The vast majority of free and open source software available is well known for being clunky, having very unintuitive UI/UX and being very inaccessible to non-nerds.

We can see this in Linux distros, tools, programs and even fediverse sites.

I understand that a lot of it is because "it's free", but I also feel like a lot of people who make and use FOSS don't actually value user-friendliness at all. I feel like some of it is in order to gatekeep the less tech savvy out, and some of it is "it's good enough for me".

What are the best theories for why this is the case?

EDIT: A lot of replies I've been getting are focusing on the developers. I'm asking more why the users seem okay with it, rather than why the developers make it that way.

I know a lot of people have been asking for an app, if just for a home screen/app drawer icon, so I cobbled together a small WebView wrapper that installs on your phone as an app.

It's for Android only (sorry iOS users) and probably will receive very little support, since I'm not an Android developer! In fact, this is just a fork of the vastly more capable woheller69's gptAssist, ported over to support Tildes and with some limiting functionality removed. Absolutely check out some of their stuff! My app and the original gptAssist are both licensed under the GPLv3. If anyone would like to contribute, please do! In fact, if you're an Android dev, feel free to fork and make it much better.

I absolutely appreciate the design philosophy of the Tildes devs and think that a WebView wrapper is a good compromise between having an app and using the thoughtfully-built website. If you're anything like me, you just like being able to tap on an icon to get to where you're going. I put this together with that in mind.

The benefits of a free and open Internet is something that the millennial generation created long ago to make this world a better place and full of opportunities for everyone, not just those who can afford access to it. These benefits are something that makers of quora platform themselves used in the form of open source software like Python, Django, HTML, etc. to build that very platform in the first place.

But now, by denying those benefits to others and bringing in a paywall, quora is striking on its own proverbial roots. There are much better ways to reward their content creators than holding their answers hostage with a paywall. The plain old advertising revenue sharing model can be still used, just like Adsense does. This is a win-win thing where everyone gains including the platform, content-creator and advertiser.

It's extremely important to oppose this paywall move by quora because this attacks the very foundation of the free and open Internet as we know it. Imagine what happens tomorrow if other informative sites like StackOverflow, Wikipedia, etc. start following quora's path. Imagine the plight of the poor and under-privileged sections of the society who cannot afford costly subscription to information. And yet, as members of the evolved human race of 2023, they very much deserve access to this information.

I urge all netizens who consider themselves part of this free and open culture tribe to sign this petition and through it, convey our grievance to quora and let them know why this is wrong and what is at stake (our freedom).

If you agree with my cause, I urge you to sign this change.org petition created in this regard requesting Quora to revert the Paywall move.

I know it's a technical question but I want to know specifically from freelancer perspective. A freelancer's decision making differs from that of regular corporate worker in this regard due to many reasons:

1. Freedom to choose: Unlike corporate, a freelancer isn't imposed any process or specific software guidelines to follow. They're free to use Linux and open source if they want to.
2. No team compatibility: A freelancer can work on specific project with a geographically distant team but they don't have to submit to any long-term compatibility constraints.
3. Budget constraints: A freelancer can't typically afford costly licenses. With corporate, they can scale well and bring down the licensing costs which isn't true for freelancers. Hence, open source software is typically more suited to their workflow (even when using a Windows OS).

Given all these factors, do you think a Windows or Linux laptop is more suited for a typical Freelancer? What do you happen to use?

I'm thinking about increasing the level of my open source contributions a bit. Instead of searching blindly until I stumble upon an issue that:
A) Piques my interest
B) I feel somewhat qualified to implement

I figured I'd check with the tildes community. Is there any Open Source software that you use that is missing a feature/capability? Can you give a brief description of it (bonus points for links to an issue tracker with an open ticket :))?

Can't of course promise anything will come of it, but if I do pick up your suggestion at least I'll give you a ping if I make any progress!