Linux and gcc are somewhat atypical, IMO. They are also both developer-oriented tools rather than layman-oriented tools (though Linux is rapidly moving to be mo

Linux and gcc are somewhat atypical, IMO. They are also both developer-oriented tools rather than layman-oriented tools (though Linux is rapidly moving to be more layman-friendly, granted!). I would argue that among tools written for the layman, the commercial versions seem to be better than their OSS counterparts. This isn't universally true, but people without expertise are often willing to pay some money to not have to develop expertise. When it comes to visualization libraries, there are plenty of high-quality visualization tools that are highly accessible to the experienced developer, but not to the layman. Developers don't have much incentive to make them easier for the layman to use outside of financial motivation.