Fascinating software

If you have been in the world of #freesoftware long enough, you will find that a lot of them are likely to be either one of them:

  1. Copycat of de-facto software (gratis alternative to …) with “pro” and “community (peasant)” separation looking for cash which should be trickling down from broader demand

  2. Boring software looking for actual problems to solve, which lacks substantial demand; whose authors desperately trying to justify their cheap work taking advantage of the notion of “sustainability” for their own interest, although nobody has begged them to create it in the first place

Due to the constant increase of the number of programmers who are trying to make their living on software, along with the constant improve of literacy about software among us all, that trend will not stop for a while.

Tilix: a tiling terminal emulator

Lately I have found this pretty nice terminal emulator named Tilix. It is basically a tiling terminal emulator, which spares you from looking for emulator windows on your desktop environment.

Screenshot

(Now, I know some of you would tip me to use tiling windows managers like Sway. I have indeed tried it once, but the learning curve was too steep for me at that time.)

The point is that Tilix actually solved one of the issues which I have wanted to solve for a while; as a lazy GUI user I have a die-hard habit to leave a lot of windows opened in a single workplace, and need to use the mouse to select a terminal emulator window from its windows. It often distracts me from the things I have been working on the emulated CUI environment. Tilix makes it possible to organize with tabs on a single window, staying in the CUI experience.

The other point which I find fascinating is that the project does not order ask you to donate. There is not even a single mention about “sustainability” or some sort of bullshit intended to make you feel guilty about using the software freely, as if doing so would be taking advantage of the work. This indeed has encouraged me to be supportive for the software in the way I can easily, which is writing this post.

In fact, Tilix has reminded me the excitement which I have felt when I bought a RealForce keyboard for the first time; the kind of feeling that you've got a game-changer in your hand.

Being humble toward the software you create and generous about it is the virtue which is pretty rare to see in this environment. You have got to make your own living somehow, but blaming other people for the difficulty is not the way how you are supposed to behave. Creating a fascinating game-changer shutting your mouth will always fascinate us. Even if the software might not make your living financially, it makes our lives nicer and happier indeed.