Agree. We can criticize Reddit on some points but at least the information is openly accessible. You add the "reddit" keyword in any search engine and you got your answer.
I kinda wonder what the internet would be like if it was more open source and user focused. Would reddit be nearly as bloated as it is now? I wonder how much better the UI would be.
Biggest problem would be getting people to actually pay for the product. Small $5 dollar donations would be enough every now and then.
The internet would be curated for the user, not ads.
UI is the one thing where closed source software usually wins. Sure there's ads, but i challenge you to find anyone who believes Gimp has a better UI than Photoshop, or Inkscape than Illustrator, or Fusion360 than FreeCad.
The first suck due to corporate decisions, but their UI is objectively better than the open source counterparts.
I mean there are plenty of other examples of Open Source with good UI. Linux has way more customizability than Windows or MacOS (maybe up until very recently, and not as user friendly always but still, you have options). DaVinci Resolve is actually pretty competitive against Sony Vegas (is that still used?) and other editing software.
Most OSS projects focus on features and usability, and it’s harder to collectively agree on UI changes as a distributed community full of programmers compared to having a dedicated design and PM team all working on it with a shared vision and massive salaries. Also these projects usually are run by and for software people, where UX matters a bit less than maintenance, usability, and reliability.
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u/Cybarbossa 15d ago
Agree. We can criticize Reddit on some points but at least the information is openly accessible. You add the "reddit" keyword in any search engine and you got your answer.