I’ve been daily driving linux for at least 10 years and I think I’m using close to 100% FOSS. Except for the stupid nvidia drivers and my steam games.

ive been dailying Linux since august 2024 and plan to set up a jellyfin server and start collecting DVDs and CDs so I can own my media (plan is to rip them and stream through Jellyfin, pretty easy to do). on my computer the only proprietary things I use are steam, discord (vesktop), and Spotify. on my phone I have F-Droid but only really use HeliBoard.

i also want to set up a nas and try self-hosting email but it’ll probably be a couple years before I have the space or money to start working at any of that.

100%

I make a pretty decent effort to use FOSS even when there is a much more polished closed source alternative (*ahem* FreeCAD) but for some things there really isn’t a choice.

You can’t VRChat without the official client, for example.

As a recovering Apple user, I kinda straddle the two worlds. I’m still in a place where I like software to look tidy, with a decent GUI and workflows that make sense. With the best will in the world, a good amount of FOSS misses the mark on some of that.

But the more I use Linux, the more FOSS I use, and get used to.

Absolutely. Linux on the desktop, f-droid on my Android phone. The fact if something irritates me enough I can download the code and fix it.

I’m lucky I have a job working with FLOSS software. I don’t think I could go back to hacking on propriety code.

A lot of the time, FOSS is the only way to get what I want done because there is nothing else.

We’re really asking this question on Lemmy? What kind of answers do you expect to get here?

Anything that I want to last for a long time. Most proprietary software has only a few years worth of shelf life, before it either turns to shit or ceases to exist. And I most prefer foss for applications where I generate the data and want complete control over it, such as notes, images etc, both for security and privacy along with longevity and full control

FOSS

And as I’ve gotten older and more financially stable, I’ve been donating to software I use.

So it’s not the free aspect alone that appeals to me, it’s the lack of ads!!! Lack of data mining and honestly in most cases the FOSS version is less bm9stred>and actually addresses the issues the real app has.

Yes, very much so. Everyday; I run a linux system and the majority of the apps on my phone are from f-droid.

Yeah, I much more prefer free, libre, open source software. Even just the gut feeling is much better for me 😊

I prefer that it is easy to use, and that it is stable. I don’t care if it’s open source or closed source. I’ll pay either way. Tips or donations or just straight pay for it.

a side note for those that do free open source and want donations or tips, … make it easy to donate. I ran into one piece of software that said please donate. I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how. I gave up. And just use the software for free.

I prefer FOSS because it focuses on creating something good instead of something that focuses on extracting as much money possible.

Hmm, tough call. Generally speaking I guess I’d prefer freedom over eternally paying rent to the tech oligarchs but then I’d miss out on the benefits of Microsoft’s latest adjustments to the Windows 11 start menu.