It’s a double-edged sword. The ease-of-use benefits of centralization outweigh the independence of open-source for most people. Without leadership or centralization of open-source, there will always be too many distros to choose from. Obviously, centralization of open-source software is self-negating, and not a realistic idea.
The ease-of-use benefits of centralization outweigh the independence of open-source for most people.
Most advanced software has a learning curve. People who have invested a bunch of time and energy learning Walled Garden OS will find other Walled Garden apps easier to use than folks who grew up in the open-source wilds.
That is a big reason why big OS companies (Microsoft most notoriously) practically give their software away to college kids and junior developers. Gates was even quoted saying something to the effect of “I’d prefer software pirates steal Microsoft Windows today than use a competitor tomorrow”
It’s a double-edged sword. The ease-of-use benefits of centralization outweigh the independence of open-source for most people. Without leadership or centralization of open-source, there will always be too many distros to choose from. Obviously, centralization of open-source software is self-negating, and not a realistic idea.
Most advanced software has a learning curve. People who have invested a bunch of time and energy learning Walled Garden OS will find other Walled Garden apps easier to use than folks who grew up in the open-source wilds.
That is a big reason why big OS companies (Microsoft most notoriously) practically give their software away to college kids and junior developers. Gates was even quoted saying something to the effect of “I’d prefer software pirates steal Microsoft Windows today than use a competitor tomorrow”