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0 pointszarzavat1mo ago0 comments

Stop supporting Windows as well.

Open source developers are doing Microsoft a big favor when they support Windows and publish Windows builds and installers. It's a substantial effort, and apparently that effort isn't appreciated.

If all open source software dropped support for Windows, it wouldn't really affect the open source community that much. It would definitely cause headaches for Microsoft however.

0 comments

jraph1mo ago

It's not that easy.

I agree that supporting Windows helps its ecosystem.

But also open source software on Windows is an important gateway to the free world. When you are already used to Firefox, LibreOffice and VLC, you might as well switch to Linux painlessly, but if those didn't run on Windows, switching to Linux would require relearning everything.

estimator72921mo ago

Irrelevant. If it's time to stop using windows, all those windows users will have to relearn everything either way. Whether they do it in a windows environment or a linux one doesn't really change the equation.

A sudden lack of software on windows will increase user migration. If we all keep publishing for windows, users will just stay there because their needs are already met.

yjftsjthsd-h1mo ago

> If it's time to stop using windows, all those windows users will have to relearn everything either way.

No, that's the thing; they ideally would only need to replace the OS. Many long years ago, when I switched from Windows to Ubuntu (this was back when it was good), part of why it was so easy is because I mostly kept the same applications. If you use eg. Firefox, VLC, open/libreoffice, audacity, etc., then you can install a new OS, reinstall the same applications, and barely have to change anything. That's huge.

janc_29d ago

And for a company, not having to train people on all new applications at once might be what makes it _practically_ possible at all.

account421mo ago

I agree to some extend but we (or at least I) publish open source software (amongst other reasons) because I like helping others and it so happens that most users that could benefit are still using Windows so it doesn't feel right to stop doing that as long as the effort is reasonable (which it is, unlike for macOS).

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