Valid suggestion but there are a few issue with the premises

> the market of freeloaders who never want to pay for anything

Wanting something you have full control over does not means you don't want to pay for anything. But most current monetization schemes fails with experts. In other professions, the tools are actually power tools with sensible contracts. In the software world, it's mostly rent-seeking.

> because developers don't want to polish their apps to be easy to use for the benefit of freeloaders

If I create something that works fine for me or for the community, why should I go out of my way to add features for another person or another group? I'm not creating a business. It's like asking Médecins Sans Frontières to give you free consultations at home.

> The greatest strength of MacOS is that you can buy the highest quality app that exists for anything that you can do with a computer

Except server stuff, or gaming, or anything that requires to have full control over the hardware. I love MacOS SDK, and couple with how it allows for proprietary builds and low effort to support, I understand that it's a nice platform for creating paid apps. But paid apps often comes with nonsensical restrictions, all to protect the business.

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> Maybe settle on a few hardware devices on the list of most popular sold hardware and give them the attention to make sure that FreeBSD 100% works on those.

Why not asking hardware vendors to be more open about their drivers? A nice example is the Asahi project, a lot of work have been done and are being done just because Apple don't want to document the hardware or even the firmware that drives it.

> In the software world, it's mostly rent-seeking.

I can't agree at all with this. Most people using computers would have no chance of making the software they are using, and why should they? Do you really expect a magazine designer to first program her own publishing software? There's no point in that, she is a designer and should spend her time with what she is best at. You can then call any and every profession "rent-seeking", since they all involve becoming an expert in something that other people could also become experts in if they sunk the same time into it. I can learn how to make my own leather shoes provided enough time, but I prefer to buy them and focus my time and effort on things I'm better at.

> If I create something that works fine for me or for the community, why should I go out of my way to add features for another person or another group?

That's why I'm saying that FOSS people should stay in the Linux swamp (or garden if that's your thing) and maybe FreeBSD could explore other relationships between developer and user. Why should you go out of your way to make your software easy to use? Because then it will be useful to people who are not programmers, which is 99.999% of computer users. I have to remind readers that the question was how to make FreeBSD attractive to newcomers. Being able to use your computer the way you need without being a programmer is essential for a newcomer. Programmers are not newcomers, even if they switch OS.

And why not make it a business when you are providing a professional service? You can earn quite a lot each year as a side-income before you need to make any special tax arrangements or even register a business.

> Except server stuff, or gaming, or anything that requires to have full control over the hardware.

Server stuff is what I consider the back-end. This is not for normal users, it's not for newcomers. But to be honest, I'm quite curious as how Mac OS X Server was as a software before it was discontinued. Could it be used by non-sysadmins for their needs? Not considering cost-efficiency which is not important on small scales, just considering setting up working servers.

Computing has regressed on some important fronts. For example making websites was something that anybody could do in the past, with graphical tools such as Microsoft Frontpage, Netscape Composer and Artisteer. Now I don't know any such modern tools, unless you want to host on Wix. Why is that? Your ISP used to give you a space to host your own website.

> Why not asking hardware vendors to be more open about their drivers?

Because the question was how to make FreeBSD more attractive for newcomers. Why would hardware vendors care about that at all? Unless FreeBSD becomes so attractive that customers start voting with their wallet for hardware that is good with FreeBSD.

> Most people using computers would have no chance of making the software they are using.

Building software and selling it is ok. The issue comes comes when you no longer sells it, but rent it instead, which is what the current subscription trend is about. Some are ok with renting, but some prefers to buy it and own the current version. They don't expect the seller to maintain it for free (which no one does in the real world), and are perfectly fine buying a new version when the old one isn't working anymore, like when people buy a new pair of shoes. But companies like Adobe or Microsoft don't like that.

> Being able to use your computer the way you need without being a programmer is essential for a newcomer.

I agree, but every tool comes with a manual. And I strongly believe that a general purpose computer is a specialized tool. MacOS and Windows are not easy either. They have an army of customer agents, have published lots of training content, and added lots of safeguards to give the illusion that the computer is easy to use. But anyone who does not have a tech person close will struggle. To get what you want is to build a console, like the chromebook.

> For example making websites was something that anybody could do in the past

I think that because there's no money incentive to do it. Everyone is on platform like Facebook, X, or Linkedin.

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I fully agree on making something easy for people that just want to work on something, and that's why you build specialized interface hiding anything that's not relevant. But there's cases that requires more flexibility and access to behind-the-scenes.

> Building software and selling it is ok. The issue comes when you no longer sells it, but rent it instead, which is what the current subscription trend is about.

I couldn't agree more, and that's why I like the great ecosystem of pay-once quality apps for MacOS, which you can get for a fair price. Instead of subscribing to Photoshop and installing spyware, I can buy Affinity Photo for a very fair price. Same thing with all kinds of pro or prosumer software. Could this be a path for FreeBSD for people who like that kind of deal, but as an alternative to Apple? Apple will never make it easier to install a different OS on their hardware, because their business model is hardware+OS.

If you provide people with a GUI for doing things, you vastly increase the amounts of newcomers you can service. The terminal scares most people, because they are worried about destroying their computer. Which they have reason to.

Or maybe FreeBSD could become a community where also the developers pay each other for software? This would provide incentive for developer effort where it is most needed. First for the basic tools and later to more and more specialized and end-user focused tools. Compared to FOSS, where developers are just focused on what they think is interesting to work on and there's no other incentive.

> MacOS and Windows are not easy either.

It was super easy for me to switch to MacOS after years of Windows. Most newcomers to FreeBSD wouldn't be people who have never used a computer. They'll be familiar with the mouse, GUI buttons, etc.

> But there's cases that requires more flexibility and access to behind-the-scenes.

I agree, and these functions should always be accessible graphically. Think 3D modeling software, music production software, or spreadsheets. Even for iOS Safari, you can access extremely detailed settings with a graphical interface. No need to type about:flags