free open source software needs fewer engineers and more designers and product people

[boggo@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@yaxu @TodePond Lots of examples in game dev of open source tools having excellent product design, e.g. Blender, Godot. These tools did get some state funding but also because the tools are good a lot of professionals use them and companies often donate to fund them.

[todepond@mas.to]

but okay, how do we fix this?

we need to make space for design and product work within collaborative open source software somehow. there's PLENTY of space to walk into if you're a dev: make an issue / make a pull request / make a fork / use a package / blah blah blah

but there's none if you're a designer / producty person. what do you do??????

[froos@post.lurk.org]

@TodePond prill scropt is overrated, people should realize it's much simpler to just dweedle their stingmesh like a normal human being. not sure what all the fuss is about. you don't even need a fuzzlebus in most cases

[todepond@mas.to]

the industry does not work like this at all! but open source completely omits product design

[todepond@mas.to]

THIS THREAD IS FACETIOUS AND TONGUE IN CHEEK AND OVERZEALOUS IN ORDER TO SHAKE UP AND CHALLENGE EXISTING NORMS DO NOT TAKE IT ALL AS 100% ACCURATE AND COME FOR ME

[hopeless@mas.to]

@TodePond You could put the bully pulpit down, and show us the FOSS discord alternative you and your designer buddies have been working on for free that is good enough for your highness?

[todepond@mas.to]

@hopeless found the dev

[hopeless@mas.to]

@TodePond No FOSS work, just posts on social media?

[todepond@mas.to]

is it as simple as surfacing the figma file of your open source project as highly as your repo?

can we start the readme with our user stories instead of "how to run locally"?

should we use project tracking? should we A/B test??

should we moodboard????

[todepond@mas.to]

@hopeless yeah i don't do any FOSS work it's true

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@TodePond it’s on the fediverse. You can find it on Matrix. It’s on LiberaChat. It’s on gotosocial with ads. It’s literally on Pleroma. You can find it on Pleroma. Watch now on Pleroma.

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@TodePond Unironically yes, FOSS developers need to imagine users who do not already use FOSS and have no interest in “FOSS” as a concept

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@TodePond @yaxu let’s be real a lot of the reasons that designers don’t want to get involved is because a good deal of the FOSS community is deeply offputting and often hostile to the concept of “design”

A big tell is how many get upset with Apple for supposedly being “form over function” when their real criticism is that Apple cares about form at all, and Apple themselves are actually fairly consistent about form *as* function

[j0ebaldw1n@mastodonapp.uk]

@TodePond @hopeless “Pull requests welcome” approaching this conversation like a cruise missile

[nasser@merveilles.town]

@TodePond the UI/UX of audacity specifically feels like being spit on. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that such a thing was made. foss absolutely needs designers but it also needs a culture that respects and values design at all.

[todepond@mas.to]

#pastagang

[todepond@mas.to]

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[lake@tech.lgbt]

@TodePond [just] is a swearword in my teams

[zdl@mstdn.social]

@TodePond ABSOLUTELY! The flaws of the free software I've switched to are rarely, if ever, technical (at least for established lines). They're just the utter shit UX.