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
I mean more in the consumer space, like with word processors, file hosting, and other apps/services
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.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.
Costa money to do all that though. That's the challenge. Bring able to fund development while still being open
You've got Firefox and Brave. Edge + Chrome are based on the free software Blink engine, while Webkit is one of the only free software projects Apple develops and maintains. Who doesn't use VLC? Bitwarden is a popular password manager. About 50% of the world uses Android, which is nominally free software with some proprietary components. Blender is the world's most successful free software project. A surprising amount of mainstream artists use Krita. People who download torrents are probably using a free software BitTorrent client like qbittorrent, Deluge, or Transmission, rather than uTorrent. A lot of people use the uBlock Origin extension, which is a free software content blocker.
And hey, everyone who has played DOOM was playing a game released under the GPLv2 in 1999, minus the game data.
File hosting isn't really an issue of free software, because very few people will host their own cloud storage server. It's more about relying on servers to provide a service rather than software, which is a good and bad thing.
This is kind of a neutral point, but a lot of software has become services accessed through a web client (browser). This means anyone on any operating system can access the service so long as they have a browser, which evens the playing field for us SerenityOS and Haiku users :^).
Do you have a minute to talk about our lord and savior Typst? https://typst.app
Big business still loves “enterprise” software unfortunately.
Who would pay for a database when you can get a free one?
some do pay for it. And i dont understand why.
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 :)
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.
Even a database with no licensing fees costs money in terms of wages/salaried employee time to use, so while that cost advantage is real, there are costs on both sides. If MS has products you want to use that are much easier (read: cheaper) to use with their paid database than some free alternative, that's certainly a good reason to consider it.
The longer you use it, the less likely it is to pay off, but execs focused on short term profits don't weigh that very highly.
Who would pay for a database when you can get
a free onePostgres?
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.
Nah, this is great! I had seen a little bit of it before but hadn't ever investigated, I will do so now!
Godot might with unity going nuts
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.
I've been super interested in Godot for over a year now, and am really happy it's getting all this attention
Blender moment
Based Blender
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.
But some foss like blender are actually mainstream though
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
Glad seeing Blender getting picked up more
FOSS:
Ahaha, that's kind of it eh? I love foss but I also love when things work...
Oof haha, you're right though :(
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.
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.
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.
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."
Do it already
Do what?
Mainstream
