this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
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[–] [email protected] 80 points 11 months ago (6 children)

It already is.

Web Servers: Apache, nginx are far more popular then Microsofts Internet Information System.

Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB are all more popular then Oracle Database or IBMs DB2

OS: Linux distros are more popular then MS Windows. Microsoft Azure runs more Linux virtual machines than Windows

[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I mean more in the consumer space, like with word processors, file hosting, and other apps/services

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I use OpenOffice and Libre Office on the regular at work.
Sorry, but Word is way way more advanced than both. Both in ease of use and extended feature set.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

I'm not sure there's much of a consumer market for those products. At least not in the self-operated and self-hosted way you might be thinking. I feel like way too many of us here have major blinders on in the way non-experts or non-hobbyists approach a vast majority of technology and technology adjacent subjects.

Speaking as if I were a layman, why would I download and install a word processor when I can just login to gdocs and have it there?

And in regards to enterprise, you'd be hard pressed to find any tech crew willing to stake their career on open source, user facing tools that don't have a robust support structure in place.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Costa money to do all that though. That's the challenge. Bring able to fund development while still being open

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Do you have a minute to talk about our lord and savior Typst? https://typst.app

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Gamepass. Get me a solution to that and I'm moving right now.

I tried the cloud app and it demanded I use a controller and not kb/mouse

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Office software - OpenOffice

Free File Hosting - OpenSSH server and Filezilla

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

OpenOffice? No way... please use/recommend LibreOffice instead as OO is merely on lifesupport now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Yeah but things like OpenOffice aren't nearly as popular as Word and the like

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Big business still loves “enterprise” software unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Im a business intelligence analysts and would love to have the opportunity to work with Tableu (not sure if its FOSS, or just OS), but everyone is on the PowerBI train, except the company I work with that for some reason goes with QlikSense that sucks.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

It's not FOSS. Never actually found a FOSS BI tool alternative for the company.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Who would pay for a database when you can get a free one?

some do pay for it. And i dont understand why.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Just because something is available for free doesn't mean it's better for all use cases. There are cases where Oracle will perform better than Postgres (and vice versa of course).

And there's a business case for finger pointing


security issue with your open source DB install? It's either your fault (configuration), or the fault of some possibly volunteer engineer (bug). But if you pay enough, the whole thing is Oracle's problem, and you can tell investors with a straight face that it's not your fault. And Oracle are big enough that it's an easy decision to defend should something go wrong (which is something of a self fulfilling prophecy, but that's the way it is).

But yeah, whenever I need a database it's Postgres :)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Business reasons. Some companies like to pay for licensing because that will lower the chance of getting wacked by a patent troll lawsuit. Vin addition they like being and to call someone when something goes wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 11 months ago (3 children)

My university actually hosts NextCloud for faculty and students to use. It's nice to see!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Wow, really! That's amazing! I love hearing things like that!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Let me guess is a university in Europe?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 44 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I want you all to hear about this actually good website: alternativeto.net

Type in the software that you want to replace.

Then toggle filters for your OS and if you want Properitery (paid or freemium) or FOSS.

Whole thing is based on community votings.

You can also vote down and describe with text a feedback, why a listed software doesnt really make a alternative to your software.

Or why it is a good alternative.

Sorry for bad formatting. I am writing this on mobile.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I always suggest FOSS options when they apply!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Me too! I'm in the process of switching my family over to things like Bitwarden

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I wish I could do that, but they just don't seem to really care

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (3 children)

lol same. wanted to switch my mom over to ff and uninstall chrome, but she didn't wanna lose all her open tabs. bitch u don't remember what the fuck is on tab #127, you don't need it. it is what it is ig

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You never know, she might have an index of what is on every tab in a hand-written diary

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Then she can reopen those tabs in FF :)

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The sneaky play is to copy over all her tabs when she's sleeping, then see if she notices. Either that or just slowly start closing her oldest tabs and see if/when she notices, then get her to move over when it's managable

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

oh yeah I close a few every time I use her phone

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Godot might with unity going nuts

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

Seriously considering starting a Godot User Group in my city. Very impressed with v4 (I last looked early in 3.x's development cycle and moved on because vr/ar support didn't really exist at the time) -- everything from webxr to fbx animation support and more has blossomed nicely, this is an awesome open source project and I think we're going to see amazing games coming from it soon.

Shame Unity had to shoot itself in the face for this to happen but honestly the writing was on the wall when Helgason appointed JR as CEO - it's been in a downward spiral since.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I've been super interested in Godot for over a year now, and am really happy it's getting all this attention

[–] newIdentity 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Based Blender

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Sadly it will never. The average consumer does not care to do their own research, and will always fall for options with a marketing budget, even when FOSS options are similar or better quality. Now consider that often times (not always), FOSS is not up to the same quality.

Disclaimer: I always use FOSS when I can, even when lower quality.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

But some foss like blender are actually mainstream though

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I think you underestimate how upset Unity users are at the moment. I've been using Unity since 2009. It's been responsible for a large part of my income for the past decade, especially AR/VR stuff. The crazy shit Unity pulled over the last week (including removing TOS from the internet as if the fucking wayback machine doesn't exist) has poisoned any love I had. Coupled with the actors - John Riccitiello specifically - and the fact that unity has been wandering aimlessly in fractured development that leaves lifetime devs wondering what fucking versions they can ship a project with (before last week's crazyness, dots, render pipelines, all kinds of other issues) - I strongly suspect we're going to see a gigantic change in engines getting used.

As awesome as Unreal is, it's a 500lb club for mobile and other lightweight projects, and a tremendous amount of overhead for VR/AR stuff that needs to run performant to avoid nausea and input lag. There's amazing ar/vr stuff made with unreal, but it's much harder and requires ruthless, fantastic optimization.

Anyway, that's just my pov as a dev. YMMV

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

Glad seeing Blender getting picked up more

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

It's pretty heart warming when you see some organization you didn't suspect already adopts FOSS alternatives of things. I think there's value is explicitly popularizing when this happens: they will get more popular through emulation, as humans are social beings. If one piece of software is considered to be some edgy stuff that nobody uses and works poorly then few people will use it. Otherwise, the "if relevant organization / person I follow XYZ used this solution then I should give it a go" thought pattern takes place. Worked with Krita.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

I like FOSS not being mainstream because it takes a special type of personality to break with standard convention and make the extra effort to learn about FOSS. This weeds out a lot of people that would otherwise turn FOSS into Facebook or Instagram. Remember how Reddit used to be ~12 years ago? Look at it now. While it's not entirely mainstream, the general population has at least heard about it, and it's slowly become the crap it is today.

I'm happy Lemmy isn't mainstream. We do miss out on some benefits of dependent on a large user base, such as specific niches, but at the same time, we have a respectful community that mostly adheres to solid values and ethical standards. People here are building a supportive community.

That wasn't my experience with Reddit for about the last 5 years. It became an idea popularity contest, where the same repeated joke was the top comment and dissenting voices were buried under a sea of downvotes. Discussions were about who was right rather than what idea made better sense for the topic. While Lemmy still has remnants of that stemming from the recent migration, but it is nowhere near to Reddit's level.

Coincidentally, I was already on my way out of Reddit when the API fiasco happened and got lucky enough to hear about Lemmy before I completely left. I'm never going back to Reddit, just like I'm never going back to FB and IG. Hopefully, if Lemmy starts becoming mainstream and the culture changes, the ability for instances to defederate will be helpful at maintaining the community-feel of this place.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

The chemical process industry as well as undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum really needs to show that DWSIM exists as a FOSS alternative. ASPEN is a complete load of shit and is filled with tons of bloated features... It made it hard as hell to learn a software with a billion buttons on it whilst simultaneouslyadjusting to pedantic scientific vocabulary...

I didn't even know vim existed or VScodium due to my undergraduate forcing anaconda on us. The instructors had no clue how to code and neither did the graduate students, so more FOSS options are definitely needed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Ahaha, that's kind of it eh? I love foss but I also love when things work...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Oof haha, you're right though :(

[–] mindbleach 5 points 11 months ago

Being good enough is hard work and slow going.

Being better than paid alternative is just a waiting game. At a moment's notice, they can decide they'll keep the money and give people nothing... and that's when people realize they'd rather have the opposite.

Philosophy doesn't move the needle. But it's hard to compete with free. Especially if you expect people to pay serious money just to be told "no."

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Put in the billions of man hours to make them better then the paid alternatives.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
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