[clug] retail software

[Alex Satrapa]

On 05/11/2008, at 09:04 , David Cottrill wrote:

> What I've been wondering is: how many of you would be willing to  
> install
> such things. As a rule the software is far easier to use than the  
> standard
> open source alternative and with only a few (significant) exceptions  
> it
> works better.

I tend to use commercial applications where the UI is significantly  
easier to use than the free alternative. I use Mac OS X, not Ubuntu,  
for day-to-day. I use an iPod/iPhone with iTunes because the best FOSS  
is way behind and I'm not a media player programmer.

For me, "open source" is not a feature-list item. I won't use a  
particular piece of software simply because it has "open source" on  
the glossy brochure. Most software that I use is so far beyond my  
skills to understand let alone maintain that for all intents and  
purposes it is indistinguishable from commercial proprietary software.  
If something breaks in my Gnome desktop, can I (with no Gnome  
programming experience) realistically try to solve the problem? No,  
the best I can do is try to submit a useful bug report to the Gnome  
problem tracker.

Most applications that I use for my day to day work are far beyond my  
programming ken. I could, given the time, grind my way through to  
understanding what part of the code does the bit I'm interested in  
fixing - but I'd prefer to spend that time earning my salary or  
visiting friends/family.

Alex