Seems like a reasonable donation prompt; it's infrequent, unobtrusive, and can be easily dismissed and disabled. Some people are so sensitive to the idea of any sort of soliciting that they forget projects do need money to function.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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Yup. I like their just in December approach too. I have a problem with distrohopping so I'm often re-setting up my system. Every time I do, Thunderbird pops up donation prompts both in the app and in my browser. I get why they do it, but it's annoying when that happens. KDE's approach avoids this pitfall.
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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"
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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.
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As long as the “No Thanks” button is a one and done go-away button, I think this is a decent idea!
It's once per year, easily dismissed, and can be permanently disabled. Seems entirely reasonable for a piece of free software that someone would use everyday
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
No problem... Once a year is fine. It's a non-profit based in Germany...
Thunderbird shows it once at every startup...
Thunderbird shows it for a at every startup
Honestly didn't realise till you pointed that out. I'm so used to seeing it that it doesn't register to me what it's saying anymore. Probably for the best that KDE only does it once a year; if it were daily I'm sure it wouldn't even register to people that it's asking for donations.
Thunderbird was dead until it added a donations banner then used the donations to hire some programmers.
Sorry, I've already donated all the Plasma I can safely donate! /s jic :)
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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.
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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
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.
I mean, at least I'm not paying $200* for the privilege of being advertised to... I'd like an option to disable it permanently in the popup but it seems mostly reasonable?
^* This is the first price I got for a Windows licence when I searched for it. I know you can probably get them cheaper, but that's the price they're advertising, so eh.^
There is an option to disable it permanently. Otherwise it is once a year and easily dismissed
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Have you visited Wikipedia lately? I'll gladly donate to KDE when I see this next time.
cool and good. thunderbird is also very good about this and more projects should present their donation stuff just as tastefully
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