A pretty interesting take, and an interesting discussion about what it means to be open source. Is there room for a trusted space between open source and closed corporate software?
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Depends on what you mean by trust. This wasn’t made any clearer by reading the article.
“We promise not to do bad things” is not a safe long term contract. If they can change the terms at any moment and retain control, then they can break that promise and that’s final.
This is why open source matters. This is why we shouldn’t let people try to change the meaning open source. True open source is forever open, it is the author’s Ulysses pact.
FUTO keyboard is source available, and that’s final, too. Whether it is also “source first” and if that term is worth recognizing at all is a separate and entirely valid discussion. Even the worst incarnation of source available is still generally better than closed source, in my mind.
Can there be a trusted space between open and closed source? Maybe, I don’t see why not. Again, define trust, and who’s judging. Some people already trust closed source proprietary software, for some reason, while others strongly reject anything that isn’t free software—remember, we’re not talking about price, here.
I wish FUTO and Rossman all the best, as I do with the free software ecosystem and most of open source. Open source is open source, though, let’s not get it twisted.
Exactly. I use and enjoy FUTO Keyboard and Grayjay, but I’m under no illusion about them being open source, they’re source available. I think they’re great products and great alternatives to proprietary software, but until it’s released under a proper FOSS license, I will be keeping my eye out for credible alternatives.
Honestly, since I can see the source code and confirm that it isn’t sending my data anywhere, I think it’s ok, even if it doesn’t meet the standard definition of foss. The keyboard is also pretty dang good, but I have two complaints. 1. I want to be able to resize the height of the keyboard. 2. The swipe typing sucks. As soon as those two things get fixed it’s easily the best keyboard on Android for me.
You can adjust the height in the settings (edit: under themes). I use the swipe and seems to be as good as other open source keyboards (I previously used heli and AnySoft). It is still in alpha so hopefully they can refine it further.
BTW, heliboard is also pretty excellent.
Ah, that height setting was hidden then lol. That fixes that issue! I’m also very aware of Heliboard, that’s what I’m currently using (with the google proprietary blob for swipe typing). I just don’t feel like the swipe is that good, it often just doesn’t produce any word after I’m done swiping out the word. Thanks for the tip about the height!
I like the keyboard but it crashes frequently and android reverts back to gboard. On my OnePlus 9 pro.
Counter point, it hasn’t crashed once in my one plus 9 though I wish Swype worked better. I’m super happy to have another option though and am powering through it.
I’ve been using it for about a month now on a pixel phone and it’s been excellent. Parts of it are still in alpha, but I have been lucky.
I both use, and bought this keyboard right after it was announced. I’d say it is not as good as gboard yet. I miss GIFs access and flip back and forth as required. I’ve had zero crashes on my Pixel 8P
It is my primary keyboard, and hopefully still learning, but word suggestion isn’t as good (yet). FUTO voice integrated in which I was already using can be quite good. I’m using the slower version which is a little less convenient but tends to work better.
