A recent change was proposed last month to implement an on-by-default KDED (KDE Daemon) module that will gently ask you to donate to KDE as a pop-up on your notification system inside the KDE Plasma desktop, planned for version 6.2.
As per the merge request cited above and this blog post from developer Nate Graham regarding the situation, we can find the following rationale behind this implementation: KDE usually ask through various social media posts, official channels and yearly fundraisers and blog posts which Graham noted you "may get the impression that we’re always begging for cash". However, if you're not a follower of those and just an average KDE (Plasma) user, you might never know that KDE (The Foundation) has these donations requests constantly being asked, or never know it could be in need of funding.
Pictured - The donation request in KDE Plasma, although the button has now been changed to a less pushy "Donate" instead of "Donate Now".
With that in mind and the fact that other organizations already do this on a yearly basis (Thunderbird and Wikimedia for example), KDE decided to implement a KDED module that will ask for donations only once a year in Plasma 6.2+. While it may look intrusive, this is completely configurable for those which are packaging KDE so, it's up to each Linux distribution or users to disable it using the normal means of disabling KDED modules.
Something else to keep in mind is that they want to keep expanding too, they want to offer full-time employment to more people and hire more. On top of that, and quite exciting sounding, is that Graham noted in the blog post they eventually want to "fund the creation of a next-generation KDE OS we can offer directly to institutions looking to switch to Linux, and a hardware certification program to go along with it". Including (jokingly) they want to "take over the world" and get more distributions to use KDE Plasma by default.
Editor's opinion: I think it is fair for KDE to expose that they need funding and asking that from inside the UI would not hurt for a software that delivered so much for free (as in freedom and as in "gratis"). It is not cluttered, and does not seem to break anyone's workflow.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: benjamimgoisJust seeing this popup image trigered me the thought that i have never donated to kde, so i just did it. It works.
That's awesome!
Quotehas now been changed to a less pushy "Donate" instead of "Donate Now"I take offence at the wording. "Donate" implies there's no consent required. I demand them to use something like "Dotogetherwithnate". The fact that Nate could be Nathan or Natalie softens the issue a bit, but still! This is unacceptable!
Spoiler, click me
Last edited by bonkmaykr on 30 August 2024 at 3:51 am UTC
pleasereadthemanual Aug 30
Oh, and I donated several months ago for Plasma 6 already.
Quoting: PyrateI got one when I upgraded to Plasma 6, and another one in 6.1, I believe this is a much better system that's already set in place, and since major Plasma versions happen more than once a year, it's a better system if you want to give out reminders more frequently.Quite obviously, it isn't a better place, or they wouldn't be changing it. Or rather, doing the notification in addition.
Welcome screens are usually just ignored as they tend to be "what's new"/tutorial kinds of things. It's an automatism of most people to go straight for the "don't show this again" without ever actually looking at anything.
It's a bit like the "startup hint"/"tip of the day" kind of deal - a nice thing, but the wrong place if you are trying to increase donations with any degree of efficiency.
Funny anecdote: A few years ago, I handled user reports for bugfixes on a software that had such a "hint of the day".
I got an error/help report asking about a functionality with a screenshot showcasing a "problem" and the question of how to solve it - the screenshot also had an open "hint of the day" with the exact key shortcut to solve the problem.
And the reporter was no fool, either. He, like most people, just got so used to fully ignore these kinds of windows. When I pointed it out, we had a good laugh
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 30 August 2024 at 6:58 am UTC
Quoting: torkusThere are sporadic full system freezes on focus changes for KDE's VRR feature with RDNA2 and RDNA3 users.Quoting: pbSo eventually I gathered some courage and time, and I installed Hyprland....
I'll take a look at these two this weekend, thanks for mentioning Hyprland.
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3460
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/3581
mZSq7Fq3qs Aug 30
Imho it's only fair to ask for donations - and doing that once a year with a little popup is perfectly valid imho. I guess most of the people following KDE on some social media channel will already have thought about donating, so it makes much more sense to make the general user aware of it, too.
Vortex_Acherontic Aug 30
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me