Is free software worse because it's less beginner friendly?

Because practically speaking, I've found a lot of free and open source software kind of assumes its users would be either experts or tech geeks in general and mainly provides things like templates and CSS to edit rather than an editor. From what I hear, phpBB is pretty bad in this respect. And outside forum software, stuff like Mediawiki and even Wordpress isn't a great deal better.

In contrast, look at how IPB does it, there's a visual skin editor where you just click elements you want to edit and see them change in real time, much easier and more intuitive than using pure HTML and CSS. Or how vBulletin ADVERTISES it does it with those content/layout/site building tools and style vars and what not.

Is this is an issue with a lot of free and open source software, that it seems to be written for coders/programmers/established designers rather than average joes? Should said software try to be more beginner friendly in future?

 

Most FOSS software is written by people in their spare time, and so, naturally, features might be missing that are present in commercial software where developers often have more time to work on a project, or are under pressure to provide a particular software quality. But it in the end, it often comes down to what developers think of as user-friendly. Hence, this often leads to the impression that software is written for developers. There are also many that don't listen to user input.

But all that being said, there's plenty of FOSS software that is definitely user friendly, even to non-tech users. If you install any modern Linux distro and some applications, you quickly notice that many applications are very, very user friendly. Many developers of such software do listen to input from their users and try to make their programs more friendly to the general public. In a sense, they can even react far more quickly to user requests than commercial developers, because new FOSS software, updates and patches get released and distributed more quickly. On modern Linux distros, there's often not a single day without new software updates. That's why these systems have long moved to automated update managers.

Another thing to consider is that Linux supports so-called manpages, which are manual pages (and often entire manuals) that can be read using a manpage browser or the "man" command-line program. This often means that much documentation is only available in man-page form. There's also a second system called "info pages" which has been introduced by GNU and which can also be read by info page browsers and the "info" command line program. With the "apropos" command line program, users can quickly search for manuals. That's why manpages are so prevalent still (and few people would want it otherwise). But there's also many programs that have documentation in HTML format which are often in a folder in the "/usr/share/doc" directory. GTK or GNOME applications often use the GTK/GNOME documentation system. KDE/Qt applications often use the KDE/Qt documentation system.

Since many programs are developed on Linux first before they're ported to other platforms (like Windows), it often makes sense to also install Linux and use the software in its native environment.

On Windows, you often don't have the infrastructure that would enable you to use software efficiently, whereas on Linux, you not only have all the tools you need, and all the infrastructure, but also plenty of software to choose from. Software that hasn't been ported to Windows yet.

 

No, actually, I think that "free software is worse because it's pretty bare bones against commercial forum software." 50% of the FOSS on the market don't have:

- Spam Protection/Prevention.
- Powerful Forum permissions.

And other security features.

 

and xf have powerful forum permissions?
Users can change the thread title?
Users can change the prefix?

At least these 2 permissions are really basic, but even 2 years after the first public available beta, they're not included...

 

Well, actually phpBB has one of the BEST template systems in the world. Meaning that I can really tweak my files and BACKUP them, so, if I mess up, I don't screw my entire forum. The CSS is in ONE place and one file. I can replace colors immediately and it's easier to work on it. If you're changing 2 colors, template systems that have you click on this and that are OK. If you're doing some serious customization, you'll understand that a file based template system is better, since it allows you to have full control over it. Same with Wordpress, which is terrific, if you know what to do with it

 

I agree with this, BUT only because people aren't aware of the webdav connection most of forums are providing todays (core or via an addon..)​

Or did you know that you can get xf,vb (i think ipb templates too ) as files???​

​

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I've also changed the template system for xenforo and started to use twig and have now (most of) the templates as files instead of the database... twig is also more powerful as the standard xenforo template engine..(it's something i was working on for xf 1.1.3 RTE(RagTekEdition) for my clients, but because we've made the decision to stop work on RTE and concentrate on JAFS the project was dropped and i left the xf community completly...​

But yea, avarage joe even doesn't know what webdav is, that's why JAFS will also have an file system​

 

Sarcastic, aren't we?

 

.

No, i'm really serious...
I've put really very much hope into xf after the 1.0.0 release but now, 2 years later i'm very very disappointed with the current state!

RSS Feed? Doesn't include content
QA Spam Protection? Doesn't support phrases (impossible to use it for an multilang board)
Gallery? Still no real addon available
Performance? Nice, but there are many "out of memory" problems for big boards
etc......

It's a nice product, but i had to accept, that it's nothing for me

 

The reason why I say this ^ is sarcasm is because it favors vBulletin. It's like the kid trying to troll the bully saying "Can Genesis do 3D graphics like Donkey Kong Country?" The post was an obvious jab at xenForo, and favoring vBulletin.

Well, your wording was bad. Really bad.

Well, blame Internet Brands for resorting to a bullying lawsuit.

I donno which site was empty, but RSS feeds do work:

Well, it's an early product.... You should've known this by now, er... at the start.

xenForo is still new, of course there won't be yet..

I dunno about you, but those errors may have been attributed to database caps. As sites beyond 2 million [posts] is possible.

Wow. *walks away in disbelief and shaking head*

 

That's what i mean with the feed => http://xenforo.com/community/threads/rss-feeds-not-parsing-content.26156/#post-315112

Everything else i'm not going to comment, because it was also said dozen times at xenforo.com (just like the problem with the feed, but i'm not going to waste my time to find the links...

 

It seems everytime i read about one of XF's shortcoming the common explanation i always see is

1. It's still new(meh....)
2. Blaming the lawsuit

Though couldn't one argue that VB5 which is a new direction for the company with all its issues and shortcomings is a new product so should it not have some of the same excuses, i.e. "It's new"

Just something i always find amusing.....the hypocrisy about certain things

Oh and i agree, the software is flashy but it really is nothing for me.

 

Wanna know why? Had this lawsuit not been filed in the first place. xenForo would be in the same league as vBulletin. The thing is, xenForo is already a quality software. So, this would attract more people - which in turn would mean more in-house developers, and community coders (which is what you want for Gallery, Spam Protection, and other community requests). xenForo while new, Kier has built a company before, and led a company that's about to take in more than a million dollars per year.

Let me put it this way: If vBulletin was owned by Kier - the competition would be - dead on arrival. That's the case here with xenForo. That's what Internet Brands is afraid of here. Because they know that xenForo would be that powerhouse that would eventually kill off vBulletin. The worst part is, vB3 is the brainchild of Kier.

I was watching Shark Tank last night and I'm thinking about vB vs xF when Mark Cuban spoke up about lawsuits like iB against xF - he said, people or companies like that are part of the problem - and Mark Cuban even said if your company or product can beat out the competition by quality or something similar, you don't really need to resort to lawsuits like this. Mark and the pitcher lady agreed in this aspect. The lady that was pitching her product to the Sharks created a innovative way to put diapers on babies. But in her wake, she spawned a lot of imitators, ya know, the ones that steal a marketplace from you...?

The customers are there, I mean, xenForo's market is there. If they didn't have to fight this lawsuit - I imagine the success level of xenForo beyond your own wildest dreams. The thing is, a lot of major companies are already adopting xenForo on their community forums. That validates that xenForo is further along than anyone can really say about xenForo.

 

Carlos, saying without the lawsuit Xenforo would e in the same league as Vbulletin is merely hopeful thinking and blind optimism in my opinion.

I liken Xenforo to Windows phone with Vbulletin as Apple and IPS as Android. Both of those softwares are titan in the Forum software industry. Xenforo(Like windows phones 7 and 8) brings a unique and fresh look at forum software. I'm a HUGE WINDOWS PHONE FANBOY. However, like windows phone, Xenforo is still missing tons of features it's competitors already have and mastered. Simple basic things really. My point comparing the XF to Windows phone is as much as I love Windows Phone, I can't see it overtaking Android and IOS. I can see it having a good chance at third.....Same for Xenforo. Even without the Lawsuit, I seriously can't see it ever overtaking either IPS or Vbulletin.

The customer are not there....not anymore. Given the current state of things, the customers are leaving, developers leaving.....XF is not the same as it was when it first started and if they don't hurry up and figure out a way to fix this problem and fast their customerbase(Current and potential) will continue eroding away. I've seen a many of XF turned IPS converts on the IPS community stating they were not satisified how things were. I'm really curious as to where on earth you got the idea that their market is there?

The current market of XF consists of those who have a grudge against VB4/5 and refuse to see what's new with IPS......For XF to ever be number 1, they'd need to also manage to convert VB4/5 fans and Ips fans over to their software....that would be the key to their success and given these past what 6 or so months, I don't see that happening even if they win this case or not.

 

Obviously, you have not seen most posts on xenForo. There are quite a lot of people who are on the fence with regards to xenForo, and often times, they're distracted by the lawsuit, sometimes potential customers even go like "Oh! " and leave before even buying. That's not all, I was at ForumCon 2012. I know there are more people interested in xenForo than indicated online.

This actually hurts vBSI/Internet Brands. The silence at ForumCon 2012 was deafening. You have no idea how amazed I was when I was sitting there. I was surprised that when the crickets started creeping in, I looked around... Nobody gave two limey [****][****][****][****]ing shits about Internet Brands! NOBODY.

NOBODY!

Do you understand?

 

phpbb... makes me vomit. I originally started off with phpbb. It was so hard to customize, style and install modifications on. I agree about what you are saying in terms of it being less user friendly, and that is what I thought. I gave up with phpbb. Went straight to XenForo. I had used the software for so long, and after trying vBulletin, didn't even consider it.