I prefer distro packages that are tied into the rest of the distribution and maintained in that context. That gives me a more smooth experience and some security because I know who prepares the updates and has a second pair of eyes on things. I like the sandboxing though. I think that should be implemented as standard for Linux desktop applications.

As a total beginner, they work, they work well, the moment you need them to touch anything other then themselves it's hell.

I'm still trying to figure out how the fuck can I feed Flatpack OBS any VTS audio filter.

Less evil than the snap.

It helps provide a better desktop experience across multiple distros.

But, but, it has inefficient space use.

They work pretty well most of the time. No complaints from me

In terms of containerized solutions for apps/programs?

Better than the alternatives.

In general?

I feel like they're exes for Linux, and would greatly prefer to not have multiple different installations of the same or slightly different versions of dependencies wasting space.

they are pretty decent for atomic distros and fully automated updates. I served my time in arch and gentoo and don't want to update all the time but still want the updates. That said there are a lot of things that have also bothered me at some point that may or may not still be a problem. being out of date sometimes, stupid notifications for the application running in the background when you minimize it, jankiness when launching via clicking a file or god forbid programs launching each other. probably other stuff.

I think realistically any software you'd want to install as a flatpak would otherwise only be available as a package for a specific version of Ubuntu. Flatpak gives devs a way to package proprietary or cutting edge software in a distro-agnostic way, which is a good selling point for them. It's also nicer than managing apt repos and ppas.

The extra space usage is annoying, but it's not that big a deal. My mint install with a few flatpaks is still smaller than my Windows install.

They are great, specially if you are in an immutable distro

They work pretty well. I use them on all my desktop systems and a phone. Great so far. Of course I use which ever has the newer version.

Overall works well. Sizing is a bit large but can be worth it for the universal distribution.

Allows for more software to get out there.

I have not had a need to seriously use flatpaks so far. The software i use is either available as a system package, or is a selfcontained binary i can manage myself.

When I've needed permissions closer to a native package (i.e. fewer security safeguards) Flatpak was the only one between that, Snaps, and AppImage to let me do what I needed to do.