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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Papanca@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

I find it quite hard to find open source software for windows. In time i might switch to linux, but for now i am stuck with windows 10.

Is there some reliable place where you can search for open source software?

Or is it that devs usually just don't bother with windows?

EDIT: everyone, thank you so much for your input! I will check it all out. Yes, of course windows is evil, and i hope/expect to switch to linux before windows 11 comes around, but i still need it for a few programs, unfortunately. Once these come with a linux version - which is in the works - i can make the switch. Degoogling/demicrosofting is a process and i'm working on it.

Have a great weekend and thank you for the time to answer my question.

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[-] bearded_zero@lemmy.world 53 points 1 year ago

You may want to check out Chocolatey, https://chocolatey.org/ it’s a package manager for windows. Install chocolatey gui to geat an easy way to work with it. It works fine via powershell, you just need to learn the commands. They have tons of info on there sight. Good luck and enjoy

[-] Atemu@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 year ago

Note that while chocolatey is a package manager in some sense, unlike "proper" package managers, it relies on the individual apps' Windows installers to execute the actual installation functions.

It also contains tonnes of unfree software; it's just a repository for installers afterall.

[-] Kushan@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

This is a good response and worthy of being the top answer, however I feel the need to point out that it isn't actually what OP is asking for.

F-Droid specifically only hosts open source software, in fact it builds that software itself, it is t just another store or package repository.

Chocolatey does not build the applications it deploys and in fact contains plenty of closed source, proprietary and paid for software. It's a fantastic tool and I use it a lot myself, but I wanted to be explicit that it's not analogous to F-Droid at all.

[-] coffee_poops@sh.itjust.works 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

WingetUI. Uses Scoop, Chocolatey, and Winget sources.

[-] Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

This is absolutely brilliant!

[-] detalferous@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago
[-] Leax@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 year ago

Looks interesting! But you forgot a link https://ninite.com/

[-] chandz05@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Been using ninite when doing a fresh windows install for years now!

[-] TrustingZebra@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

I still use it on nearly every new Windows install (including when helping others setup). Although Ninite itself is not FOSS, it has many of the best open source Windows software in its curated list.

[-] Successful_Try543@feddit.de 12 points 1 year ago
[-] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Wow. I love alternativeto. This is a cool tool if it's good!

[-] Peffse@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I'm guessing that is similar in function to osalt.com?

[-] fiveoar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 year ago

Choco is pretty good but it does have less packages than say, brew.

As someone who has packaged for Mac's with brew and RPMs and debs on Linux, packaging for windows is a total pain. Choco uses nuget 2 for self hosted repos which means you need to run a server for your packages, which there are things like the PPAs for Linux and Brew uses GitHub releases so you don't need to host anything yourself to provide binaries.

This is also on top of windows needing extra work to develop for, because windows filesystem works differently enough to need code specially for windows. All of this means that windows users suffer on the open source software front.

[-] simple@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

I feel like everyone moved from chocolatey to winget now that Windows has an official package manager.

[-] sturmblast@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago
[-] Beryl@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago
[-] sturmblast@lemmy.world -5 points 1 year ago

is it that surprising that a third party does something better than microsoft?

[-] clegko@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

A little bit, because you won't explain HOW it works better...

[-] Beryl@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

It wouldn't necessarily be surprising, but I've used both and I honestly couldn't say which one I prefer. That's why I hoped you would elaborate.

Not really, but it would still be more helpful to explain how it's better.

[-] people_are_cute@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 year ago
[-] iso@lemy.lol 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I liked Scoop more than Chocolatey.

[-] nix@merv.news 2 points 1 year ago

What do you like more in Scoop vs choco? I use Choco assuming it would have more packages and would be updated more often since its more popular.

[-] tordenflesk@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

ReactOS Application Manager (RAPPS) https://reactos.org/wiki/RAPPS

[-] Pyroglyph@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Windows users generally don't care as much about using open source software, so there isn't really an audience for such a place.

[-] TrustingZebra@lemmy.one 12 points 1 year ago

There are a ton of great FOSS for Windows. Even before I moved to Linux as my primary OS, I used many of these because they were often just better than the proprietary alternatives.

[-] Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Mine as well just @ blender for this lmao

[-] Pyroglyph@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

Oh, for sure. I do like using FOSS and Windows is my primary OS (for game compatibility reasons), but I'm saying that the number of Windows users who care enough about FOSS to seek out an F-Droid equivalent is very low, which is likely why nobody has bothered to build one yet.

[-] TrustingZebra@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago

Windows has billions of users, I guarantee you more than a few care about FOSS.

Also FOSS repos for Windows do exist, as explained in other comments here.

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

I feel like a lot of people might like Foss, but still use FOSS. Sometimes you might need it for work/school but still want as many FOSS apps as you can get.

Analogy: A lot of people that use FOSS apps on Android aren't running GrapheneOS

If it was easier to find FOSS stuff on windows, I think more people would use it and care about it.

Maybe not your typical users, but a lot of open sourced software us Linux users enjoy have Windows versions easily available.

[-] Papanca@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

That was what i feared, yes

[-] grue@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

F-Droid does a lot of vetting to help users avoid anti-features and other abuse.

Windows has anti-features built right into the OS, so on that platform such vetting is kinda pointless.

So, no, not really.

[-] fbmac@lemmy.fbmac.net 22 points 1 year ago

android has anti-features too, not ppintless

[-] aes@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Android with play services*. Degoogled phones are dumb as rocks and some people like em that way

[-] Knusper@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

If by dumb as rocks, you mean not wasting obscene amounts of battery to tell Google all the details of my existence, yes, I do like that.

[-] cooopsspace@infosec.pub -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Linux

Seriously, if you care about foss - fuck windows off.

this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
112 points (97.5% liked)

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