this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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If a piece of software requires you to re-buy itself for a different platform why would you use such an application? I don't get why people choose to torture themselves when there are SO many alternatives to literally anything.
Edit: thanks for the clarification on the re-buying part. Doesn't apply to you then ʘ‿ʘ
Just because there is a "alternative" doesn't mean its nearly equal in functionality.
If treating users like garbage is one of the features I would much rather use less functional software.
Yeah, but a lot of users want something that does exactly what they want without tinkering. Why does everyone in the Linux community project their readiness to tinker forever on the average user.
Switching an operating system doesn't come without tinkering. Even reinstalling an existing installation doesn't. You have to be ready if you are willing to make a switch.
That said, LibreOffice gives you exactly what you would expect from an office suite. And it doesn't only apply to office apps. Pretty much every field is already filled with FOSS solutions that "just work".
Im not talking about the operating system switch. That is the trivial part. Getting software to run on wine can involve a tinkering. Sure you can run a VM, but then you have 2 operating systems you need to take care of. Also there are a lot of add on's for proprietary programs that might not run well even if you got the bas program to run. And then if you go through the VM route you might need hardware Passthrough.
All these things are possible for people that want to put the time into it. But the majority of the population doesn't want to spend time on stuff like this. They would rather pay for the convenience and put up with AD's.
Take my father for example, he is completely incompetent when it comes to technology. His new PC has Windows 11 and he still plays Solitaire. Which is now plastered with AD's, but he doesn't care enough to do something about it.
The average end user just has his priorities somewhere else.
I meant to convey my thought in the context of the person above refusing to switch to Linux because of "re-buying stuff" (they've already clarified they were talking about games). I do agree that people of little technological literacy wouldn't be willing to put in the work to get everything working.
My stance on it is that everything comes down to individual situations. I've installed Ubuntu on my mother's laptop and she's been nothing but happy about it. I just think we shouldn't gatekeep FOSS and encourage others to use it. Whether to actually try it or not is always up to the end-user.
@nolight @CheeseNoodle I believe one use-case for those licensed paid programs are the business who truly need some trustworthy software and dedicated support. The FOSS might be great for personal use, but maybe LibreOffice doesn't fit every company's needs
Also an important aspect for companies is liability. If the app they paid money for screws up customer data they have someone on the hook for that. If the FOSS version does the most they have on the hook is the 40 year old dude living in his parent's basement maintaining the project they used. Not much money to be got there for damages.
I agree, though I think LibreOffice is not a great example as there's very little room for error and something that you would need "dedicated support" for. That's how I see it anyway. Never worked in an office.
However, the majority of companies that require using paid proprietary software also require the use of Windows itself. A safe bet in this situation would be to just set up a VM for work and use Linux for everything else.