Ask HN: Would you pay for beautifully designed Linux software?

Re:Ask HN: Would you pay for beautifully designed Linux soft... by gwbas1c on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @09:29AM (#21386860)

Maybe I haven't been following Linux closely enough?

I'd happily pay for a Linux-based laptop that's on par with a Mac. If it had an app store, I'd consider buying some applications.

The thing is, on a day-to-day basis, almost all desktop software that I use is either free, or has a good enough community version. I very rarely come across something that's useful enough that I pay for it.

FYI: What do I pay for? MakeMKV, TurboTax, VMware Fusion, and a disk recovery application.

Here's the challenge: When I think of Linux, I just assume that everything is 100% open-source (and thus free beer) because I assume that every Linux user is a GNU fanboy and wants to compile their own software by rubbing two sticks together. Maybe my biases are outdated or wrong?

Anyway, when your users plan to compile their own software from source, half of the value of paid software is gone! (Commercial software is more than the source code, BTW)

Again, I'd happily pay for a Linux-based laptop on par with Mac.

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Re:Ask HN: Would you pay for beautifully designed Linux soft... by groovebits on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @09:41AM (#21386997)

I really feel like the Linux foundation should fund development for a desktop focused OS based on Linux. The current state just isn't good enough.

Apple did it years ago with OS X, so I don't see why can't it happen with Linux.

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Re:Ask HN: Would you pay for beautifully designed Linux soft... by mirajshah on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @09:37AM (#21386963)

Yes, I think you haven't been following Linux closely enough. Ubuntu, at least, has been very aware of this problem for years now. Their "software center"/package management is probably close to as seamless and mature as the Mac "App Store". The caveat remains that many common paid apps (e.g. video games, Microsoft Office) are not compatible with Linux, but that doesn't seem to affect you.

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Re:Ask HN: Would you pay for beautifully designed Linux soft... by gwbas1c on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @09:08AM (#21397262)

I use LibreOffice on my personal computer. (Office at work.)

It's "good enough" for me, but if I was a very heavy user I'd consider paying for MS Office.

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Re:Ask HN: Would you pay for beautifully designed Linux soft... by Thev00d00 on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @09:37AM (#21386964)

Maybe check out Elementary OS[0]? It has an integrated set of apps and an (optionally) paid appstore.

0. https://elementary.io/

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