The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
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The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
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Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#2To be fair, people have been saying that for years, and slowly but surely, open source has been marching on. 10 years ago, no way, no how would Linux be even considered for desktop use. Now? A few people on this site have parents using it. Not there yet? Could be. It will be, though.
One of the signs of a 'not good enough' disruptive innovation is that the rate of improvement of the new thing is greater than existing tech. Windows and Mac were both fairly usable 10 years ago, Linux not so much (for 'ordinary folks' - I was happily using Linux as my primary environment at work in 1997). Linux has improved by leaps and bounds, and will continue to do so. Will it ever surpass MacOS? Maybe not, but will it hit a 'good enough' level? Certainly. It already has for many things. At the last company I worked at in Italy, full time, we had everyone on Linux, including the administrative assistants and call center people.
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#3To be fair, people have been saying that for years, and slowly but surely, open source has been marching on. 10 years ago, no way, no how would Linux be even considered for desktop use. Now? A few people on this site have parents using it. Not there yet? Could be. It will be, though. One of the signs of a 'not good enough' disruptive innovation is that the rate of improvement of the new thing is greater than existing…
I think one reason Linux user interfaces have been catching up with Windows (if not Mac) is that for the past ten years or so, desktop-app usability has remained stagnant (or, in the case of MS Office, regressed).
Twenty years ago, Apple and Microsoft had to convince non-geek consumers that personal computers were worth buying, and so they had an incentive to make their products as usable as possible (given the constraints of cost and technology). Now that consumers see personal computers as things that they have to use whether they like it or not, there's not as much incentive to use the UI. Instead, people shell out their own money (or, if they're lucky, their employers' money) to take "how to use Microsoft Office" classes.
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#4Strangely enough, I'm using Linux precisely because proprietary software is painful to use. For example, searching for software with google to download it, trying to determine if the source is reliable, and clicking through a manual installer is way too tedious - it should be at my fingertips.
Also, at least when compared to Windows (where everyone and his brother seems to feel the need for a custom and flashy toolkit, even within Microsoft), Linux apps have mostly standardized on look and feel. Very few people seem to feel the need to reinvent the GUI toolkit and make something that looks completely out of place on Linux (except for the proprietary vendors, like Google, who seem to be ignoring the established human interface guidelines and completely inventing their own look for Chrome)
Finally, as a developer, being able to delve into the source of libraries when debugging is invaluable.
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#5To get great usability - you need paying users clamoring for it. To implement it, you need central control around a unifying cognitive model.
Open source is bad at usability because FOSS projects are controlled by committees that can't even assign tasks, let alone create and enforce coherent cognitive models and elegant interfaces that express them.
You could have good FOSS usability - if you had a central company driving the development. As in Firefox. It just hasn't happened many times so far, because people are willing to pay for good closed-source interfaces in most problem domains.
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#6Firstly, open source does (or can easily) have one big usability advantage: installing things, assuming it's on a repository, is much easier. Or, at least, it's very close to there; I haven't asked a lay user how useful they find the "Add Application" menu in Gnome. But assuming it's not already done right, once it is, that's a huge advantage.
Secondly, so we've admitted that non-company-backed open source projects can have good code, making for a good backend. So the economic model does work. What we need now is for more non-developers (UI designers, artists, etc) to join this movement. I think that it's slowly happening. Tech savvy ones would be more likely to join, and as it becomes more and more inviting I think the less savvy will join as well. I can't think of any specific reason this economic model applies to developers more than others, so I think that over time, UI will become good for the same reason the code is good.
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#7Isn't the main problem for OSS adoption advertising? If you are a graphic artist and don't give a rat's behonkus about computers do you really dig until you find the GIMP(and the continual slog for documentation and understanding) or do you read graphic artist monthly with big color Photo Shop ads, Photo Shop books on B&N's book shelves, and training courses. The choice is just about made for you, in their world Photo Shop exists the GIMP doesn't.
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#8Firstly, open source does (or can easily) have one big usability advantage: installing things, assuming it's on a repository, is much easier. Or, at least, it's very close to there; I haven't asked a lay user how useful they find the "Add Application" menu in Gnome. But assuming it's not already done right, once it is, that's a huge advantage. Secondly, so we've admitted that non-company-backed open source projects c…
What economic model are you referring to?
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#9Strangely enough, I'm using Linux precisely because proprietary software is painful to use. For example, searching for software with google to download it, trying to determine if the source is reliable, and clicking through a manual installer is way too tedious - it should be at my fingertips. Also, at least when compared to Windows (where everyone and his brother seems to feel the need for a custom and flashy toolki…
It is this result of "good lazy" app developers that has helped move FOSS in the right direction, IMO. Aptitude and GTK are the best things to happen to Linux since Linus.
Re: The One in Which I Say Open Source Software Sucks
#10As mentioned, OSS projects often lack the "unifying cognitive model". I've also found that with iphone apps, users expect a high level of polish on an app. (A little drop-shadow here, a little shine there, move that button 1-pixel to the right, etc.) It's tedious and fiddly work, and I only bother because I don't want to lose a sale. People often say about 80% of the app is interface - with the iphone, i'd say it's closer to 95%.
If OSS projects were able to motivate developers to work on the boring stuff like graphics and layout, the apps would look a lot better and adoption on the desktop would certainly shoot up.