I don’t get the point of this.
Since when did Sync masquerade itself as FOSS?
Just use whatever you want. Isn’t that why we’re all here?
Is the Sync noise getting to you? Just ignore it. It’s natural since the app just opened up and there were a significant amount of Reddit refugees that badly wanted their app back.
I agree. SYNC will bring tons of reddit users to lemmy. I for one welcome that change.
Seems to me this has spawned a fair bit of discussion… Which is the actual reason we’re all here.
Sync has gotten a lot of buzz (I don’t understand why, even on Reddit, rif was always better anyway) and that’s always going to bring out the people who don’t agree, for one reason or another.
Don’t mistake an opinion you don’t share for anything beyond what it is. I could just as easily parrot your statement back: if you don’t think this discussion is productive, just ignore it. There’s plenty of other discussions to get involved with on Lemmy
Sync gained a big following because it had a core feature many many moons ago, when having constant cell service was much less common, it allowed you download and save hundreds of posts and all the comments while you were on wifi, so you could browse reddit offline, it did this automatically and in the background (based on your settings ) hence the name ‘Sync’. This was a killer feature back in the day, at least for me. As that became less of a need, the app continued to change and add a lot of nice features, like lots of customizations, random NSFW, a very good OLED dark mode, etc, so there was no point in switching to something else.
My .02¢
RiF better? Lmaooo
RiF was all I ever used. Never even heard of Sync until I migrated to Lemmy at the end of June. Fwiw, I found Connect rather quickly, and it feels almost exactly like RiF. Enough that it scratches the itch. I tried Sync for about an hour today… It’s fine enough… But I can’t figure out what it has that Connect doesn’t. Maybe it’s just that everyone who used Sync was just comfortable and didn’t want to change. I’m fine with it being a paid app, or subscription, or whatever dude decides to do to help support himself, too…I just don’t get the hubbub when there’s a perfectly excellent free alternative in Connect.
Yeah, Sync was fine, just nothing special for me. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly just people who want the same experience they had on Reddit.
I adapted to Voyager pretty quickly, and the only real issue I’ve had with it was that it didn’t handle it well when .world went down, but that’s improved enough now. I’m not the biggest fan of the swipe gestures, as they’ve made me accidentally vote on a lot of things without noticing, but it’s nothing I can’t get used to.
I don’t need it to be exactly like it was before. I’m satisfied with something simple that does the job.
I think it’s more the Lemmy userbase having different expectations than that of the Reddit userbase, with Lemmy being such a shift from Reddit.
I could use this same logic to talk about your comment. People are free to dunk on other apps, so why not just mute the post?
I am disliking this sentiment. I am on the Fediverse because Sync’s developer and many others were betrayed by Reddit and I wanted to show solidarity and to ‘punish’ Reddit by leaving. The Fediverse’s values are admirable, but I do not share them all. I believe in supporting good projects, even some that are private if they don’t pose a risk of destroying something bigger, and Sync is a good project that can be easily abandoned without consequences if something goes wrong.
I think we need to separate the system from the product. With Reddit they’re the same, with a single owner. With Lemmy/ActivityPub, just like with email, there’s an underlying system that nobody owns. It’s an ecosystem of pieces created by lots of different people.
It is a good thing that people are building products on top of that. Some of them are FOSS and some of them not. As long as no-one gets too much control of the underlying system then that’s great! Users retain choice and can choose FOSS apps if they want, or they can choose something like Sync.
I agree it would be sad if the only apps were paid, but I think a mix is a sign of a healthy ecosystem.
People need to remember that Lemmy is for everyone, not just people that live by free and open source software. Oh and sync the best, so there 😜
It amazes me the how far Reddit users will bend over backwards to suck this dude’s schlong. Must be a mobile-user thing.
that’s what you take away from the post you’re replying to? therapy is very much needed.
It’s amazing how divorced from reality the FOSS obsessed can be whenever anyone mentions non-FOSS apps. Nobody is bending over backwards, and nobody is sucking anyone’s schlong. If Sync were to have been FOSS, you’d be first in line to sing its praises. This trollish behavior doesn’t win anyone over to the “All Software Must Be Foss” camp at all. Must be a PC Master Race thing.
I had a mobile app for Reddit on my phone, you know when I used it last? 9 months ago when I was sitting in a waiting room waiting for an oil change. Every other time when I’m away from the computer I’m doing non-fucking-computer things.
This guy’s whole shtick was to make enough money to quit his day job, so he wrote a wrapper around someone else’s content using their free API. “Oh he did it all by himself, that’s amazing!” It’s really not, especially if you’d rather not share the subscription profits with other employees.
The FOSS alternatives? Done by guys with day jobs. They’re passion projects. I can respect that.
But you lot, who will drop to your knees the minute the guy wants to repeat his shtick now that Reddit kicked him to the curb? Zero respect at all.
“Wrote a wrapper”. Oh, is that all? It’s just that easy, huh?
Then why can none of these FOSS apps deliver the same experience, if Dawson is such an untalented hack?
You either have no clue of what you’re talking about, or you’re a troll. From my perspective, there is no substantive difference. If it’s such an easy shtick, the do it yourself, and do a better job. Put up, or shut up. Nobody asked for your respect, and I’m certain you know precisely where you can shove it.
If you only want to use or support open source apps, by all means do so. I tried Jeroba and Liftoff for a while, and while they had their merits, I am happy to pay a little money for the experience I get with Sync.
I say this as someone that uses FOSS day to day for work, I don’t really give a shit if my Lemmy app is FOSS.
For me, Sync was Reddit. It’s where 99% of my interaction with Reddit happened. I don’t really give a shit about Lemmy or the fediverse either. I’m here because Sync is a seamless product that gave me the best interface.
Despite saying that I don’t care about Lemmy or other distributed servers, Sync is basically that sync (lol) for me. Once I map my old subreddits on Lemmy, the experience doesn’t change.
This is me 100% also. Sync = Reddit for me for many years. The one hand quick scroll and swipe user experience, and the ability to favorite subs without subscribing, are all ingrained into my consumption behavior.
I actually used the Reddit app for nearly a year and still find myself swiping left to close. Whoever in the design team at Reddit must have gotten a memo to be more like TikTok… What a blight upon mankind that app is.
The Fediverse is cool though. It provides a nice fail-safe to quarantine certain communities and content. They can still exist but in case something awful happens, the federated space can be insulated.
Reddit is like Instagram, not Tiktok. Silicon Valley is sharing around the Twitter/Facebook layout since ages now. Tiktok is better than any Silicon Valley atrocity committed upon mankind.
Practically the same for me but for Infinity. Infinity was reddit for me, and without it, there’s just wasn’t a reddit to me
Can anyone explain what FOSS stands for?
Free Open Source Software
This is me too. Sync was how I consumed/participated reddit just the backend - I’m happy in the fediverse if I can use Sync. What we touch and interact with IS the important part. Sync for me and yes it’s worth the subscription. Either I’m the product or the consumer. I’ll gladly compensate the artist/author to avoid being the product (free is not always free).
For me, Sync was Reddit. It’s where 99% of my interaction with Reddit happened. I don’t really give a shit about Lemmy or the fediverse either. I’m here because Sync is a seamless product that gave me the best interface.
This is the part I don’t get. I get it when you prefer a familiar interface, but most people are saying what you are saying, that all they care about is using Sync again, regardless of the service or communities behind it.
But that’s weird. It’s a social media site. It’s primarily for the communities and the discussion. Sync doesn’t rebuild the same communities that are still on Reddit. Most of those communities stayed on Reddit. Many of us migrated from Reddit, but the community is entirely different here. You may get a familiar interface, but the experience comes from the community.
That’s kinda true in that most communities on here are much smaller than those on Reddit. With that being said, community isn’t individuals, and in instances where a community of similar size exists, one large group of people likely doesn’t differ in opinion to another.
One benefit people should hopefully see from third-party apps moving to Lemmy/Fediverse is more people willing to contribute to those communities. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t give a fuck who creates an interface.
Similarly, competition in FOSS is never a bad thing. If a paid, closed-source app is doing something better, then it’s on the FOSS alternatives to step up their game and learn from each other.
To be fair, this should be the other way around. All these foss apps are the teletubbies because they’re clunky and have major bugs. Sync is the power ranger.
You’re still stuck in 2002 or something? Most of the web is literally FOSS. Gone are the myths of free software being worse when the whole world literally runs on it.
(not op)
Sure, but in this case, most of the lemmy-clients (FOSS or not) are bad.
I have problems logging into my accounts (seems like some instances want my email as a username and many clients cannot handle this after I switched accounts), some clients don’t feature editing or deleting your posts, some clients don’t show my saved content, some clients don’t allow to see what you posted
Sure, much of this is because they started from scratch and will maybe surpass sync some day; but right now I couldn’t find something that isn’t worth. (didn’t try infinity yet, tho)
it’s not necessarily “FOSS is bad”; it’s just that the current lemmy-ecosystem is in it’s child shoes (I have the feeling this proverb doesn’t work in english?)
That said: I use Sync4Lemmy since 5 minutes and this is my first comment; so let’s see if/what it will deliver
it’s just that the current lemmy-ecosystem is in it’s child shoes (I have the feeling this proverb doesn’t work in english?)
The meaning is perfectly clear. I believe English speakers would say “…is in its infancy” but that’s just a common way of saying “early stages” not a proverb per se.
Never heard that idiom before, (is it German?) Sentiment is clear though, I would probably just say “in its infancy” or something.
Also completely agree with your points. I’m a major supporter of FOSS but at the end of the day, I’m gonna use what actually works - the same as everyone else.
Convenience is objectively not superior to morals. Sync gets personal data, while Jerboa does not. Period. Jerboa has a little jank in not having fluid scrolling, but this is a matter of minor convenience. Get back to me when non-FOSS apps do not take any data.
Most FOSS apps are equal to or better than proprietary software when it comes to functionality, but look like they were coded in the stone age.
Most casual users value GUI over everything. And while I personally can overlook shitty user interfaces on apps I use once in a blue moon, for a social media app I’m using daily, that’s a no go.
On security concerns FOSS should be the better solution. Its code is readable and auditable by everyone. Closed Source need trust/faith in a company or in just one single person.
infinity seems pretty awesome judging by the short time that I’ve spent with it
Paid software absolutely has a place in the world. Evil companies producing evil software designed to build a monopoly and lock out FOSS apps do not. I don’t think Sync falls into the latter and I’m happy they’ve made the choice to be able to eat.
Sync is by far the most polished. Everyone acting this is some major company. It’s literally one dude.
Oh nooooooo someone made a familiar and easy to use app to help people get used to this new ecosystem that can only thrive if people actually show up and use it. What a real shame.
Are we really being this petty already?
We had the same people griping on Reddit when the first third party apps were developed, before the Reddit app. Also heard similar gripes during the great Digg and Slashdot migrations.
The gatekeeping is so fucked up
If apps were girls:
I was always in love with Sync. But life happened and we had to go different ways for non-romantic reasons. Some fucker called Spez, long story…
Eventually I met Voyager and she was great. Any user would be lucky to have her. But Sync was always the one that got away. Everyday I looked at Voyager and thought she was awesome but I was always holding a candle for Sync. But Sync was gone and I had to move on. But I could never really move on.
But life happened again and Sync was coming back. I had committed to Voyager but, as great as she was, I always thought how she came short of Sync. Sync came back and she was as stunning as I remembered. I couldn’t stay with Voyager. I’m sorry Voyager. You’re an awesome girl but I was pretty much just using you since I couldn’t have Sync.
I’m a user Voyager, I make no excuses. There, there…
I ditched Voyager the moment Sync came back.
Also, Sync is high-maintenance and demands you spend money on her to avoid listening to her giving you sales pitches, unlike Voyager.
I honestly don’t see what the problem is. If you prefer FOSS use FOSS apps.
I’ve tried every single Lemmy app for iOS and Android, but I can honestly say nothing comes close to how smooth and native Sync feels.
I wasn’t even a Sync user on Reddit so I didn’t understand the hype, but I get it now. On my Pixel 6 Pro all of the other Lemmy apps had some kind of issues, whether that be random crashes or frame rate issues. But Sync is just so smooth and feature rich.
I’ve also joined the sync discord and the developer is very clear on what type of data he collects (He doesn’t, but Google may).
Also with the pricing, if you don’t agree with the price that’s your opinion, but the amount of complaining is ridiculous. He made the app so whatever he wants to charge is his decision. You can also still freely use the app (with ads) so no one is forcing you to buy.
I’m gonna get a lot of hate for saying this but I WANT there to be ads on Lemmy, for developers of apps and hosters, I want there to be a way to fund the fediverse without everyone needing to pay money out of pocket. If you don’t want that that’s fine I don’t care but I want more people on Lemmy contributing more and it being free and still being able to support full time developers without being dependent on donations is a huge hurdle that will make or break the fediverse IMHO
Edit: to add onto this a lot of the people who cry about data security are not constantly running a proxy server with a VPN, I doubt they have an independent routing firewall, they probably use unsecured applications all the time, there are very few people on here where a Lemmy app will be their biggest data security flaw. 99% of y’all are not Mr Robot please stop pretending to be
It’s the steep price increase that everyone’s offended with. The annual cost is how much the old lifetime subscription cost iirc. (Which makes sense knowing that Lemmy has a smaller user count)
Plus the inability to disable telemetry even if paying.
I mean it’s fine and all, but we’re here at Lemmy and not Reddit for a reason. This usergroup is the ones that care the most about privacy and FOSS more than almost any other online community.
That’s fine. In my opinion, I think that would be more of a valid point if there were no alternatives, but as the original post shows there are plenty of FOSS apps available for those that want that.
I just feel like the developer has took a lot of his time and effort to make this for the community, but instead, some of the community decides to bash him for it due to the pricing model and it not being FOSS.
We’re supposed to be building Lemmy as a community but here we are fighting against ourselves internally when there’s plenty of options for everyone to use.
Iirc old lifetime one was just for getting rid of ads (I bought it twice), but sync ultra is just extra features for a small cost each month meant to support the developer a little bit extra.
Right now lifetime purchase isn’t available, but I believe ljdawson has talked about it being in the works.
Have you tried Memmy for iOS? My main phone is iOS, but I’m curious as to what may be better on Sync as I was a longtime android user. I do remember using Sync WAY back in the day so I could download a ton of reddit posts for plane rides lmao.
Funny enough, I’m getting ready to board a plan soon and I’m using sync 😂
Have you tried Memmy for iOS?
Yes I have! Memmy is a great app and it was the first one to reach the Apple store. The development team consistently pushed out updates pretty much daily and was able to provide the most features of any Lemmy app currently on iOS, at least in my opinion.
My main phone is also an iPhone, but it’s just something about sync. Like it’s seriously so fluid and it just feels “right” I would highly suggest giving it a try if you have an Android device laying around that can support it.
I’m anti mega corporations with consolidated power and platform monopolies. I’m not anti small distributed devs getting paid for high quality hard work.
Still love sync tho
Deleted the half dozen other apps I had for all my Lemmy accts. Now I have just 1 app to rule them all.
Yep. And if this app turns bad after a while for whatever reason, we can always go back to the FOSS alternatives.
This kind of gatekeeping and elitism is bad for Lemmy and for FOSS.
It makes this community a less welcoming place and leaves new folks with a bad first impression. Much better to be welcoming and let people learn/see the benefits of FOSS at their own pace.
I’d given up on lemmy because every so I had tried was unfinished and unpolished. I tried sync and finally felt like the user experience wasn’t getting in the way of content.
I’d love to support foss, if a genuinely comparable experience existed.
I’m glad to say that sync has revived my interest in lemmy.
You should check out Thunder, even if you gave it a try at some point - it’s super polished and it’s gotten even better week after week. In my opinion it has the best compact mode of all the lemmy clients, as long as you don’t mind swipe actions!
I was using Thunder last week until Sync’s open beta got approved and the User Experience and the interface of Thunder is nowhere near Sync. It’s a night and day difference, and a difference that would have made me use Lemmy less and less.
Thunder is like a month old - it’s still growing and will continue to improve with the community’s help :) if you think anything could be improved, definitely shout it out on the GitHub page!
I understand that it’s new, and it is definitely the best FOSS Lemmy app out of the dozens that I used. But it has a very long way to go to achieve the same level of User Experience that Sync has. It’s not even close and I don’t think anything bar a major UI/UX rehaul could fix that.
Dozens?? Do tell.
Not OP, but I’ve tried thunder. It’s OK. Sync is light years above all other clients I’ve tried. (same with reddit as well) swipe actions? Sync is the king of swipe actions.
IMO FOSS has really great offerings when it comes to libraries or other highly technical code.
But something about either the community or incentive structure results in sub-par UI/UX. Obviously not a rule, but definitely a trend I’ve noticed.
Lemmy is just new. The best desktops that exist are FOSS.
That’s very subjective. I have yet to find a Linux desktop I like as much as MacOS, especially when it comes to WACOM drivers. The stylus response time/curve almost always feels wrong.
Also, I’ve worked with designers who can get something that looks and feels fully professional on a first pass, so it’s not just newness for Lemmy.
Don’t forget the community’s reaction to comments like yours, why down vote him if he’s stating the obvious? FOSS projects often focus so much on technical features because everyone wants to flex their code-fu, but nobody gives enough time to UI/UX. Just look at pretty much every Lemmy web frontend, fugly webpages with early 2000s look-and-feel, usually slow and/or buggy, and with little to no user feedback.
FOSS doesn’t need your support. You misunderstand the relationship. FOSS is looking out for you.
I see the upvotes but I cannot support this comment. FOSS could use a lot more support at every level, including users.
Username checks out. Wait I know this face from masto - I think I follow you!
It’s been one year of this conversation, but I just found it now.
Sync has also made me use Lemmy more often, but I was still missing a good web environment until recently when I started using photon. It is the best web experience I had using Lemmy and now I’m using as a progressive web app.
Photon repository here! Give it a star or start contributing to it.
This is why I unsubscribed from the Android community. I love Android, I use nothing but Linux at home and really appreciate open source software.
But the FOSS…enthusiasm is starting to border on zealotry. It’s getting really unpleasant.
Try to tell the Linux users on here that you prefer to use Windows…
Or Chrome over Firefox
This drives me nuts. I like Chrome. It’s simple, it’s fast, the extensions I want run on it (for now), and I love the Google Account Sync because I have an Android phone. This greatly pisses off people for whatever reason, despite the fact I’ve never had a bad opinion about Firefox and love what they’re doing too, and I never criticize anyone for choosing Firefox.
As with everything open source communities need nuance and understanding, otherwise they start to feel like cults.
For whatever reason? They’re trying to DRM the internet lol. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion but there are some pretty big reasons to be mad at Google on a good day. Nobody should take that out on you but I understand the frustration. People letting things slide because it doesn’t bother them specifically until it’s too late is how everything keeps getting worse.
I use Linux as my daily driver, yet I 100% believe Linux is overrated. It’s great if you’re willing to put in the work to get it working well, or maybe if you have someone else to do all your tech support for you, but it’s just not a good option for the majority of people.
I hate when people keep trying to push it on Windows users, especially when they go on about how “easy” it is. It’s not. And doing that will get people to try it out with high expectations and then get disappointed when they try it out and that’s not the case.
I honestly feel like people who say this stuff either haven’t tried Linux since 2008 or went straight to Arch.
I use Manjaro as my daily driver and I never need to fix the system. It really does just work, and these a bunch of disyros out there that do.
The only thing you might find terrible is trying to run windows programs on Linux, to which I say: dual boot! Even with all the progress Proton, Lutris etc. have made, it’s still way easier to just boot into windows on the occasion you want to play games or whatever.
I switched to Linux last year, and I used Linux Mint, which people say is the easiest, and then KDE Neon which I’m still using now, which is definitely way better than Linux Mint but it’s still not easy. I’m fine with it, and I personally prefer it to Windows, but I could never imagine my parents or my friends trying to use it without help.
I had to leave the Linux memes community because I swear nearly every post was shitting on Windows. Yes, I get it. Windows isn’t all that great. But, much like Ios, it just works for what I need. And I haven’t had any issues that weren’t ny fault with it.
If the game I play most, and the number one reason why i go on my pc, works on Windows, but won’t work on Linux. Which OS is better for me?
I thought all this software war crap era was over. That was shit I cared about when I was 14 or something. Just let it herself use what they want and explain the benefits of alternatives, only if they care.
I’m surprised they don’t shit on macOS too lol
I tell myself that I like MacOS as it was my favourite desktop for years. Honestly though, it is the worst of the three at this point.
100% agree. Going “haha, aren’t I COOL for NOT using this one popular app or software!?” contributes absolutely nothing and actively makes the community uninviting. I’m all for FOSS, but if a closed-source app is better than the FOSS options, I ain’t gonna knock on anybody for using it.
Also why even use an app outside of accessibility reasons? Been using Kbin on a mobile browser and it’s been a pretty good experience.
I don’t understand how promoting FOSS in favor of proprietary software is bad for FOSS?
This is not promoting FOSS. This is mocking closed-source/paid Lemmy clients.
Dood the automod is wild… people getting banned for, “suspicious activity”… and then there’s no way to ask the mods why the ban.
Btw, the automod is ONLY a service from us, that you are getting notified when something got removed from you. If you mean the @AutoMod@lemmy.world
I couldn’t care less if foss app users or developers are butthurt because closed apps are suddenly available and gaining popularity.
Sync for lemmy landed and it has been more stable and has more features than any of the other lemmy apps I’ve tried.
Maybe if the foss apps were stable and feature rich more casual plebs like me would use them, but at the moment they all feel kind of broken.
Also, I would take issue with jerboa here. Jerboa is there but not Connect? Lol…
Yea I’ve tried every app and there’s just nothing as smooth as the sync app. Tossing an independent dev $20 a year for something I’m getting thousands of hours of use out of is a no brainer. I give Netflix more every month and don’t get nearly as much value. Too many people expect to get everything for free.
Exactly. And lifetime is just about 100 bucks, who cares. Sure it sounds like more than the casual $2 you throw at a random app to remove ads, but considering that I used Sync daily for ~12 years, it’s really just peanuts in the long run.
I’ve bought a bunch of seemingly cheaper apps and then used them 10 times over 2 years and they ended up discontinued, that’s like 20 cents per use.
I’d have racked up tens of thousands with Sync that way. Easily the most used app on my phone.
What of the features youre missing? Ive been using liftoff since july and cant say i seem to miss anything or having it crash :/
Let’s face it. How many of us have actually contributed enough to any FOSS projects to demand for free and premium services. I personally would rather donate to a FOSS app instead of paying Sync, but it’s unfair to judge Sync for having ads and trackers when the option of removing them is there. There’s nothing wrong with any dev wanting to make a decent living or even more than that, as long as they don’t go overboard and are honest about it.
