I would LOVE to use something that's open vs something that's closed. Ubuntu instead of Leopard. Android instead of iPhone. OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office. Gimp instead of Photoshop.
Problem is, all those things are inferior compared to their closed-source counterparts (my opinion only), and don't let me do the job I need them for nearly as well, or in as much comfort.
I am a "tinkerer", programmer, tech geek, etc. Am I going to sacrifice my iPhone just because it's closed-source, and start using something else? Never in a million years. I have enough things to tinker with in my life.
Some people may disagree, and that's fine, but for me and majority of others it's just not such a big deal if the damned thing works as it's supposed to and I'm happy with it.
This seems to be a fundamental problem of open source: people contribute because it is fun. However, the stuff that brings value to your average user, i.e. nice UI and good documentation, is boring.
So, OS is great for hackers, some of the best technologies are open source. But, it tends to suck for the end user.
I would LOVE to use something that's open vs something that's closed. Ubuntu instead of Leopard. Android instead of iPhone. OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office. Gimp instead of Photoshop.
Problem is, all those things are inferior compared to their closed-source counterparts (my opinion only), and don't let me do the job I need them for nearly as well, or in as much comfort.
I am a "tinkerer", programmer, tech geek, etc. Am I going to sacrifice my iPhone just because it's closed-source, and start using something else? Never in a million years. I have enough things to tinker with in my life.
Some people may disagree, and that's fine, but for me and majority of others it's just not such a big deal if the damned thing works as it's supposed to and I'm happy with it.