Not hating on open source, just let people use what fits their expectations and needs and stop deterring them with gatekeeping :P

UX = user experience

  • pacoboyd@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Came from using Sync for probably close to a decade on Reddit, so I’m definitely a creature of habit switching back for it on Lemmy. That being said, I tried ALL the apps looking for a solid experience and nothing delivers like Sync (opinion). All of them were missing something that completed my experience, was that experience coloured by my time with Sync on Reddit, sure. For all the options Sync gives me I’m willing to pay the dev half the cost of a steak dinner. I’ve already spent 100x longer on Sync for Lemmy than it would take me to eat said steak.

    As for FOSS, let’s just say it’s not the be all / end all. Look at all the options that Sync brought to the table in a month that Lemmy hasn’t added in the whole of its development.

    Personally I feel like most of the folks complaining about Ads in Sync are just complaining to complain. The FOSS crowd is also the most likely to use ad blocking, filtered dns providers, pi-hole, adguard etc and if that’s the case they won’t even see a single Ad.

    • nodsocket@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I am willing to use Sync only because of my ability to block all the ads. Once something better comes around I will use that.

  • fknidk@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    1 year ago

    there’s a lot of hate for sync out there, maybe it’s just because I’ve been using the Reddit version for years but I really love it. i do think some people aren’t aware that it’s only existed for Lemmy for about 3 or 4 days. there’s going to be issues this early on even if the codebase is adapted from a working app. an app this polished already is impressive to me, the pricing isn’t something a fan of but I can almost guarantee it’ll be evened out sooner or later

  • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    This one dude has made this app for years and constantly updates it, fixes things, is responsive, and makes a great app. He’s now been more loyal to his users longer than Reddit has, and I personally have used his app daily for 13 years.

    Yeah, I’ll happily pay for it.

    FOSS is great but it doesn’t pay the rent people, this guy is doing this mostly as his main gig. This isn’t some huge corpo, it’s one guy who makes his living building the app he loves. I’m sure he’d love to make it FOSS if he didn’t have to pay bills on anything.

    • sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      FOSS can pay the rent. But the users that will complain about £20 for a lifetime of ad removal, definitely aren’t going to be the ones that help him should the bank come calling about late mortgage payments.

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        This is the same crap I left /r/Linux for way back in the day, so so so many people who are all “Linux is the best way and you’re stupid for even considering windows or mac” but unable to see realities. Yes, of course I love linux and FOSS, I use it as my primary driver, but we live in a society where free work doesn’t pay for housing.

        You’re exactly right, most of the “FOSS Open Source supreme” people will look at an app that was lovingly crafted for months, call it garbage, and then demand they make it free. I just can’t even with them.

        Meanwhile I’d love to see the stats on how many hours a week they put into FOSS apps on their own, and if they’ve given up their jobs to code for FOSS apps for the good of the community.

        I’m a developer. I code mostly proprietary stuff for my company. I’d gladly go code for FOSS projects, but so far my bank is just completely unwilling to cancel my mortgage payments, and my electricity, water, sewer, internet, they all want to be paid too, so unfortunately I’m stuck doing this.

        • Melkor@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          I think the issue a lot of folks have is people like yourself always connecting it back to profit/salary. A large portion of us are interested in Linux/technology/foss for personal reasons and this corporate stuff not only reeks but makes enough noise to drown out better long term solutions. Yes I do it professionally too and yes I fight the good fight but we do what we need to do, this dude does not need to do this. UX really just isn’t important when we’re talking about expanding human capabilities, or I should say UX is important but pretty things aren’t. My opinion anyway but I was raised to care about this stuff by one of those wizard beards so to see your attitude is prevalent just sucks, no disrespect and nothing personal.

          • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            That’s fine as your opinion, but it’s not a popular one. Many people tried lemmy and left almost immediately because they want a better UI. We come from the old usenet boards so we know what UI was like back then, but now people expect a great UI/UX to use a service. So yes, I understand the principals, but we shouldn’t demonize people who pay money for a better experience, and if you’re a developer I’m sure you know that a good UX costs some money, but a great UX costs a lot of money.

            • NikkiNikkiNikki@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              There’s also a lot of younger techies on the board cause if you even got remotely deep enough you’d have to learn how to use those user board websites to solve your extremely specific problems.

      • Zeeroover@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Lemmy doesn’t have ads. If you have to pay to remove them don’t you think something is wrong with that? Why not pay for the community and useful features instead?

        • AggressivelyPassive@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          The ads finance the app, I think that’s perfectly fine (in principle).

          I asked the dev a few weeks ago, this app is literally his livelihood. And he has a pretty good track record of delivering good software. Why not support him?

          • Zeeroover@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            If you think more ads is the solution that’s good for you. Ads are society’s cancer, so I have little choice other than to block it. (Paying to get rid of ads perpetuates the idea that ads are profitable. That’s up to you.)

            • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              So the three options for him to keep developing that we know of are 1) Ads 2) Pay for a license or 3) Fundraising. He offers 1 and 2, and 3 is well known to not work, seriously nobody donates. Check out npm fund and how so little people used it that they just removed it.

              If your only argument is “I deserve things that took a lot of time and effort for free” then you aren’t getting much sympathy from me.

              • trafficnab@kbin.social
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                If your only argument is “I deserve things that took a lot of time and effort for free” then you aren’t getting much sympathy from me.

                Well, the user is posting from the piracy instance

              • db2@sopuli.xyz
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Check out npm fund

                Instructions unclear, I ran the command and now I have a shitcoin called Bitcoin Cash.

        • Zetaphor@zemmy.cc
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          You’re not paying to remove ads from Lemmy. You can continue using Lemmy ad-free on mobile via the mobile site or any of the other PWA’s or native apps. What you’re paying to remove ads from is Sync. The developer has decided that they need to be compensated to sustain the amount of effort developing and maintaining the app requires. If you don’t want to pay that price with cash or your eyeballs then don’t use it.

          Nobody is forcing you to use Sync, nobody is forcing you to see ads. The beauty of a platform like Lemmy is you have the choice to use whatever client you want. That doesn’t mean you’re entitled to any of them.

        • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          So for one he’s adding an option to fund your instance as well, but also just because it’s an app doesn’t mean that it also doesn’t require money.

          Your argument doesn’t come off as “so both should be free” but to me more like “oh yeah I’m surprised Lemmy doesn’t have an ad option”

          • eco@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Where did you read that he was adding something to fund instances?

          • Zeeroover@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            I’ve been on open source since the early 90s. I know damn well how people make money off of it and who makes money off of it.

            I support none of it if it starts including tracking and ads. It goes against the whole mindset. Google fanboys love it though.

            • Zalack@startrek.website
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              That’s why there is an option to disable ads… Everyone wins unless they think this person’s work should be distributed for free.

            • Stumblinbear@pawb.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Then pay to remove the ads. Someone has to pay at some point and it’s either you or the guy already spending his time to make the app.

    • kamenoko@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Upvoted via Sync lol. FOSS is great, FOSS is irreplaceable, but for independent programmers FOSS doesn’t pay the rent.

    • ViktorShahter@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      You can make it FOSS and still have some sort of subscription for syncing between devices for example. Tasks.org did it like that.

      Not to mention that you can run something on donations like lichess or F-Droid and have some extra money.

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        NPM did donations too and found that <0.01% of users paid anything, and the average for even the most used packages made on average $40 a month. That doesn’t pay a full time fry cook, let alone developer

        • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          I remember this being a problem on GitHub where developers would full on attack NPM packages that requested funding or donations in the installer.

          Core-js had a really rough ride with that one, and babel (one of their main users) could not spare any development time to work on it, in the absence of the single maintainer.

          It’s kind of disappointing in FOSS circles how some just refuse to acknowledge that devs need to eat - not everyone codes open source software as a side/passion project in spare time.

          • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yup, I remember the core-js debacle, one dude literally supporting the entirety of the internet, tried everything he could just to get some funding from literally anyone, that was the 40 dollar mark I got, he got 40 dollars to maintain core-js. I’m sure even Lemmy here uses it.

            He would receive threats on his github on this project he started for fun saying there were bugs, or they needed features, and he said he even received death threats for just asking for funding. Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Google all use core-js but none of them gave him anything for using it anywhere. He even asked them all if he could just come work for them and maintain corejs since they all use it so heavily, none of them responded. So he just gave up, and said basically screw everyone, no one wants to support me, my family has sacrificed too much for this project that no one wants to pay for, and he got a real job and stopped updating core-js.

            It’s a sad story. Everyone here loves to praise FOSS, and if we lived in the Federation we’d be able to support FOSS simply by using it, but if you’re using it and not supporting the developers then you’re not truly a FOSS supporter. I’m really honestly ashamed with how people here have acted in this thread, principals are great but so few are willing to put their money where their mouth is. The donation button for Lemmy devs is right at the top, how many people in this thread have even clicked on it, let alone donated?

  • TimeSquirrel@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    The three stages of a long-term FOSS user:

    1. How the fuck do I do anything? I’m so lost.

    2. I’ve somewhat mastered how to use it and became a power user. I’m happy about this, I’ve developed a sense of superiority over those who don’t use it, and will now promote it constantly to others like a goddamn cult. My SO has left me and my family has disowned me, but I don’t care, they are too ignorant to be as enlightened as I am.

    3. (A decade or two later) I don’t even give a fuck anymore what somebody uses, this still works for me, and what works for you, works for you. Let’s just all coexist. OS and app development models don’t mean shit, common standards and protocols between them do. As long as I, a Linux user, can email a PNG to a Mac user and they can open it, we’re good.

    It’s been like this since the mid-90s. Most of the people who are being annoying about it are in stage 2.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Thank you. Exactly what is happening and why I’m so exhausted. Feels like the stupid Mac vs Windows debates back in the day, with the even more annoying Linux users.

    • Captain Beyond@linkage.ds8.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I prefer my version of stage 3: I still care about software freedom and advocate for it (as well as related issues like interoperability, privacy, and right to repair) but without being an obnoxious fanboy for “Linux” or talking down to people who still use non-free technology for whatever reason.

      Simply caring about an issue doesn’t make one a cultist or zealot, and not caring about anything does not make one enlightened.

    • salient_one@lemmy.villa-straylight.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      So it’s just growing up and becoming a more mature person? Don’t think that applies specifically to FOSS enthusiasts. The same could be said about coffee hobbyists, for example.

    • Sonotsugipaa@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I have the (perhaps irrational) fear that sitting too comfortably in stage 3 leads to the kind of complacency that allows things like Web Environment Integrity to escape the “shower thought” phase.

      On principle I believe that people shouldn’t feel forced to restrict themselves to FOSS - I use Steam and barely ever pirate games (ignore my Lemmy instance I guess); however, I think people should put some effort in understanding the consequences of always choosing the path of least resistance, at the very least.

      • Zalack@startrek.website
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        That’s not an issue with FOSS vs proprietary, but with large corporations needing to be broken up.

        FOSS isn’t immune to that, its a known thing that large corporations can use their dominance of a market segment to infiltrate even totally open standards and make demands with the threat of leaving the standard (and therefore resigning it to becoming irrelevant).

        This is especially true of web standards. Chromium is FOSS, yet Google can use its absolute dominance in the market place to force through changes to things like HTTP standards (also FOSS). My understanding is Microsoft and Google both have strong-armed stuff into C++ in the past as well

    • Fushuan [he/him]@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m at 3 and it’s been quite annoying all these posts about people pushing Sync glory, saying that every other app is basically a buggy garbage (I’m exaggerating). Like, dude, I enjoy the other apps and I am not having bugs, can you enjoy your app without belittling others? Thanks?

      Maybe the reason some people are pissy with Sync is because even with their community blocked it’s bloody everywhere on the all feed. Like guys I get it you like it but pls stop.

  • nodsocket@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’s interesting how it’s just assumed that everyone is browsing on mobile. I remember ten years ago on Reddit people making fun of mobile users and extolling the virtues of the desktop.

    • mikeboltonshair@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’ve pretty much only ever browsed Reddit on mobile (and only ever through an app) and with Lemmy it’s only on mobile, I was thinking anyone using the computer to browse is probably someone who is more likely to be working in an office, I’m not an office worker so I’ve never had quick easy access to a computer

      • Hate@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I have a personal computer, but if I’m going to be sitting at my computer, I’m not usually going to be browsing social media (besides video host/stream platforms)

        and I prefer not to browse social media at work using my accounts.

  • LakesLem@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Let’s be honest though, when everyone is shifting to the fediverse to avoid corporate shit, they’re more likely to gravitate to other things that are free and open and be less interested in something closed and for-profit

  • monotrox@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    Honestly I tried many lemmy apps and most apps are worse than just the mobile website, except for sync which is just slightly better

  • SIGSEGV@waveform.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    I was excited to try Sync after all the hype (read: advertising) on Lemmy, saw that it had ads, and noped the fuck out.

    You do you, but I’m not gonna use that kind of garbage. Ads don’t “keep apps accessible”. Instead, they poison your mind specifically and suck balls in general. The entire advertisement model is flawed, and certain kinds of people only put up with it because they don’t know better.

    • 1984@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yup. I think apps should cost money. No ads. It’s the freemium model that creates all the bad things about our experience.

    • johnhamelink@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Exactly. I have no problem with people trying to make money from software, but FOSS tools should be supported over proprietary ones wherever possible, and it’s nobodies fault that FOSS is often the better technical choice anyway. As someone with ADHD: fuck all ads, I demand a peaceful mind.

  • Promethilaus@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    I use Infinity for Lemmy you wanna use something else good for I’ve used sync myself it’s good, it’s in beta and it has a couple of ads if you want them gone pay or if your that desperate then pirate or use luckypatcher it’s not that hard but honestly your better off just using a different client if you don’t wanna pay there is like a good 7 options now at this point and I hope these posts go away soon let people use what they fancy and stop terrorising them or ridiculing then (note = intended for idiots who think criticizing people for the Lemmy client they use is a constructive use of their time not the OP who appears to be sane 🤣)

  • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    What is the benefit over the other options. All I’ve heard is the animations are smooth and liftoff seems smooth enough to me.

    • sudostartx@lemmy.one
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Personally, the thing that the other apps don’t do right yet, is the layout on big screens. On a foldable or a tablet Sync looks way better than the rest and I have tried them almost all. Connect is the closest one on a regular phone.

    • Rossel@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      It has a ton of features and polish, and the UX is very good. Mainly that, value is subjective, but I’m willing to pay the dev for a good app.

    • limerod@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Multi windows, ability to cache comments are the biggest ones at least for me. Imagine desktop class multi tasking and not having your comments/posts reload because you were low on ram,etc. Smoothness is subject and I find other clients like Jerboa more smoother overall.

      • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Multi window sounds neat, haven’t had issues with ram yet. I always get a flagship device and use it till I don’t get security patches anymore or until my device slows down too much.