A lot of people here have such a bizarre stance.
People have put work into this, for free. And the moment they ask for support, you immediately bring the pitchforks out, over a singular pop-up you can permanently disable? That’s just plain disrespectful, at the very least
Unfortunately, there has always been the issue that a not-insignificant percentage of users of FOSS software believe the FREE part means “free as in beer” and take umbrage when asked to contribute.
I’ve long been a proponent (and I know I’m in a minority) that has advocated for a shift in the marketing of FOSS applications from “donation based” to “value based”. Meaning that the expectation is that if you enjoy the software, you pay an amount that you believe is commensurate to your use. This is voluntarily of course…if you can’t pay, than please use it and enjoy it. But those who can pay, should pay…at least a little bit, to offset the costs for those who can’t.
It’s more or less that the wording of FOSS apps needs to change so that you are expected to contribute if you can.
Just my opinion. Like I said, I know I’m in the minority. Just not a fan of the percentage of users that has always existed that (falsely) think that asking for money for your project is somehow anathema to the Open Source ideal and whine whenever they’re asked to contribute.
Also what the hell is up with everyone saying “free as beer”?
Beer isn’t free!
The full saying is “Free as in Speech, not Free as in Beer”
Basically the “Free” in free means that it’s free to do with as you please, modify, etc… But not free as in “here’s a free product…like getting a free beer”
That’s also confusing and it is not the full saying. The full saying is “free as in free speech, not free beer”.
From the FSF website:
Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. Think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”. Free software is a matter of the users’ freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.
Removed by mod
I like that terminology. I use some very high quality, high visibility FOSS software and sometimes feel bad that I more frequently donate to smaller projects that bring me value by filling a specific want or need that no one else is working on.
I’m not against the idea, but I do think it’s a bit unfair. There are dozens of projects KDE relies on that never even get the chance to ask for donations this way, simply because they don’t need a GUI.
I believe KDE should at least offer to share the donations with other projects, projects that would otherwise have no voice. Something like the old Humble Bundle donation method would work really well, and let users to choose how their money is allocated.
While I understand where you are coming from. That goes for a lot of projects in general. Not to mention that KDE is literally an example of the thing you are talking about. KDE has an entire ecosystem of libraries that anyone can use called kde frameworks with many examples of these libraries being used on various projects large and small outside of KDE. They don’t see a dime from this either. I recall a conference on TechHut’s youtube channel spotting KDE’s frameworks in the wild being used by companies at the event.
And KHTML! Basically, KDE work is the foundation of the browser engines behind Chromium and Safari.
The one change I would make would be adding a “never” button to the notification so you don’t have to disable it in the settings if you don’t want it
Or actually “Don’t show again” would probably be better phrasing
It’s not complicated.
It’s an ad.
There’s no version of advertising I will ever be OK with.
Not an ad. No one is trying to sell you anything.
(If you get the notification) you’re already using their product.
Yes, it is an ad. Any call to action is an ad.
And its mere presence will ensure I don’t give them any more money. The core concept of inserting any ad in an OS is not behavior I am willing to reward.
This is not an OS behaviour. KDE is a desktop environment.
If it bothers you so much, remove the DE and use the command line, full time
Ads try to sell you something, there is no “call to action”. Here, there is nothing to sell, so by definition it’s not an ad.
They are just asking you if you’d like to help them in providing you the product you’re already using.
You pretty clearly don’t know what a call to action is, or an ad is, because “please give money” is very obviously a call to action, and many ads make no effort whatsoever to sell any product.
Your entitlement is Karen level.
You’re advertising your opinion here, is that okay?
Now this is much better than getting ads in your Start Menu.
I do suspect a small but vocal crowd of people will spread doom and gloom about it on social media anyway, of course.
I see they’re here already
As long as the “No Thanks” button is a one and done go-away button, I think this is a decent idea!
deleted by creator
I didn’t get that notification yet,but when I do,l’ll be sure as shit to donate as large amount as I can afford.
Edit: I know I can and have donated already,but just to highlight the idea
Sorry, I’ve already donated all the Plasma I can safely donate! /s jic :)
I kinda thought this was some new crowd funding scheme…
I personally think once a year is not enough. Every 6 months might be better. Also people already spend a lot during December that they might not prioritize donating to KDE.
For those complaining… Well I don’t know what to say to them. Such a big complex software which is 100% free should be allowed to remind us that they need money.
Don’t forget they said it’s running as a daemon specifically so you can easily disable it if it triggers you so much.
FOSS in general needs better means of financial support. While the software is free and libre, developer time is not, and ultimately they gotta eat and pay bills. I hope they get positive results and don’t catch much unnecessary flak.
cool and good. thunderbird is also very good about this and more projects should present their donation stuff just as tastefully
Have you visited Wikipedia lately? I’ll gladly donate to KDE when I see this next time.
Instructions unclear, blood is spinning down in the centrifuge.
I have tried once, but passed out after like five minutes. The volume they were asking for was just too much
Volume? What do you mean?
ok… I scroll too fast… I thought this was about plasma donations
Was looking for this comment. Donate your plasma to KDE!
It’s implemented as a KDE Daemon (KDED) module, which allows users and distributors to permanently disable it if they like.
Eh. I guess good enough.
But I’m still opposed on principle.
deleted by creator
It’s open source. You could go in and just edit the code to show some ASCII porn if you want. Or just disable it.
