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What non-FOSS software have you been unable to quit?


For me, Google video search, Google books (Internet Archive is good, but doesn't always have the same stuff), Adobe InDesign (but in the process of learning LaTeX), and Typewise. As for the Google stuff, I liked Whoogle a lot, but almost all their instances seem to have been blocked or shut down. Also, apologies if this is repeating an earlier post.


Does anyone know of a FOSS version of this (android keyboard with hexagonal keys?)


Contacted typewise, asked if I could purchase apk from them (the pro version or whatever) since I don't use GPlay store and they said no.


in reply to hedge

Just games. And I am thankful for all the open source implementations as they are almost always vastly superior to the original releases.

Thank you John Carmack for releasing the sources to your games!

in reply to Björn Tantau

I wanted to fully switch to Linux and FOSS for a while now but specialised software like CAD and image editing are either non existent or completely useless for professional purposes in their FOSS versions. What angers me most is that most is them could run on wine easily if the developers did some minor changes so it seems intentional.
Unknown parent

hedge

It is, yes, but arg! Its toolbar buttons are too small!

https://beehaw.org/post/11142391

in reply to hedge

Games, Discord and banking stuff
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to hedge

Google Maps. It sucks, and stores randomly pop in and out while you're trying to zoom in past the McDonalds ad that's showing despite you searching "shoe store", but it has so much more info than the competitors that they don't compare.
in reply to Eogram

Tried Openstreetmap? OSMAnd? Organic maps? Both of which use OSM. HERE maps (not open source)?
in reply to hedge

I've used organic maps, and maybe osmand? It's good! And progress is fast. But it's not quite there yet for me.

This conversation is making me realize that it may have been a year since I last tried it? Guess I'm due!

The user generated data on google maps is really useful though.

in reply to Eogram

OSMAnd is good in many ways (and has come a long way too), but the app suffers from too many settings and too much menu diving for my taste. OrganicMaps is good because it's like having "OSMAnd lite." Used to be that without Google Services that there was no voice navigation, but now I'm able to use RH Voice with Organic Maps. MagicEarth is another map navigation app, but not open source.
in reply to hedge

I’ve really enjoyed using MagicEarth. I’d probably move to Organic Maps if they implemented routing for other public transport besides trains.
in reply to hedge

the FOSS options are terrible in my area
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Eogram

Just want to add this comparison between Google Maps and OpenStreetMap. Google Maps is definitely better in some areas and OSM is better in others.
in reply to Eogram

Unfortunately OSM won't be able to compete with user reviews for example (except if we steal those from Google). Also a bunch of shops can't be seen there, which is crucial for me to discover cheap restaurants.

But OSM's bike routes are 10/10.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to hedge

QuickBooks. F that software. Give me any double entry accounting software that you can use with multiple companies.
in reply to nothing

I'm not familiar with what exactly you need but have you taken a look at KMyMoney? (Or is this for accounting for an actual company and not for yourself? Not sure how it holds up there)
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to nothing

There are a bunch. There are fewer that are multiuser. Search alternativeto. Thing is people want more then double entry accounting. Electronic payment processing, reporting, payroll, AR, tax... Then how does it work with the professionals you hire.

Edit: For personal stuff, my wife and I use GNUCash. It does have small company features. I do not think it is concurrent though, but it can be used with an SQL backend though. We do not use the database mode so no experience with it.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to nothing

I use GnuCash for two companies and personal accounting. Love it.
in reply to hedge

Discord has friends locked in. IRCcloud is so convenient. Tap to pay app is too useful. The app that controls my heat and AC is going to be a big project to replace. Spotify has family locked in. All the garbage running on my car would be nearly impossible to change.

GBoard is one I've tried to ditch a few times and end up coming back to. :(

in reply to CbtB

Tried AnySoft keyboard?

I've never understood the appeal of Spotify; I'm used to owning CDs, FLAC, or mp3 albums.

in reply to hedge

I’ve never understood the appeal of Spotify


  1. Tap search
  2. Select artist/album/song
  3. Play anywhere instantly
  4. Low monthly cost, no need to buy songs/albums

I also like having physical copies/my own files organized for my home server. But to not even understand why people use Spotify...?

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to BolexForSoup

I'm just old I guess, and rather set in my ways. I remember not being able to search their catalog to see what they had or didn't have without signing up, but that was quite a long time ago. I think Spotify may short change its artists, but at the same time I'm guessing it's probably a lot cheaper than buying albums.

Can't you also do 1,2,&3 with YouTube as well?

in reply to hedge

Youtube doesn't let you listen to videos if you navigate away from the app or lock your screen, making it functionally useless as a mobile music player. You have to pay for YT music to be able to do that.

And I agree with you about not using spotify, but again, there are certainly advantages to it. The pros just don't outweigh the cons/match our values.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to BolexForSoup

I think you can do that with Invidious or FreeTube...? NewPipe will let you do that, I'm pretty sure.
in reply to hedge

Sure but they are not as effortless/not as feature rich as spotify and can be tricky to run on iOS. Google et al are also actively trying to break those projects these days. I say this as a daily freetube user.
in reply to hedge

Convenient. Haven’t run into music it doesn’t have. I didn’t use it for years but a few months ago got roped in and now I’m stuck lol
in reply to hedge

I'll give it another try. It's been a year or more.

I could switch away from Spotify but family wouldn't like it and we share a plan.

in reply to hedge

Games, for everything else I've found a foss alternative that I prefer. I will do a google search once every couple of days if I'm really struggling to find something but even as a last resort search engine it's been getting worse - I heard they put an ad person in charge of search... so that would probably explain that descent.
in reply to hedge

Solidworks - A reliable FOSS 3D CAD package would be amazing... Parametric Blender?
Photoshop/Illustrator - I know how to do 50% of what I need to in GIMP/Inkscape, but I lean on Adobe usually!
in reply to QuantumBamboo

FreeCAD is the best FOSS program I know for solid modeling. Librecad works for 2D.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to flatbield

Man, I tried to learn FreeCAD, but coming from the Inventor/Solidworks paradigm it was hard.
in reply to IrritableOcelot

I used to use Solidworks and NX some. I think there are similarities. That is sketch based. I admit though, not really learned FreeCAD either. On my list some day.
in reply to flatbield

There is also ondsel, which is basically freecad with some polish maybe. It looks the same to me. But one day when they solve the topology renaming thing and when they have an interface that's not openly hostile I'd love to try it
in reply to flatbield

I would agree that FreeCAD is the best, but it's not slick and doesn't feel particularly robust. Don't get me wrong, I have no rose tinted glasses on when it comes to Solidworks, but it's generally very usable and very powerful.
in reply to QuantumBamboo

Actually Solidworks is consider low to mid market. NX and whatever PTC calls their high end now are the main stream CAD systems as far as I know.
in reply to flatbield

I worked with Creo for years, and ProE before that. I still have nightmares about the cascading unresolved reference screens. I've never used NX, but my understanding is it is AAA, though not super user friendly by default. I've pretty much exclusively used Solidworks for over a decade now, and I have to say that it's generally pretty well behaved, and I've never really found I couldn't do what I wanted to in it. Thus it has become my crutch.
in reply to QuantumBamboo

Nice thing about Solidworks is I think is used the ACIS kernel. Means it is directly compatible with a lot of other software.
in reply to QuantumBamboo

Solvespace is a FLOSS light weight 3D CAD alternative. Although it lacks the advanced features of Solidworks works really great for most of my 3d designs.
in reply to hedge

TotalCommander.

I was using Norton Commander in DOS in the 90s, then WindowsCommander in Windows 3, which was renamed TotalCommander. Using this for maybe 35 years. I don't know how to use Windows gui to copy/paste or explore multiple folders etc.

in reply to Papamousse

Krusader and Double Commander immediately come to mind.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

in reply to hedge

Last.fm, I guess. I use Libre.fm as well, but I don't quite get the same experience out of it.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Hellfire103

I haven't tried last.fm but I like ListenBrainz for that stuff.
in reply to onlinepersona

Just gave it a try. It's okay, but there's no way to scrobble from iOS (where I normally listen to music). I'm getting an Android at some point, but for now I need to work with what I've got.
in reply to Hellfire103

I think it would depend on the music player? There is listenbrainz-ios, but I assume it's banned by Apple because it's opensource? That would make iOS pretty bad if you want to go opensource with stuff. But if you're in the EU, that might change soon thanks to the DMA which will force Apple to allow third-party stores of which probably a few opensource ones will pop up.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

in reply to Hellfire103

I use gonic to serve up my music collection via subsonic API, then have play:sub and/or substreamer ios apps that use/pull from it. gonic can scrobble for you when clients play songs. Combined that with majola for self-hosted scrobbling for the last 18 months Ive been quite happy with it.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to hedge

Spotify, Netflix, a bunch of online services, old games, the update software of my car GPS...
in reply to hedge

Rhino for CAD.

However, I have been using OpenSCAD for parametric design more than the Grasshopper extension.

Thankfully, skipped ArcGIS entirely for QGIS and Python GDAL wrappers.

in reply to hedge

FolderSync on android. It's the only automatic sync application I've found that syncs to mydrive.ch.

Also a couple of UI apps, BarLauncher, which is a notification thing that let's you put app icons to launch from the notification drop down, and LaunchyWidget, like a scrolling "fence" to dump app icons in on your home screen. They're both so simple, I'm surprised that nobody has built FOSS versions of them.

On my PC I don't use any proprietary software at all.

in reply to hedge

Sublime Text, Google Photos, Google Maps (partially)
in reply to Andy

I've found Cudatext a good alternative for light editing tasks.
in reply to flappy

I really wanted to switch to Cuda, but there are a few small features missing which is super infuriating to me.

I can't think of any off the top of my head right now though.

in reply to onlinepersona

Some combination of things like performance, non distracting presentation, the minimap, multi cursor that works how I like, some plugins I like, no web browser, the way every open buffer is always safe and saved in some cache without necessarily saving to the edited file, the UX for split view across tabs, minimal fuss to get UI text and colors legible for my bad eyesight, etc.
in reply to hedge

Square Launcher on Android. Tried a whole bunch of other launchers but keep coming back to the windows tile interface. Scrollable vertically and horizontally puts so much within reach so quickly.
in reply to hedge

Well I have separate computer for music production which I don't think has any FOSS software on it, so everything that has to do with that.
in reply to ananas

Dropping The List here because answering in detail would take ...a very, very long time.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to ReallyZen

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to ananas

Have you tried Ardour, Bitwig, Reaper or Zrythm? Studio 1 also has a Wayland-native version now, which is paid.

But I get the tinkering part, poorly.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to Pantherina

I've tried all of them except Zrythm. In fact, REAPER is my DAW of choice. But while that works on Linux, a lot of the plugins I require do not (or well, I guess it depends on how people define "work"), and REAPER in itself is not FOSS.
in reply to ananas

I wanted to package an ambisonic VST3 plugin as a Flatpak, really need to learn that as this would make things really easy.

But I have no idea of audio production, find it really cool but its a complex topic.

in reply to hedge

Steam, because most my games are on there.

Discord, because most my friends and social groups are on there.

in reply to hedge

Just a comment -- for InDesign-type work, I find something like Inkscape (or Scribus) easier to work with than LaTeX. I usually only use LaTeX for things where the layout needs to be pretty but not customized. Its possible to use it for design, but not a good use of time.
in reply to hedge

Google Earth and Google Street View.

Even after all these years of using them, I'm still amazed.

in reply to hedge

What proprierary Javascript is needed for core functionality? 😅
in reply to delirious_owl

I find it easy to use and use both, Noscript for Javascript (all opt-in), UBlock for adblock (badness enumeration) and "cookie autodelete" (on mobile, for opt-in keeping cookies and deleting the rest)
in reply to hedge

Podcast Addict
I really want to use AntennaPod, but I can't do without priority podcasts.

Also Feedly. Feeder (FOSS) is so close, but doesn't allow different sorts for different feeds.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to hedge

I don't understand why we spend so much time praising proprietary software in these communities.

As to your question, I have a separate Windows machine for gaming, but that's it. I keep one foot in the free world and one in the proprietary. As for productivity tools I can't think of a proprietary tool I "can't quit" or that I would pick in favor of a free tool.

Fans of proprietary software have this weird belief that free software users choose inferior tools for purist or idealist reasons. This is offensively ignorant. No one chooses bad tools on purpose; we just consider freedom to be part of the criteria of a good tool.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to

This. Freedom is part of the quality of a program.
in reply to

That sounds like an idealist reason to me lol
in reply to

Most of the times -for me anyway- not only are the tools free (as in freedom) and free (as in beer) but also simply vastly superior to paid alternatives. I never get why people pay and then put up with shit, or use some SaaS platform where they are the product and get spied on and still put up with so much shit that they would be double better off by switching to something open
in reply to

A tool with fewer features that is harder to use is by definition an inferior tool.

we just consider freedom to be part of the criteria of a good tool.


You just described choosing an inferior tool for ideological reasons.

in reply to AVincentInSpace

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to hedge

Proprietary firmware on Google Pixel, blobs in Dasharo Coreboot.

On Android there are tons of video and image editors embedded in Whatsapp, Telegram, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok etc. but nothing comparable.

I find Desktop video editors confusing but I use Footage (GNOME) and "OpenVideoEdit" on Android.

in reply to hedge

Reaper DAW, and I have no plans on replacing because I like it. Also Reason, which I do have plans on replacing, but with what I haven't a clue. Unfortunately, audio continues to lag way behind on Linux and open source. Additionally, VST is unfortunately THE standard for audio plugins, and they are indispensable in audio production.
in reply to hedge

Google maps, venmo, and lyft are my last real holdouts.

I tried Osmand~ but it like using your dads Garmin from 2005. The last two have been hard to find good alternatives to. Would be nice if signal payments were in a stable coin instead of a shitcoin.

in reply to stoi

organic maps is built on open maps and is FOSS. Takes some getting used to though. The time estimates aren't accurate (it doesn't account for traffic) so always add time to the estimate, and you can't really search for things by name you generally need to input addresses (except for maybe your airport. This also varies based on where you live because folks might be updating it more for you locally).

Basically it's a solid option but not good enough for me to ditch Apple maps completely (I trust apple slightly more than gmaps but not by a large margin lol).

in reply to delirious_owl

Haven’t tried OsmAnd so I can’t answer that. Sorry!
in reply to delirious_owl

Serious question - aren't maps for navigation? I've heard this rhetoric a few times and I just... don't entirely follow the logic. Like I do to an extent, insofar as Open Street Map data is for information like rivers, buildings, updating cell data (used to do updates here and there in my city.)

But to me all of these maps, and initially starting out, maps are for... navigating?

Idk lol, not judging, mostly just confused at the intention. "We plot out maps! But dare to try and follow it to get where you are going at your own peril."

in reply to averyminya

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to averyminya

Consider a map of all cell towers. Or consider a map of all power substations. Or a map of all dams.

None of those.maps are useful for navigating.

Likewise, good luck using a navigation app (like Google Maps) to produce the above maps. They're different tools for different jobs.

in reply to delirious_owl

Uh no. I have been using it for navigation for the past 5 years, probably even longer. It is hit and miss in some areas but it works OK.
in reply to stoi

I've been using Organic Maps for my navigation. It uses the same OpenStreetMap data, but navigation (as well as searching for e.g. "food" as opposed to a specific place) works flawlessly and routing happens offline.
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to AVincentInSpace

Seems ok, but seems to struggle w/ long distances. Works better than osmand tho, thanks
in reply to hedge

WhatsApp: I have been unable to convince my family and friends to use any other platform. Plus. in alot of countries, having WhatsApp becomes a must.
Office 365: The only option I can use for work including Outlook and Teams.
Google Maps: I keep trying to use OsmAnd+ but it is almost impossible to search for addresses.
in reply to LordChaos82

in alot of countries, having WhatsApp becomes a must.


Why is this? I hear this a lot, but I don't understand

in reply to davehtaylor

At least here in Germany it is like that. if you got a new number or whatever you are 99,9% certain that number is on WhatsApp it's inevitable its the main source for chatting for everyone.
So if you'd want to switch platforms youd have to convince a lot of people and most would not be ready to do that since why bother when you can just use WhatsApp?
in reply to davehtaylor

As much as I try to encourage alternatives, most people where I'm from use WhatsApp for everything these days and has been that way for the last ~5 years. I might get about 10 SMS messages a year but possibly thousands of WhatsApp messages.
in reply to davehtaylor

In some countries, government employees themselves use WhatsApp to communicate on their work phones. You have a query? Schedule an in-person visit in 6 weeks, or fire up WhatsApp, your choice. Fortunately some also use email, but WhatsApp still tends to be quicker.

It gets slightly worse when you're looking for a job, and the only way to get hired, is to talk to someone through WhatsApp. Don't want to? No job for you; next!

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to jarfil

Yeah, WhatsApp is amlove hate relationship for me.

It's seriously the best app out there, it just works, works nice and intuitive, has a web version (holy crap can't go without) and almost everyone is on there.

I'd love a Foss federated solution, but good luck with that if no one uses it

in reply to davehtaylor

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to LordChaos82

I'm not off Google Maps either, but the closest to replacing it for me is Organic Maps, FWIW.
in reply to Andy

Magic earth has been good for directions, ime.
in reply to qdJzXuisAndVQb2

I just grabbed it. The dash cam features might possibly be useful on a bike (?). But I tried and tried and couldn't find the magic zoom level for it to show me the name of the street I'm on, got frustrated, and uninstalled.
in reply to Andy

Very fair. I've noticed that google maps really nails the zoom level when you slow down and speed up, to show you the right amoynt of information, whereas Magic Earth doesn't. I'll be zoomed in on the motorway at 120 and later zoomed out in a city centre at 30, those two are incompatible.
in reply to LordChaos82

i dream of the death of whatsapp so we can finally move to something better, anything really, my standards are on the floor.

ill take telegram? discord?? smoke signals???

can some kind hardworking hacker collective kill it or something? please??

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to hedge

Affinity was an affordable and featured alternative to the Adobe suite, but just sold to canva so yay capitalism
in reply to trevron

They've said they're committing to keeping perpetual licensing and are using Canva's resources to speed up development though. So far, seems okay to me. At least for now. Unless anyone knows otherwise?
in reply to NecroMemories

If it was open source then it still is. You simply clone the sources to a new project and continue
in reply to hedge

Plex. I'm not sure if Jellyfin is foss, but if it is, I haven't felt like converting my library. I've put a lot of work into making it just right.

Steam, obviously.

other than video games, I think that's really it. I still use some others, like Spotify, but not primarily, I just like to have options.

in reply to StantonVitales

Jellyfin is FOSS. You can by the way just install it and point it at your library to see if it recognises everything. It won't change your file layout.
If you have your movies named "title (year)“ and series in a folder format like "series title/season x/s0xe0x" (x being season and episode numbers), it should actually automatically recognise it all.

But I admit, if you have deviations from that you would need to correct those first and it seems from what I read that Plex is not as picky with that as Jellyfin is.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to RBG

Misidentification is easy to fix in Jellyfin, with a couple clicks you can completely fix all metadata if it gets something wrong.
in reply to StantonVitales

+1 for Plex. Basically perfect and so much more polished than JF (which I tried on three separate occasions to force myself to like).
in reply to delirious_owl

I would never again install a big social media app on my phone. I am actually just using LinkedIn via a browser shortcut, they keep bugging me about installing the app but that's definitely not going to happen.
in reply to RBG

Oh, yeah, I wouldn't use the app. I lock that type of shit in special "untrustworthy" VMs so its sandboxes from everything. The VM gets destroyed every time the browser is closed.

But it is closed source software that I do need to use from time to time.

I dont even get asked to install the app. Maybe check your notification settings to turn that off

in reply to delirious_owl

Its not a notification like that. I open the site in the mobile browser, not a PWA in case you are thinking that.

There is a small "pop-up" at the bottom then that asks you to use their app instead. But its not even layering over the site so you could just leave it be.

in reply to RBG

Oh, then I guess I dont see it because I'm using a desktop user agent
in reply to RBG

If you have firefox mobile and ublock origin installed, open the addon settings and select my filters. Add the following (picked with ublock on desktop):
www.linkedin.com##.z-10.w-full.p-2.left-0.bottom-0.fixed.flex-col.flex.bg-color-background-container.rounded-t-\[20px\].text-left.promo-bottom-sheet__card
www.linkedin.com##.overlay

Then apply changes. You should no longer have that annoying banner at the bottom of the page
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to hedge

I also run a lot of proprietary stuff like Discord or Instagram due to peer pressure but I let it slide and put my hopes on Android sandboxing the apps and GrapheneOS tweaks. In my opinion, making sure that proprietary app can't reliably access your data and never giving it anything sensitive yourself is a decent risk model.

The only proprietary software I use and somewhat trust is Obdisian. Honestly, it's just excellent and I can't see myself moving away from it anytime soon.

in reply to hedge

chrome, the android os and platform and all the apps therein. I mainly use firefox, but some things only work in chrome.
in reply to hedge

Clip Studio Paint
IIt was way ahead than any commercial or FOSS alternative. Especially if you're illustrator or comic artist working in specialized workflow (East Asia and SEA industry).

Tried Krita back then, but still lacks a lot of major important feature and customizable UI layout.

in reply to hedge

Discord. As a chat platform, it is by far the most user-friendly one out there despite its proprietary nature and lack of respect for privacy.
in reply to ButtonMcLemming

Messaging platforms are so hard to replace since there's a social traction aspect. I can pick out the most secure and private messaging service, and then have no one to message on it
in reply to TypicalHog

Zettlr is trying, it's really trying, but it has less than half the features
in reply to TypicalHog

I'm really liking Logseq. I started on it instead of Obsidian since Logseq is FOSS. I understand it's not too hard to switch over since they both use markdown files, granted some scripts need to be run to convert markdown differences between the two.

Logseq's business model is to charge $5/mo for syncing on their (fully encrypted with a private key) server, but you can use a FOSS syncing solution (or a property one) if you prefer. I pay to support the project and to simplify sync on work devices I don't have administrator rights on (so most other sync solutions wouldn't work well.)

in reply to blindsight

I tried Logseq, but it was slower than Obsidian and it's section/block oriented and I want it to be note oriented (Obsidian). It is a decent alternative tho.
in reply to blindsight

I love logseq conceptually but constantly use org-roam because logseq is prone to performance breakdowns on my hardware
in reply to blindsight

I started on it instead of Obsidian


This is the way. I started on Obsidian, and Logseq is painful in comparison. It's a good product, but I got accustomed to too many nice conveniences over the past couple of years.

in reply to hedge

makemkv
also basically most of my music software
in reply to hedge

I feel LaTeX is not a replacement for inDesign. It would be a replacement for something like word. maybe try scribus?
in reply to hedge

One thing I really liked but quit because it wasn't FOSS was WorkFlowy. I did try logseq a while back and thought it was ok, but had too many other bells and whistles in addition to what I really wanted which was just a collapsible list with infinite hierarchical depth. I really wish someone would add this functionality to an email client like Thunderbird as part of its tasks.