This isn't an alternative since most programs won't send the color by default to a pipe (however, it is much better to use less -R than the article's -r so you

This isn't an alternative since most programs won't send the color by default to a pipe (however, it is much better to use less -R than the article's -r so you don't get other escape codes causing trouble). The alternative to unbuffer is that most commands that use color (in my experience) recognize --color=always (or --color=never or the usual default --color=auto for no color to pipes).