Freedom software

The 2024 animated movie Flow was done entirely in Blender. It is an incredible movie, highly recommend.
- Blender was also used a bit in Everything Everywhere All At Once
  
  And Into the Spiderverse for some stuff

Hot take: I hate when software just extracts an executable.
\ Fucking install it so that it's registered with the software updater and uninstaller. Don't make me remember that I have to go hunting in the folder to delete this one app.
- You don't need an uninstaller if deleting the folder suffices
  You don't want some software to update.
  
  I know I don't NEED an uninstaller. I want to use the uninstaller I already have for all my other apps.
  Let me have a consistent user experience.
  \ Automatically figure out the right spot for the app resources and set the appropriate file permissions.
  \ Show up in the list of installed applications, so I can sort them by size, if I'm running out of space.
  \ Don't make me jump through hoops or know the magical directory I need to put it in, in order to have it show up in the start menu or app drawer.
- Some people prefer it.
  I maintain a small piece of Windows software and originally just provided an installer, but I received enough requests for it that now when I publish releases I provide both an installer and a zipped portable build.
  
  This is the way!
- Assuming you are on Windows, the proper install method is to run
  winget install -e --id BlenderFoundation.Blender
  
  Cool, that doesn't help because I don't actually want blender.
  I'm commenting on how much I hate when software is provided as just a portable executable.
  I know that a lot of the time they're also provided as flatpaks or debs or in snap or windows app store, or Apple app store, etc.
  \ But I'm talking about doing the thing that is being described in the image: unpacking a portable executable.
- Having no package manager be like:
  
  Mac Applications
- Kind of a moot point since most windows programs don't have a centralized hub for updates either, even when "properly installed" in program files.
  
  Not really moot, no.
  A portable executable can have neither of those things. It also won't show up in the start menu app list.
  With an installer, it'll at least show up in the uninstaller, with an install size that I can see when I'm looking to uninstall things, and it'll at least show up in the app list.
  But they could also package it through the app store where you get all that plus centralized update management.
  \ But I'd be happy with just having it show up in the app list and uninstaller.
- If it's good software for a larger program it will execute an install program that does register it. Other stuff should go in a specific folder so you can review what's there.
- AppImage is absolute chaos. Like, there's an entire application floating on my desktop and it doesn't have an icon, doesn't appear in my list of apps, doesn't update and has its own copy of libraries that are on my system, but aren't managed or updated.
  It's even better when I can't find a program that I thought I had installed. I go on the internet, find the site, and realise it's appimage. I download the file just to find I already had it, and it was in my downloads directory.
  Just package your program properly FFS.

Running FOSS on closed source systems. Classic.
- Running Linux on closed source hardware. Classic.
  I bet you aren't even using your own open RISC-V based SBC, with fully open-source peripherals. Is your computer monitor even running an open-source firmware or are you just a FOSS poser?
  
  Using computers with closed source biology. Classic.
  I bet you haven't even engineered your own DNA-II, fully-sequenced, libre-licensed microbiome with open source biochemical pathways. Are your eyes even running an open-source neural firmware, or are you just a FOSS poser?
- It'a a start! Makes the switch much easier.
  
  No. You either go full Stallman and inject Gentoo directly into your aorta, or you might as well be deep throating Satya Nutella while bouncing on Tim Apple's lap. Filthy casual.
  
  Agreed, OSS purity is silly. I am running an open source client (Thunder) to this open source service on my Pixel 9 running GraphineOS, the low level firmware is still absolutely proprietary.

Bravo. Truly an exceptional meme.

Oh it's free so it lacks features
- Exactly! And every proprietary software is by definition perfect cause it is subject to the forces of the open market. Subway eat fresh and freeze, scumbag!
  
  Can't wait to live in Snow Crash
  
  Oh fuck it's Home Depot presents: The Police™
- If you don't count professional software, nowadays it's actually the opposite. Very often in proprietary software there are features removed with no alternative provided by developers, or there's one but actually it has nothing to do with what you actually want.
  
  And sometimes the one feature you need requires the Enterprise version with a $4799 yearly subscription.
- It’s a jack of all trades for sure, but it also has features paid software doesn’t, like it’s 2d animation system with Grease Pencil. There are also paid extensions on BlenderMarket and the like that make it more competitive with more specialized features in other software. Extensions are GPL licensed, so I’m happy to pay for them as opposed to the rest of the toxic CG ecosystem where everything is subscription-only.
  Edit:
  I wish all paid software were GPL. It’s nice buying something and being able to look at and change the code, write code that calls their code, or even snag a bit of it for to use in your own thing.
- Sometimes they actually have too many

I just got blender after having last looked at it ten years ago. It looks so much better! I had an easy time finding stuff. If you tried it in the past and are afraid of how ugly it was it is worth another shot. Also look up the doughnut tutorial.

Upvoted for the "The Founder" reference.

I'd like to make it like that for my projects, but I don't use windows so I can't do well with packaging them. And sometimes when I try it runs in the computer, but then doesn't run in other computers because of missing dlls or some other things.
Anyone have good idea how to make it easy. Using windows VM is such a hassle to install and such just for tiny programs I make.
- Make them in a portable language. Something like Java for example. Or you can write in rust and compile for each target.
  
  It's in rust. Problem is the gtk part, it has to be installed in the system, which makes it run there. But how do I distribute the program without having everyone install gtk on their computer. In Linux it's just a dependency so it's not a problem, for windows I can't seem to make it work.
  Edit: also, I need gtk because people around me who uses windows aren't going to use CLI program at all.

As the software gods intended.

Me running Godot on a new computer yesterday

Hope your third-party antivirus is fully updated
- Just as unhealthy as the food hes eating in the image so it works for me.

On a somewhat related note, why do so many open source projects give me a zip file with a single exe inside it instead of just the exe directly?
- Because zipping it can reduce the size
  
  Plus a lot of antivirus whatevers will straight up block the downloading of *.exe
  
  2 MB to 1.95 MB, nice.
  
  EXE files don't really compress well, plus the files should already be internally compressed when the exe is built.

If only it was that easy on Linux
- I'd say {insert package manager} install blender is easier.
  
  Hmm, like winget install blender?
  
  Yeah but then I get an ancient version because I use Debian.
  I think the last time I used Blender I installed it through Steam.
  
  I don't really like the way software installation is centralized on Linux. It feels like, Windows being the proprietary system, they don't really care about how you get things to run. Linux the other hand cares about it a lot. Either you have to write your own software or interact with their 'trusted sources'.
  I would prefer if it was easier to simply run an executable file on my personal Linux machine.
- It's literally how Blender is distributed. Get archive, extract wherever, run blender.
- One command line away?
  
  If I have to go into DOS to do something a normal user wants to do, the GUI OS is a failure.
- "Your AppImage, Sir."
- Yeah, on linux you have to right click, open properties and give it permission to run. So much harder
  
  Properties is a strange name for a terminal
- You can do exactly that with blender on linux
- in blender's case it literally is
- You missed the /s