuts down what could be a healthy market. Don't know what the solution would be though ("GitHub sponsors" don't seem to be it...)
- EricE 4y ago
  It's not really that hard to understand - the people most likely to use CLI commands are the least likely to pay for software. Just look at the comments in this story :p
EricE 4y ago
HoudaSpot is far more than a friendly GUI - It's a powerful query tool and while I love the CLI for many things, HoudaSpot is a great example of how a well thought out GUI can beat the pants off of a CLI for this particular use case. Especially if you aren't exactly sure of what you are looking for/the best way to find it. Using HoudaSpot as an interactive spelunking tool for your data (not just the file system!) is pretty amazing.
bastardoperator 4y ago
I tend to agree with you, but I had a situation where my mind was completely changed. I worked for a company in high school believe it or not that did not give mice to the employees, lots of data entry. They said the mouse would slow you down significantly and while I struggled for a couple weeks to learn everything and the hotkeys for the terminal/console apps, it became insanely obvious that operating a computer without reliance on the mouse was far more performant, and easier once I stopped fighting the urge to grab my mouse. I don't think it's for everyone, but I'm grateful for that experience.

by OskarS 4y ago

nerdponx 4y ago

I think the really interesting observation here is that nobody tries to make a living selling small CLI programs, and moreover that these GUI programs tend to also be under proprietary licenses without so much as source available for viewing. I find it interesting because I think very few people are willing to go through the trouble to "pirate" a $6 app if it had a free-as-in-freedom license. Building GUI applications from source tends to be a pain in the ass, and the people who weren't willing to pay $6 aren't even potential customers in the first place.

OskarS 4y ago
Yeah, I agree, it's a shame that there isn't a better mechanism to pay for CLI software. I think a lot of developers would just refuse non-open source CLI software, but that really shuts down what could be a healthy market. Don't know what the solution would be though ("GitHub sponsors" don't seem to be it...)
EricE 4y ago
It's not really that hard to understand - the people most likely to use CLI commands are the least likely to pay for software. Just look at the comments in this story :p

EricE 4y ago

HoudaSpot is far more than a friendly GUI - It's a powerful query tool and while I love the CLI for many things, HoudaSpot is a great example of how a well thought out GUI can beat the pants off of a CLI for this particular use case. Especially if you aren't exactly sure of what you are looking for/the best way to find it. Using HoudaSpot as an interactive spelunking tool for your data (not just the file system!) is pretty amazing.

bastardoperator 4y ago

I tend to agree with you, but I had a situation where my mind was completely changed. I worked for a company in high school believe it or not that did not give mice to the employees, lots of data entry. They said the mouse would slow you down significantly and while I struggled for a couple weeks to learn everything and the hotkeys for the terminal/console apps, it became insanely obvious that operating a computer without reliance on the mouse was far more performant, and easier once I stopped fighting the urge to grab my mouse. I don't think it's for everyone, but I'm grateful for that experience.