I don’t understand the hate for charging for a product. I pay for a Mastodon client. If a Lemmy client that I really liked cost money and I felt the price was reasonable, I’d support that developer, too.
I would pay for a good native iOS App. Memmy is nice but apps using web frameworks always have more limitations than any native one.
Mlem is SwiftUI and FOSS! I know there are some issues with the current App Store build (weeps in janky scrolling) but we've got a major update hitting beta tomorrow and the App Store as soon as Apple will allow that's going to fix it.
A lot of Lemmy consists of FOSS enthusiasts, so something that's paid and proprietary wouldn't look as good in their eyes.
There's also the fact that the free version of Sync uses (Google?) ad tracking to show you ads, so those people would also be upset.
I would happily pay for any FOSS app that I use, even for higher price than proprietary ones. I personally would prefer to use a FOSS app, if the UX is somewhat on par with the proprietary ones.
That being said, no judgement to people who prefer proprietary app. We all have different priorities, hence have to make different tradeoffs.
Oh no $20 to remove ads from an app that was made by one guy as his full time job. I'm proud to support anyone who works hard to make a more accessible, more enjoyable experience.
Oh no ads track you! My full time job is literally managing Google ads. We barely tracked you personally as it was. We could anonymously target generally the things you were interested in buying or what you've recently been looking at online.
And then Google crippled Google Analytics and it's a shell of what it once was, and your data is even more anonymous!
If I work for a lawnmower company I couldn't give a shit who you are or what you do online, all I care about is if you're thinking about buying a lawnmower, so my client can show you what he's got to offer. Then you can ignore the ads if you don't like the product or its price point. That's what Google does.
I'd rather that than be shown "Generic Chinese cashgrab mobile game ad that doesn't actually reflect the gameplay" ads.
The guy worked hard to make possibly the best UI/UX on the platform. Either pay for his work or let him get the (barely any) money from showing ads to pay for his time. Either way, he worked for it.
Do you work full time for free too?
I don't think most people worry about lawnmowing company. They worry about Google.
What google essentially sale is manipulation: they make money by changine your behavior, which is a extermely dangerous business in a democratic society. What makes it even more dangerous are
- It is a for-profit company, which means people with more money have more power to manipulate the general public
- It caters to U.S. government (since it is based in the U.S.), which is one of the most imperialistic governments today, with a terrible record of over-surveillance.
- Everything can be hacked, all the information that is stored will be leaked sooner or later. And these data can easily fall into the wrong hand; in fact, they tends to fall into the wrong hand.
That's all perfectly sensible things to be concerned about. But given that we're talking about an android app - if you're eligible to use the app, Google almost certainly already has all your data anyways.
Yeah I'm sure there's a tiny subsection of the people in these discussion who have custom ROMs flashed, but the vast majority are posting about Google tracking them on a google phone - or (even more annoyingly) posting about it from a phone that doesn't even support the app, and so doesn't remotely affect them
A Sync user loves Lemmy enough to pay for it and isn’t wrapped up in drama spun by FOSS advocates. Be proud.
That being said, I love FOSS.
Yeah nah fuck that Sync hate, I don't use it personally but if someone wants to use it, all the best to them and have a jolly ride in the lemmy part of the fediverse
I used many Lemmy Android clients and after trying out Sync it is so good. It is not FOSS but it is high quality. Other FOSS apps are not mature enough yet and are unestable. I hope one day a FOSS one can compete and have high quality and I will switch
Welcome buddy. Welcome all sync users. The greatest part of the decentriverse is it's not yours or mine, it's no one's. Do as you please.
I found out about Lemmy BECAUSE of Sync. I'm a huge FOSS supporter but that doesn't mean I'll trash anything that isn't open source.
Much more importantly, I'd really like to see Lemmy succeed against data mining trash like Reddit. Let's not dissuade potential converts coming over from Reddit with this gatekeeping nonsense. These manipulative parasitic social media companies are the real enemy here. Sync is one guy making one app with a one time purchase. Everyone is still welcome to use open source apps, the website or any other means of accessing the community. Sync is not your enemy.
I found out about Lemmy BECAUSE of Sync
I had heard of lemmy in the days before the reddit blackout, but only when ljdawson said he was considering building sync for lemmy, did I actually join up.
I tried other clients before sync was actually out, and voyager is pretty good - but sync feels like home.
Why do people hate sync anyways
It's cool to hate it, for a lot of people who moved to fediverse early, it's a matter of FOSS software and an ideology. Everyone has a flexing point in their ideology, early adopters of fediverse can't be flexible at closed source products. I personally draw my flexing boundary at large capitalist companies. Sync is developed by one guy and tbh with a way pretty UI than any of the FOSS software has (my personal opinion) so I like it. And I use it. But I understand the ideological point of FOSS everything, but I don't understand people who want FOSS everything but they contribute nothing.
I understand why people want to use FOSS, but I don't understand being annoyed that a non FOSS project costs money. It doesn't take away your choice and only adds more choice and gives FOSS devs a target to make their apps better. I only see upsides to having more choices of clients. This isn't some huge mega corporations trying to monopolize on a platform, it's a small solo dev that's making a client for a platform with an open standard that cannot be closed off by design. There's no downside to having more competition. It's not like sync will put the FOSS options out of business since they're free hobby projects to begin with.
I agree that I'm not flexible with non FOSS software but at the same time I'm glad that this new app will bring more people to lemmy and the fediverse in general. I just in huge disagreement over the pricing policy out of principle. I'm glad the money is going to one person instead of a mega Corp but his app should have been priced at less than 10$ for a, lifetime and maybe 20 for ultra. More than 20$ for lifetime and 100$+ is bonkers and no regional pricing even. As good as his app is it is not anywhere near that value.
This guy... He gets it.
Once I was exactly like you described: "people who want FOSS everything but they contribute nothing". Indeed, it was really bothering me to not contribute anything, but the reason was I didn't have much confidence about my skills. I slowly break that barrier of lacking confidence.
If there are people out there like who I was, please just go and commit anything on any project, whatever it is, doesn't matter.
I don't hate it. What rubs me the wrong way is the $20 ask to remove ads, when alternative apps exists that don't charge or even have ads yet. It feels far too steep for what it's designed to handle, compared to Reddit. $5 would have been reasonable as an early bird deal, then $10 afterwards would have made more sense. Then add a tip jar for those who feel generous.
F that noise. I'm here and active because Sync came out, and I've become used to its interface over the years. I'll eventually try the other FLOSS apps but I'm here learning and enjoying first.
Yeah, op, don't feel shamed about using sync, it's a great app that's worth using. I use it. Lots of us use it. The hate is a knee-jerk reflex to the sudden influx of excited reddit sync users who have migrated to lemmy and talked a lot about sync. I think FOSS users were expecting a FOSS-type option and were shocked when that wasn't the case. Then you also had users who were just mad that it would cost more to be used here than it was on reddit.
No one hates you for using sync.
Sync is what got me to really enjoy using Reddit. I'm proud to be a Sync user. lol .
I’m over here bouncing between Memmy and Voyager solely because I miss Apollo.
It’s amazing how much an interface matters thought I enjoyed Reddit when really I enjoyed Apollo.
My point is, I don’t know what Sync is but if it’s what you like then hell yeah use the shit out of it.
Sync was a great app for Reddit. I used it as my main for a while before I got my first iPhone. I honestly don't understand all the hate for it here. There are several FOSS choices for Lemmy apps if anyone doesn't like it.
I love FOSS but I too use Sync. Used it on Reddit for the better part of a decade and it's made Lemmy more accessible for me and also some friends.
In the end if people are happy to pay for a client, which then builds the membership of Lemmy communities - what's the big fucking deal? I'm very happy to be here and very happy to continue supporting a dev that does fantastic work.
People are ridiculous.
It's ok to like the things you like, as long as you're not like, directly hurting people.
If RiF made a LiF, I'd buy their ad free version too. I like the UI/UX. Connect is a good app, but it's just not quite the same.
Same boat, I like FOSS, using linux for 20+ years yada yada android custom ROM hack stuff what not, but 10 years ago I tested all the reddit app, Sync was far superior so I bought it for like 3$. Now Sync for Lemmy is an impressive experience compared to Jerboa or Connect for instance, so I forked the 20$ for the noads version. Dev looks like a great guy, I have no problem with this.
The FOSS idealist fantasy land is just as cringe as all the "it's only $20" bootlicking loyalists. Just another dramatic console war, courtesy of a bored internet and slow news cycle
It's now bootlicking to be okay paying for something. Okay.
for real lol - you'd think Sync users were getting the logo tatoo'd on their forehead the way people are acting
At this point I'm just sick of hearing about it. If I promise to delete Sync from my phone, will you all shut the fuck up about it???
How dare you be okay spending $20 that will provide you thousands of hours of enjoyment over the course of the next decade?!
While the cost and ads are enough to keep me using the free options, everyone should just use whatever they want.
More Lemmy users = more content on Lemmy.
If Apollo would introduce Lemmy support I would immediately pay for it. Even though I am actually really happy with Memmy.
Huh. I call Lemmy users "Lemmers". Is "Lemmies" the agreed term?
Memes
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