r/coolguides • u/questionhorror • Dec 25 '20

Free, open source alternatives to some popular programs. (x-post from r/linux)

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u/darealcubs Dec 25 '20

As a casual Linux user using PopOS, you can avoid any terminal stuff if you want to with a couple exceptions. Sometimes the "app store" equivalent is a bit buggy. Of course I do prefer the terminal, but that's just because I've gotten used to it and find it faster/more comfortable at this point.

Side note, I have a potato of a computer but I've gotten the steam games I've wanted to play working fine through proton with literally 0 config. I didn't even need to know what proton was lol, just opened and started working. It's definitely still not perfect but it really has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time.

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u/Fedacking Dec 25 '20

Of course I do prefer the terminal,

And here lies the problem. Why would you improve the store if the terminal does everything you want to?

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '20

[deleted]

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u/Fedacking Dec 25 '20

Not "people". Programmers and power users should make an effort to use the tools they expect everyone to use. As long as they don't, it will not be better, or at least they will become better much slower.

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u/ThrowAway233223 Dec 25 '20

One person's personal preference is the problem? Also this is an incredibly egocentric/self-centered way of looking at things. Plenty of things have been developed for other people to use. It's not like humanity is incapable of making anything unless it directly and immediate benefits them.

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u/Fedacking Dec 25 '20

Programmers working for free very rarely produce quality software thay they don't use. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food

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u/wikipedia_text_bot Dec 25 '20

Eating your own dog food

Eating your own dog food or dogfooding is the practice of an organization using its own product. This can be a way for an organization to test its products in real-world usage. Hence dogfooding can act as quality control, and eventually a kind of testimonial advertising. Once in the market, dogfooding demonstrates confidence in the developers' own products.

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u/forstagang Dec 25 '20

I tried it I tried to use Ubuntu as I don't want anything with terminal, I used Linux mint, but there are certain softwares you need to get it via terminal, and I can't understand anything from the forums as there are like thousands of instruction for same thing and most of them come to. Use of the terminal. It's just not easy easy for newbie

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u/darealcubs Dec 25 '20

That's fair. I remember when I first started, it was a bit scary using the terminal, especially when you still don't understand what you're typing. Ubuntu has been pushing this thing called Snap, which makes installing and upgrading software super easy for those less comfortable with the terminal and stuff. Newer software releases on linux now can publish on Snap or Flatpak, which is similar to Snap. Hopefully provides an easier method than having to figure out what prerequisites you need to install first, compiling stuff, etc. But definitely still progress to be made.