[Longhanks]

> Sideloading apps and using alt stores like Flathub is a major feature of elementary OS and a competitive edge over closed platforms that only let you install apps from a locked down store.

Unless elementary suddenly competes with iOS, I don’t know which platform they’re actually referring to, all while actually regressing the experience with Vista-style "are you sure" dialogs.

Their dark pattern compelling you to "buy" instead of simply download elementary (for which I doubt many $$$ go to for example the Linux kernel) is still present, too.

[smoldesu]

It's also weird how they call it "Sideloading" rather than just... installing apps. This is how modern operating systems should work, it's baffling that they bend the rules to make room for the exception.

That being said, I do think it's fine for them to charge for their software experience here. What they're really asking you to pay for is the development of the Pantheon UI, and the desktop/OS portion of it. There's not really any reason to pay that back to the Linux kernel besides good will.

[carlosjobim]

>Their dark pattern compelling you to "buy" instead of simply download elementary (for which I doubt many $$$ go to for example the Linux kernel) is still present, too.

Give them a break! They put their hard work into something that could be useful for a lot of people and on top of that let the user name their price. There's nothing "dark" about that.

[t0astbread]

The sideloading dialogs are a bit extreme, I agree. But in general I don't see what's wrong with guiding users towards the "happy path" for package management. It's an opinionated system so it might not be everyone's thing but if it makes sense, sure, why not.

Regarding pricing, even if we say they're basically charging money for it, why is that bad? You get the thing under a free license which is still better than commercial proprietary software that doesn't share any of its revenue. And because they allow you to choose how much you pay you can always pay them less and donate to the Linux Foundation yourself (or any of the other underlying software projects that are taking donations). Granted, folks who are new to the Linux universe won't know about this stuff, so a default split would help.

[bravetraveler]

I think they're taking a dig at Canonical with the Snap-fu. I'm not very well informed, but I've seen/heard some drama about it

Slimy way to say 'we have Flatpak' [like every other distribution]... including the one they hope to take a shot at

This project tears me. I want to say good work, but we don't need more fragmentation. Pantheon doesn't really need such a 'fork'

That, with the longstanding dark pattern for donations... and I can't help but feel worse for having been reminded