11mo ago

Why We Can't Have Nice Software

https://andrewkelley.me/post/why-we-cant-have-nice-software.html

From Andrew R. Kelley, he's the author of the Zig language

@programming

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50 comments

Most OSS software have UX thats sucks (with big execptions of course!) compared to their paid alternative, is it because of capitalism ? :D
Also, dishwasher sucks now, not because of the shitty software on it, but because regulations make them not draw too much power, so now my dish are not dry when the dishwasher is done.
- Ah yes all that famously amazing ux spawned by capitalism
  
  The two thing you sent are not paid software. Giving example of something that make it's UX shit on purpose is almost a good comparison to OSS software.
  Again, there are good counterexample that made UX that are ahead their paid counterpart, but it's an exception, not the rule.
  Author point that we can't have nice software because of capitalism, my point was that software developed without money incentive in mind are not nicer either.
  Their merit is to be free and open, and that's why a lot of people will use it, not because it has a better UI.
  
  So you're saying, that UIs are only good, if the user of the software pays for it directly, because offering a UI for free (like Instagram) disincentivices making it good, despite the fact that said UI requires a good UX to be even economically viable?
  Have you used Microsoft Word, Windows or SAP lately?
  Your entire argument sounds more like you really want to believe Atlas Shrugged was a documentary, and not like an analysis.
  
  Do you twist my word on purpose maybe ?
  I wrote:
  Most OSS software have UX thats sucks
  my point was that software developed without money incentive in mind are not nicer either
  And now you say: "So you’re saying, that UIs are only good, if the user of the software pays for it directly".
  Can you make a reply without twisting my words in the process ?
  Have you used Microsoft Word, Windows or SAP lately?
  Yes for the first two.
  Your entire argument sounds more like you really want to believe Atlas Shrugged was a documentary, and not like an analysis.
  I'm not American, I don't get your references.
  PS: On lemmy, "Show context", is a button, not a link, you can't open it in a new tab, you cannot keep the context of what you are writing.
  Voting a comment while replying delete what you are writing.
- That is true and the reason for that is not capitalism, of course. Most projects don't have UI experts and when someone wants to help, devs usually don't listen. Sometimes there are technical obstacles too (old framework, hardcoded UI), but probably not in web or Electron apps.
  compared to their paid alternative
  Keep in mind that Libre Software can be commercial too, so you really mean proprietary alternatives.
  
  My statement was to dunk on the "that's capitalism fault", to not have nice software. My OSS example is a counter example.
  
  I know, I just wanted to explain the real reason why their UIs often suck. I agree that it has nothing to do with capitalism.
  Lemmy is a perfect example of such project, btw. The devs can't design a good UI themselves and they ignore people's proposals, so users make their own themes and browser addons to fix it.
  We can have nice software, people just need to care.

50 comments