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What non-FOSS software have you been unable to quit? (beehaw.org)

submitted 6 months ago by hedge@beehaw.org to c/foss@beehaw.org

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For me, Google video search, Google books (Internet Archive is good, but doesn't always have the same stuff), Adobe InDesign (but in the process of learning LaTeX), and Typewise. As for the Google stuff, I liked Whoogle a lot, but almost all their instances seem to have been blocked or shut down. Also, apologies if this is repeating an earlier post.

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[–] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 17 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

I don't understand why we spend so much time praising proprietary software in these communities.

As to your question, I have a separate Windows machine for gaming, but that's it. I keep one foot in the free world and one in the proprietary. As for productivity tools I can't think of a proprietary tool I "can't quit" or that I would pick in favor of a free tool.

Fans of proprietary software have this weird belief that free software users choose inferior tools for purist or idealist reasons. This is offensively ignorant. No one chooses bad tools on purpose; we just consider freedom to be part of the criteria of a good tool.

[–] Adanisi@lemmy.zip 8 points 6 months ago

This. Freedom is part of the quality of a program.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 months ago

Most of the times -for me anyway- not only are the tools free (as in freedom) and free (as in beer) but also simply vastly superior to paid alternatives. I never get why people pay and then put up with shit, or use some SaaS platform where they are the product and get spied on and still put up with so much shit that they would be double better off by switching to something open

[–] WldFyre@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago

That sounds like an idealist reason to me lol

[–] AVincentInSpace@pawb.social 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

A tool with fewer features that is harder to use is by definition an inferior tool.

we just consider freedom to be part of the criteria of a good tool.

You just described choosing an inferior tool for ideological reasons.

[–] beyond@linkage.ds8.zone 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

A tool with fewer features that is harder to use is by definition an inferior tool.

That's only your opinion, not an objective truth, and I only partially agree with it. Having the most features is not as important as having just the right set of features, and there are anti-features to consider as well. Feature creep can actually impact the usability of a tool, so these two criteria are sometimes in contradiction.

Ease of use is subjective and depends on the user, because users' needs, ability, tastes, and concerns differ. Of course, I don't think anyone deliberately chooses a tool because it is hard to use.

I don't agree that freeness is purely an ideological concern. I don't think a tool that works against me, or imposes arbitrary restrictions on me is a good tool by any measure. A good tool doesn't enshittify, or spy on its user, or refuse to work for arbitrary reasons. If a tool doesn't work and you are legally not allowed to fix it (as in the printer which inspired the movement in the 1980s), it's not a good tool. If a tool punishes you for something you didn't even do (as BitKeeper did to the Linux developers) it's not a good tool, even if it has the right features.

I don't tell you that your opinion is wrong, only that I don't agree with it. We are told our concerns are invalid and don't matter.