Notices by Dave Lane :flag_tino: 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz), page 4

@randulo I've never used an Adobe product (on principle) however, I did run a software dev shop for 14 years that used Gimp & Inkscape for graphic design (raster & vector) exclusively. Never lost a job because of that (& had some very enthusiastic designers who avoided the Adobe tax).

@randulo also, graphics is exactly the sort of specialised situation I was describing - few people 'get' graphics & what's actually going on. Few have a valid mental model, or even understand what most of the stuff in a graphics package is doing. Adobe spends a small amount of its massive extracted profits to educate people on *their proprietary way* so that the model taught is intrinsically tied to the Adobe product, not the underlying concept. It locks people into proprietary very effectively.

@randulo that certainly amplifies the complexity immensely.

@randulo easy to use or familiar? People usually get trained on Adobe products, so they turn their noses up that things that behave differently because they're unfamiliar. They not worse, just different. I think the Gimp's a great example of that.

... but they might not be very sophisticated in terms of UX or accessibility... because that's not part of the skill set of the people who put it together. That's just the way it is. I can't think of any #libre sw communities who wouldn't *love* some good designers/accessibility/UX people to join them.

Another issue is that libre sw makes it possible for non-specialists to get access to very specialised apps from esoteric domains they'd never use if not libre... 2/n

... In many cases, these domains require very specialised, *accurate* mental models of their users, because the domain is just complex. They can be only a simple as possible... but no simpler. Many #BigTech apps make things 'too simple', glossing over technical complexities & user conceptual competence, which is why we have computer viruses & malware among other issues plaguing modern computer users. It's also why many fear computers: their mental models are invalid, offering no guidance. 3/n

The bottom line is that many people, who generally come from using almost entirely proprietary software & the constant reinforcement that the software they're using is 'user friendly' (even though it's generally not) which gives the users an expectation of access that's simply not valid (nor is it really desirable) with a lot of #libre sw. That said, there's quite a lot of libre sw that's head of class with regard of usability... what it's not is *marketed*. Because there's no $ extracted. 4/n

I see people railing at the affront of #libre software that they find 'hard to use' and how that's elitist and shouldn't be the case. That it's the software designers' or developers' fault.

The #libre software world certainly needs more good designers, accessibility, & UX people, but they seem rare. Unlike those design-focused people, who require software devs to realise any sort of functioning app, devs can throw together an interface that *they* can use without too much trouble... 1/n

@Brendanjones Interesting, thanks. I've never used the default mobile app. I mostly use it in the browser (default 'advanced' interface) or occasionally on Tusky on Android...

@Brendanjones interesting. I've never looked at Bluesky (or Threads). I've got zero interest because both platforms are fundamentally flawed. I'm intrigued though to know what make you think Mastodon's default app is 'outdated'?

Fascinating to see people talking up Bluesky in the Fediverse. Why? They're here. They've already escaped the world of implicitly corruptable corporate-owned for-profit platforms... and yet they don't realise they've already succeeded at the hard part. Now they seem desperate to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And drag the rest of us down into the mire with them.

@Moon you think Apple is great? 🤔 By what metric?

@Moon I haven't looked at all of it... but a lot of it is as good as code gets. And at least you can see it... how is it in comparison to the proprietary code of alternatives? @typeswitch

@Moon you have to work a bit to learn how they work. Most people expect everything digital to be handed to them on a platter. But that only happens when you're the exploitee. @typeswitch

@MrBerard totally agree. @mhoye

@Daojoan yuck, that sounds gross. We've got Matrix -> Forgejo (or Gitlab), with notes in QOwnNotes, projects in WeKan or NextCloud deck, with meetings in BigBlueButton or Jitsi (via Matrix)... All of it is 100% #Libre/#FOSS, we host it all ourselves, and it all costs us nothing except a bit of my time. Plus we control all the data. I think there might be an opportunity here. Single sign-on is via Authentik. See https://tech.oeru.org/updating-oer-foundation-web-services-february-2023 for a full list of the services we use (+ howtos)...

I came across this EU study on the 'value of open source' (which I call #libre), and I think all of us user our influence to make sure that the power-brokers in our lives are aware of it and understand its implications: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/study-about-impact-open-source-software-and-hardware-technological-independence-competitiveness-and

What we should be aiming for: gov't recognition that #libre software is our crucial 'digital infrastructure' and should be funded from public funds (like crucial physical infrastructure).

By corollary, we need to insist that publicly funded software is #libre (open source, ideally #copyleft).

Similarly, we should require any publicly-funded educational curriculum development is made available under open licenses (CC-BY or CC-BY-SA), i.e. Open Educational Resources or OER.

So cool that @apereo uses #Libre BigBlueButton (and not Zoom or MS Teams) for its conferences & symposia!

It's a rare, but very heartening, example of an organisation that makes a point of using technologies consistent with its mission.

If you haven't used it, https://bigbluebutton.org is superb. And you can host it yourselves if you want (we do)!

In case you need to help someone with a computer and want remote access, rather than using a proprietary option (& dealing with time limits & nagging & other hassles), try https://rustdesk.com which is #libre software. Supports remote desktop to/from many platforms (including Android & iOS & Linux). You can also easily run your own server, so you (and whoever you're helping/is helping you) don't have to trust *anyone* else. Want to run your own server? I can advise. It's easy with Docker.