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Free software scares normal people

(danieldelaney.net)
917 points cryptophreak | 1 comments | 30 Oct 25 15:07 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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andreldm ◴[30 Oct 25 16:12 UTC] No.45761642[source]▶
If handbrake scares them, don’t you dare to demonstrate how to use ffmpeg. I remember when I used handbrake for the first time and thought “wow, it’s much more convenient than struggling with ffmpeg”.
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phoronixrly ◴[30 Oct 25 16:18 UTC] No.45761715[source]▶
Handbrake's UI is in the uncanny valley for me -- too complicated for use by laymen, and way too limiting for use by people who know what they're doing...
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dfxm12 ◴[30 Oct 25 16:22 UTC] No.45761770[source]▶
My dad, a total layman, was able to use handbrake as a step in digitizing old family video tapes.

I think in the context of this thread, we shouldn't overgeneralize or underestimate "normal people".

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1. phoronixrly ◴[30 Oct 25 20:26 UTC] No.45764910[source]▶
Was he able to use it correctly though to be able to digitize video with exacltly the correct setttings so that no notable loss of quality was introduced? How long did it take him to randomly test settings?