Comment by wolvesechoes
6 months ago
Why do we have to have million Linux distros? Why do we have to have dozen desktop environments?
Because in FOSS world every single actor is a snowflake with unique vision. Any form of cooperation ends up in drama and moral accusations.
The FOSS world is primarily about freedom. You don’t have to align with someone else’s vision, you don’t need to be profitable, you don’t need to care about other projects
A.k.a. not getting paid, so you might as well do what you want.
How's the computing freedom for general audience? Better than ever, right?
Why do we need so many car models and manufacturers?
We don't.
But as soon as FOSS orgs will obtain resources comparable to those of car companies I will stop complaining.
I don't mind the many multiple distributions but the default experience really sucks.
For example, there should only ever be one clipboard by default. If power users want multiple, they can go out of their way to configure their device config as such. Similarly, the function keys should function as function keys on a keyboard out of the box, without us having to fiddle with config files. Also the scroll wheel click to scroll should work out of the box without requiring editing config files. The default experience is still pretty poor.
So what exactly is the problem? To many options?
The options thinking they're an island retreat only for those who agree with their way while standing on the same continent.
What's missing is building something that resonates with the user/consumer's experience backwards, not just personal preferences or interpretations, which is fine, but at that point it's a personal project, not a product, or much larger unless it really captivates both people who can contribute to creating it and also it is adopted quite easily.
Creating beginners can seem like something too many OSS projects can be allergic to. It's the greatest sin of too many projects, and they ultimately can't be freed of it.
Either software is free or it isn't. You can't have single-vision-central control and freedom. Android is an example of an effort that took something free and made a usable mobile operating system ontop of it - but lead straight back to the problem that it isn't fully free.
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