Stefano Marinelli
@stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago

Edit: this is a positive, pro Open Source post, not a "us" against "them". When an Open Source project makes progress, is a progress for all the Open Source world.

FreeBSD 15.0 will allow users to install KDE Desktop directly from the installer. This is great news. I'm reading the comments on various news sites: “It’s too late”, or “What’s the point? No one uses it”. Or even “We already have Linux, we don’t need another OS”.

I may sound repetitive, but I really don’t understand why, in the Open Source world, people aren’t happy to have more alternatives to consider. Whether it's social networks, operating systems, or software in general, many seem to get stuck on the most popular solution and almost ideologically reject alternatives.
Fear of change?
Maybe - which is why progress is welcome, because once they see what other solutions are capable of, I’m sure they'll start to give them a chance.

Just yesterday I was talking about this with a colleague, but I’ll write about it in another post.

Time for my coffee.
/dev/loop0
@loop0@freeradical.zone  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
@stefano you have to consider that most of those comments are just trolls that probably don't even use FOSS. I've been using Linux on desktop for 20+ years, but that's just because it is what I'm more comfortable with, and it just works for me. But I have zero beef with BSDs, and if anything, I want it to be better and improved. There's space for everybody. To me, people who make those kinds of comments just don't get it. It is the consumer mindset that you talked about in the past.
oxy
@oxyhyxo@mastodon.bsd.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

@stefano *sips coffee*

I think maybe they’re treating OS choice as some kind of virtue, and that someone choosing an option other than Linux suggests that they may have chosen wrong (which they’re getting defensive about).

Honestly, who cares? The more the merrier. When Windows was “the only choice” things were miserable and the state of the art was set back a decade or more. Why let Redhat do the same? 😛
vermaden
@vermaden@mastodon.bsd.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
@stefano

Whenever I hear such bullshit I reply them with this:

Its pointless to have Linux anyway when there are better desktop alternatives such as macOS or Windows.

From the other news - I have been using FreeBSD on my personal desktop/laptop since 20 YEARS - and I plan to do it for the rest of my life - because it just has a lot more useful features for me then Linux/macOS/Windows even combined together.

Not to even mention its a lot more simple/sane/sensible ...

I am more then OK with using (if I have to) Slack/Webex/Teams in the browser where they work perfectly fine.
Pete Orrall
@peteorrall@mastodon.bsd.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
@stefano This is great news and certainly an improvement to both open source and FreeBSD.

While *I* would have preferred #xfce over #kde in the installer (because I am an XFCE user) that's not the point. The point being the FreeBSD team, based on user survey results, is *listening.*

To the people who leave comments like "it's too late" or "we already have Linux" then the point has been missed. What's great about #opensource is the plethora of choices. With #FreeBSD 15 offering #KDE, it means the quality of choices just improved.
Pete Orrall
@peteorrall@mastodon.bsd.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
@stefano The BSDs are excellent operating systems and have great communities, FreeBSD in particular (because I have the most familiarity with it). Based on survey results and discussions, people want better a better desktop/laptop experience (myself included). It's great to see the team taking the feedback seriously and actively developing change.

2006 was my first interaction with FreeBSD and I really enjoyed it and it's only gotten better with each release. I've long said that if something were to happen to Debian, then I'd switch to it.
Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐
@gcvsa@mstdn.plus  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago
@stefano I think the problem with BSD is that it just really doesn't have much benefit for the average end-user, compared with Linux. The BSD license is very attractive for companies looking to build proprietary systems and software on top of the BSD base. The GPL is designed to ensure that companies who build on top of free software reveal their source code, to limit the end-user's exposure to lock-in and orphan software. This is not a matter of ideology; it's a matter of practicality.
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange  ·  activity timestamp 5 days ago
@stefano

20 years ago, those exact same people would have been saying ‘why use Linux, Windows works great!’ Or ‘Linux is fine on the server, but just get a Mac or Windows machine if you want a usable desktop’.

The Linux fanboy community now is indistinguishable from the Windows fanboy community back when I first used Linux.