What apps would you love to have open-source alternatives for?

It seems like the FOSS community is continuing to grow, and FOSS apps keep getting better (Immich reallh blew my mind recently), which is a big win 😎 but there are still many apps I use that I would kill for an open source alternative. I am curious what you guys think? Are there any apps you'd love alternatives for?

guttermonk ,
@guttermonk@lemmy.ml avatar

Waze

lemmyvore ,

I'm probably stating the obvious but we'll never have anything like Waze without a lot of people consenting to share their location. The only reason Google can pull it off is because they take it from all Android phones and cars without asking. They're in a unique position to do so and this predatory approach is unlikely to be replicated in general, let alone by a FOSS project — which tends to come with certain moral values.

Keep in mind that but only do you need data, you need it to approach a certain threshold to be statistically reliable. Otherwise you get "exploits" like when those people were driving slowly up and down their street to dupe Waze into not recommending it to commuters.

And we're not even getting to the part where some people may straight out push fake locations.

Felix ,

Krita & OpenToonz handle just about everything I need as an animator/artist, but I'm worried about OpenToonz continued development. I worry that there aren't enough people working on it.

umbraroze ,

Scrivener!

The frustrating thing is that, at least for me, there are no perfect word processors geared for novels and other scenarios where you manage large text masses.

Scrivener is one of those cases where you have a pretty excellent software that doesn't have a lot of problems OSS alternatives have. I have smooth time with it. But at the same time, the software always could be better.

Probably the best OSS novel writing software I've used is Org-Mode for Emacs. But, you know, it's based on Emacs, so it squeaks around the edges and gives the impression that it's a miracle it runs as brilliantly as it does.

learnbyexample ,
@learnbyexample@programming.dev avatar

Check out https://novelwriter.io/

I'm not familiar with such softwares (I use pandoc for technical writing), but might help you..

melpomenesclevage ,

Two categories, broadly: any professional software, with deep features and professional quality.

I know theres audacity, but that's really not an acceptable saw.

I know theres a few cad apps, but no professional I've ever met finds the good enough.

I know gimp, and I use it, but no artist I know does; they all pirate Photoshop. Literally every one.

I like having audacity to record audio. I like having gimp to fuck with shit. I like having various cad apps to bang out organizational tools to print. These things do generally fit my use case. But I still have to help people pirate everything else and god the DRM is do fucking annoying.

Abd here's the more esoteric ask:

Not so much programs as features; Why aren't we really going all in on shit we can do that they can't? Features capitalists would never add, never support? Instead I find open source software always playing catch-up, and theres no reason it has to.

Snoopy ,
@Snoopy@jlai.lu avatar

Dating app. An app that help people metting each other based on their interest and purpose local activity. :)

cumberboi ,

found this the other day, not sure if its what you're looking for https://github.com/Alovoa/alovoa-expo :P

Snoopy ,
@Snoopy@jlai.lu avatar

That's a good start. However, it could be less based on tinder. Tinder doesn't promote good relationship amd give us a false idea on relationship. :(

Apparence isn't everything. Why not also searching some friends ? Suggest some events with Mobilizon app ?

And the kind of relationship we are looking for, night stand, friend with benefit, short, long...but it will work if everyone are honnest about themselve. :)

And if there is no more than 3 peoples...let's say you have to be very lucky ^^

michel ,
@michel@friend.ketterle.ch avatar

@ClearCutCoconut
Here a list of comments to the same subject on f-droid forum:
forum.f-droid.org/t/what-types…

KingThrillgore ,
@KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml avatar

Substance Painter. Material Maker will get there but its development has stalled quite a bit.

KillingTimeItself ,

personally for me it'd have to be remote desktop software, don't really need it myself, but being an SSH jockey, the day that i can do that but with remote desktop, and without it looking like a jpg, or needing to compile tigervnc specifically for it or some shit like that will be a good day for me.

I realize it's partially dependent on hardware, and that hardware sucks, so sometimes it just sucks. But SSH just works so well though.

Wooki ,

Exchange and Outlook for business use.

No nothing else comes close.

It’s the last app in MS Office that does not have competition. LibreOffice fills ever other app well enough but nothing comes close to exchange and Outlook. Considering they are trying to kill it off with an always online website (OWA) we need foss competition asap.

lemmylem ,

Nextcloud with OnlyOffice?

Wooki ,

Not close, notice how i didnt say office but Outlook, we are talking apps here not services.

corsicanguppy ,

Openchange.

It's been out for a while. I think their client is tbird with a gaggle of add-ons to bring it close to outlook pain.

Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Have you tried Thunderbird after version 115? Also, what's so special about Exchange? It's just another (proprietary) email server, isn't it? Couldn't you just use Dovecot?

Wooki ,

Ill respond to the loaded question with my own. If you have worked in an enterprise environment you would know the answer.

Calendaring is so far from capable. Room and resource management to.

Andromxda ,
@Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

The company I work at lets everyone choose between Roundcube (webmail) or Thunderbird as a native client. We don't have Outlook or Lotus Notes anymore (thankfully, because Notes is such a terrible piece of shit, it's unbelievable). I don't know what they use for their email server, but it's definitely not Exchange.

Olgratin_Magmatoe ,

Fusion360

Tried out FreeCad/Ondsel, and just couldn't get it to cooperate. Trying to do even basic changes would constantly result in errors/crashes. I spent maybe two weeks trying to make a single model. Then I tried making the same model in Fusion360 and was done in an half an hour. Granted, there is a huge difference in experience level here between these pieces of software, but still.

So I think my best bet for now is a jailbroken copy of Fusion360.

michel ,
@michel@friend.ketterle.ch avatar

@Olgratin_Magmatoe
There are currently some changes on the way. They fundamentally solve the Topo-Naming-Problem I propose to try again after the next release.
I don`t know the fork. In what way does it differ from or Freecad from ?

@ClearCutCoconut

M4x ,
@M4x@chaos.social avatar

@michel @Olgratin_Magmatoe @ClearCutCoconut

1/2
@Olgratin_Magmatoe @ClearCutCoconut I'm very sorry for your bad user experience! What you've described, sounds like some basic user errors which would've been easily solved by sticking to good modeling practices. To be honest, these aren't always easy to follow / learn in the first place. If you're interested, have a look at the wiki: https://wiki.freecad.org/Feature_editing#Advice_for_creating_stable_models

Olgratin_Magmatoe ,

I’m very sorry for your bad user experience! What you’ve described, sounds like some basic user errors which would’ve been easily solved by sticking to good modeling practices

The most egregious issue I had was in trying to loft between two faces, such that the curve between the faces was a 3D one.

In Fusion360, it's pretty damn simple, you click the first face, ctrl+ click the second, then select the loft option. Then it's pretty much done.

In FreeCad/Ondsel, in trying to look up a tutorial to see how such an operation is normally done, the only tutorial that got me remotely close was this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv53D00KdGQ

Following the tutorial would lead to errors, crashes, and even if it had worked, it is such a painful way to do this operation.

So this isn't simply an issue with bad modeling practices. Maybe it's a terrible tutorial and there is better options out there. But the ease in which it is possible to do this task in Fusion360 should be the gold standard.

Olgratin_Magmatoe ,

They fundamentally solve the Topo-Naming-Problem I propose to try again after the next release.

I'm not super familiar with that problem, as it has been a minute. But I might try to give it another go at some point.

I don`t know the fork. In what way does it differ from or Freecad from ?

From a user perspective, it has a much more friendly UI in my opinion. When you click on an object, it displays a list of all possible actions you can take with said object. That to me was a huge upgrade over the base FreeCad implementation.

GorGor ,

They fundamentally solve the Topo-Naming-Problem I propose to try again after the next release.

Are they settled on an assembly workbench yet?

michel ,
@michel@friend.ketterle.ch avatar

@GorGor
I don't know.

JimVanDeventer ,

Final Cut Pro. I know it’s asking a lot and I know a lot of talented people have tried and are trying to build NLEs and all my gratitude to them. But—no offense intended—none are there yet and actually accomplishing this would be #1 on my magical (no effort provided by me) wishlist.

Blender has spoiled us with unrealistic expectations.

saywhatisabigw ,

Dating websites

hiramfromthechi ,
@hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world avatar

Canva.

Their feature set and functionality is great, but their vendor lock-in is really off-putting. Even just within their platform, it's really difficult to move assets around within workspaces.

Let alone edit graphics that you made on Canva and edit them elsewhere, say Penpot, for example.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

It'd be nice to have some kind of FOSS business suite, aka point of sale, accounting, inventory etc. I'm not a fan of Intuit.

I've also not found journal software I really like. RedNotebook is about the closest. I tend to use my journal not only as a personal diary but also as a place to brainstorm and I would also like a checklist/to-do list system, and this I haven't found in any software free or proprietary. I may have to build it myself, with my rudimentary knowledge of qt.

boonhet ,

You can try out Odoo, it's heavily customizable so you can add in the parts you don't find existing modules for - and customize existing modules too.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Oh I just love "FOSS" software with a "Pricing" page.

fruitycoder ,

Its business oriented software, the primary users of that software SHOULD be paying first and looking at supporting it themselves as a last resort.

boonhet ,

Free in FOSS stands more for what you're allowed to do than what it costs. The devs have to support themselves somehow, the project is absolutely massive and has a bunch of dedicated developers on the payroll.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Nah, this ain't FOSS, it's source partially available drawbackware. There's a list of features you don't get unless you pay for it. That ain't free as in speech, not the way the Linux kernel is. That ain't Stallman style "and give it away to anyone who can find a use for it."

I could understand if the business gave away the management software, and charged for, say, integration with payment/banking services, cloud hosting, tech support etc, things which are services that cost money. But according to this page inventory management via barcode scanner is a cost option? Is the free version of the software also restricted to ten active customers at a time?

Calling commercial drawbackware "FOSS" because they open some of the source code is fraudulent. I'll be bringing this to the attention of the FTC.

boonhet ,

You get access to the source code you use. If you pay for an enterprise license, you can access the enterprise source code too, but it's indeed a proprietary license, you can't really sell modifications.

I do wish it was fully free & open source (because that wouldn't affect me, I'm not on their payroll, I just work with the software), but I still prefer the current model over Dynamics 365 or SAP (though I believe Microsoft open sourced some or all of their Dynamics 365 Business Central code too? I haven't really kept up).

If Odoo ever decides to close their open source business and only offer it with a closed source, you bet your ass there are going to be dozens of forks of the latest open source version. I'm fairly sure my own employer would do the same, our CTO is an open source evangelist. Would probably RiiR the core even.

Not sure why you think the FTC would be the best body to talk to here. Odoo is not an American company, but rather a Belgian one.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Do they do business in America?

boonhet ,

There's a localization module available for the US, it should handle the arcane tax code and everything, but I haven't tried.

gerdesj ,

I (my little company) employ a bloke to support https://www.uzerp.com/ - we use it ourselves and ditched Sage (yay!)

If you fancy it then give us a shout - it is open source - you get it for free but our time is costed if you need assistance.

That is the Open Source Covenant

CCRhode ,
@CCRhode@lemmy.ml avatar

I may have to build [journal software] myself, with my rudimentary knowledge of qt.

Don't do that! Take a look at Tonto2.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

Looking around at that page...no thanks.

SnipingNinja ,
@SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net avatar

Shapr3d

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