I want to talk about this because of a conversation I had with a colleague on a lunch break a few days ago. I am a doctor, and I was talking to him about how angry I was (and still am) about the fact that the COVID vaccines, when they were first invented, were not made public, but instead were patented and sold. This basic fact made millions of people around the world suffer. I was rambling about how scientific information should always be free. How we should be able to use the internet as the greatest library our ancestors could have only dreamt of, instead of putting information behind paywalls. Even back in med school I was an avid user of sci-hub and I wasnāt ashamed of it one bit. I still use sci-hub to keep up with new researches so I can treat/inform my patients better. And I hate how some of my colleagues think that I am stealing othersā work.
Anyways, so I was rambling on and on. I sometimes do that. And my friend said something so strange and unrelated (in my eyes) to the conversation. He said āLook at you, defending open access to medical information for everyone, yet you only use Apple products.ā I was like, āWhat? What do you mean?ā He explained, āMan, all the things you use are made by Apple. Your laptop, tablet, phone, watch, earbuds or whatever, made by the company that is one of the main adversaries when it comes to right-to-repair and open source software.ā So you need to see here, Iām not a tech guy. Itās just not my field. My job only requires me to read textbooks and keep up with new researches in my field, which any device can do. So I was like, āIā¦ I donāt think I follow.ā So he briefly explained what open-source software is, and how itās related to my idea of free and open access to information for everyone, but this time itās not in our field but programmersā. And when I almost reflexively said āWell weāre not programmersā he said āI mean, when it comes to software, itās the programmersā and developersā thing. But free and open source is an idea. It applies to everything. And I think youāre supporting a company that opposes your views by buying their products.ā
We didnāt have much time left so that was the end of that conversation. And I have been thinking about it since. When buying tech products I mainly care about if they are integrated with each other or not. Like if I turn on Do not Disturb on my watch, I want my phone, tablet and laptop to go quiet as well. Or I like being able to answer a phone call on my laptop. And I love the aesthetics of Apple products, at least more than what other companies have to offer.
Every evening since that conversation Iāve been looking up stuff related to open source software. Linux, distros, the philosophy behind it all, Linus Torvalds, Steve Wozniak, Arch, āread the wikiā, terminal, GUI, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA my brain is filled with so many things at this point that I donāt understand anything at all.
So, TLDR; Iād love to hear your opinions about Apple. Most people (myself included) buy Apple devices because of the ecosystem, the design, privacy (?), consistent updates (especially on mobile), or for you might say, a lack of knowledge in the field of tech. Do you support Apple or are you against them, or are you indifferent? Do you think people who are not in the tech field as well should look into and use open source software? Leave your thoughts below! ^^
For all of their faults I admire Appleās commitment to product design a lot. They really seem to center the human use case and mold the technology around that. This kind of focus on design (not just aesthetics!) brings the benefits of technology to people that might not have been able to access them otherwise due to knowledge, time constraints, etc.
How does this relate to FOSS? Well to be blunt the UX on a lot of FOSS technology is bad. It conveys freedom and privacy to technologically inclined people like us who can make sense of it, but it does very little to liberate people who donāt find this stuff easy or canāt devote enough free time to it. Ease of use is not a weakness to be mocked. It can be an extremely powerful force if done correctly. Personally I would love to see more UX designers getting into FOSS development, but unfortunately I canāt really help myself on that front.
Yeah, thatās the main thing keeping me personally from using more FOSS.
I tried using Linux for example, but itās just so incredibly tedious compared to Windows that I didnāt even last a week before I got frustrated and switched back.
Though I did switch to Aurora store on my Android, because using the Play Store is actually becoming harder and harder. There are so many ads on it now, browsing it is starting to get difficult.
Iām a UX product designer and a major issue Iāve encountered within FOSS is extremely opinionated developers, who regularly sacrifice usability for features and configurability, which is instantly off-putting to a general audience.
Iām painting a very broad picture there, and Iām not criticising - Iām a staunch advocate for Linux and FOSS in general, the technical execution and intent is usually brilliant.
Apple is extremely opinionated in their design by limiting options and complexity, thatās one way they achieve a solid foundation, by offering few options (both in terms of software and hardware). They donāt make their users think too hard.
Thereās plenty of low hanging fruit that could be addressed (use of plain language, clear actions, other tried and tested design principles) but thatās not enough, and it often relies on strong UI dev skills, which the team doesnāt necessarily have.
Iāve seen some appetite for making FOSS projects easier for a general audience, but things fall flat when it comes to making hard decisions (stripping out or hiding complexity, making decisions to promote simplicity, spending considerable effort on UI instead of features).
Iād love to be more involved in it, and maybe Iām being unfair, but it can be demoralising work for a designer.
Iāve gone through a lot of periods in my life where Iāve chided myself for not using more FOSS, but what you said is one of the reasons why I donāt think itās as black and white in my mind recently.
Iāve been doing iOS development for work, and I have to say that their emphasis on building accessibility features into apps from the beginning is something I really love to see. Iād love to be proven wrong on this because this is very anecdotal, but accessibility is something I donāt see mentioned too often in FOSS spaces.
That and languages. Iām a long-time learner of Japanese, and Iāve noticed language support in FOSS apps is inconsistent. There was a time when I was looking at a more privacy-focused Android OS to run, but there arenāt any Japanese keyboards on F-droid (the only strictly Japanese offering was unmaintained and incompatible with my phone, and the multi-lingual keyboards that I found didnāt support Japanese). Not being able to interact the way I need to made those OSās into non-starters for me, sadly.
I hate to complain like this because itās no oneās fault necessarily; there are only so many people working on FOSS, those people only have so much time and energy, and there might not be enough demand for certain features. When I build something I try to do what I can to live up to my own expectations, but as someone that doesnāt really have the necessary skills (in tech or in Japanese, in this case), or the time to create and maintain my own alternatives, then those issues put up some heavy barriers. Iād love to use more FOSS but right now Iām sort of stuck straddling the two sides.