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  • I am disliking this sentiment. I am on the Fediverse because Sync's developer and many others were betrayed by Reddit and I wanted to show solidarity and to 'punish' Reddit by leaving. The Fediverse's values are admirable, but I do not share them all. I believe in supporting good projects, even some that are private if they don't pose a risk of destroying something bigger, and Sync is a good project that can be easily abandoned without consequences if something goes wrong.

  • I like all the FOSS and community development of different Lemmy clients that's going on, it's really awesome and great to see.

    But if Apollo was released for Lemmy, I'd subscribe to Ultra (or buy lifetime) in a heartbeat and only look at alternatives out of interest, not because I'd want to use them as my main Lemmy client. Apollo was just that good.

    Views like this one feel pretty toxic and elitist to me. Let people use Sync if they like it. Let people use their Android phone unrooted if they are fine with it. Heck, let people use Windows if they like it.

  • Let's face it. How many of us have actually contributed enough to any FOSS projects to demand for free and premium services. I personally would rather donate to a FOSS app instead of paying Sync, but it's unfair to judge Sync for having ads and trackers when the option of removing them is there. There's nothing wrong with any dev wanting to make a decent living or even more than that, as long as they don't go overboard and are honest about it.

  • I don't understand the issue here?

    You want open source and free software. You get that with a developer trying to make a living to improve upon a product like Jerboa. Jerboa works but by comparison to Sync it is rough. By rough I mean the UI is not the best, it needs way more time and polish not only looks nice but has extra features and functions to make it stand out.

    With something like Jerboa you would donate money by choice but if your argument is free and open source you need to donate more money to support that.

    Sync is popular because its closed source makes it harder to break the security aspect if you don't have all the access to source code. It is popular because it was a great app for Reddit and had that advantage. You know what people did to help the developer make a living and put more time into it? They supported it willingly by paying for extra features to help the dev and get more out of the money they were willing to spend.

    I understand free and open source APIs being available and wanting more free and open source software to stay that way to make all things free and open. So support the apps you appreciate being free by willingly providing money which in return makes them not free.

    If you want things to get better somewhat you invest in them. If they go belly up well then it was a bad investment. Sync is a fantastic app and it has the edge because it has a good developer and has had a good community who pays for it and supports it because things you love you will support. If you are a good developer you give more for that money provided.

    The PS Mini literally used an emulator to play games. A free open source emulator that you could find. People still paid for a console that charged to use that open source software. Why? Because they loved gaming at home and the product.

    I will pay for Sync because it makes a product better. A product that makes a newcomer leave Reddit and find Lemmy. An app that provides familiar and easy to use features. An app that has the edge that can make Lemmy a smoother experience. Just because something charges money, which by the way is an optional choice, and just because something is close sourced which by the way tends to be more secure doesn't make the product bad. It can bring more into the community.

    If your issue with Lemmy isn't that it's FOSS but your issue with other platforms is that they run poorly or they need more polish well then you are arguing against yourself.

  • I will support any indie developer if the product is worth it and the price is right. I’m currently paying Ivory for Mastodon (iOS) and the experience is top notch. The fact that paid apps for the fediverse are popping up is actually a great sign of interest and critical mass of active users.

    On a side note, what are you guys using on iOS? There’s a LOT of options currently, but the four that I’ve been enjoying the most are Memmy, Bean, Lemmios and Avelon. I’m sure in a couple of months we’ll see amazing progress and clearer differentiation from each other.

  • This one is more controversial than intended. Since it's my "fault," I want to clear things up:

    I fully support the "use whatever you want" faction. This meme wasn't intended to be a trigger against Sync. I just want to reflect the difference between Sync and all other apps. (I missed Connect, but my abilities to create a second Teletubby aren't the best.)

    The controversy between FOSS and closed source reminds me of discussions on Reddit. It looks like we are separated into two (or more) groups: the privacy-focused FOSS nerds and the "shut up about the license, code, or ads and take my money because your product is the best working of all" group. Both groups have understandable reasons, and both can have their place in the fediverse. But don't forget, it's the FOSS group who started all this and early adopted (if you don't believe me, check the age of my profile). And this group is a little bit confused why everyone can't wait for a closed source app.

    There's nobody who starts an unexpected feature or starts selling your data. Lemmy is FOSS and decentralized. A closed-source app can add whatever they want. If the ad-free pro version costs 20 bucks, then all non-pro users sell with their data, and I bet it's 20 bucks worth. Because free closed source is always free, because you are the product.

    PS. I don't want to paint worse scenarios, but remember, WhatsApp was just a closed-source wrapper of XMPP, and Chrome is based on Chromium. FOSS will always attract people who try to monetize it. Some would say: "I don't care." But what if the monetizers start to claim control over the development, because there are "needed features" to get more money out of it?

883 comments