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.
Just 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!
has 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 Aug 2024 at 3:51 am UTC
pleasereadthemanual 30 Aug 2024
Oh, and I donated several months ago for Plasma 6 already.
I 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 Aug 2024 at 6:58 am UTC
There are sporadic full system freezes on focus changes for KDE's VRR feature with RDNA2 and RDNA3 users.So 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 30 Aug 2024
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 30 Aug 2024
It could be great idea if notification noted how to disable it, or contain button to do this. In my opinion, better be scarred about what community can do. Remember: community overthrow the king, deny need for exclusive games for Linux and force Microsoft to do not block Linux with UEFI.
Shouldn't be that difficult since the instruction from the merge request is "Disable KDED Module". I'm not a KDE user since KDE4 but, I believe that this is somehow located on the System Settings area of KDE. I might try KDE once again for it's Wayland support, just to check out how it is handling stuff related to nvidia Prime
And I got their intention here because, such notification being way too easy to disable will be meaningless, while having it popping-up weekly/monthly will piss the user so, it's a nice balance. I also have no hard feelings for a missing "dismiss" button which I think the "No Thanks" and further disabling is enough.
Time will tell with users providing more opinions on this.
Last edited by nwildner on 30 Aug 2024 at 10:46 am UTC
What's that 8.1% of a cat about?
That is (or looks like) the CatWalk widget, a CPU load monitor: https://store.kde.org/p/2137844/
Vortex_Acherontic 30 Aug 2024
somehow located on the System Settings area of KDE.
Correct. Settings -> Notifications
In here you can disable notifications on a per application and even per service basis.
PublicNuisance 1 Sep 2024
Doesn't the welcome screen for every new Plasma version mention donations and such? I don't think the "if you're not a follower of those [...]" bit is being genuine here.Nate Graham covered that in his post. The moment that you've just installed a desktop isn't the right time to ask for donations - you have no idea if you're sticking with the distro or desktop. Also, most welcome screens are quickly dismissed, never to be shown again. Various other ideas of where/when to do this were mentioned too.
I'd like an "I've already donated" flag that can be set somewhere in a config fileYour distro can disable it from ever showing in the first place. Or you can disable the kded module. Or you can simply right-click on your system tray (the down arrow) and turn off notifications for this app.
Nate Graham covered that in his post. The moment that you've just installed a desktop isn't the right time to ask for donations - you have no idea if you're sticking with the distro or desktop.
And I just covered that that welcome screen pops up on every new Plasma version... But let's make it more clear; so if a user keeps using Plasma, upgrades to 6.x, they'll get that window again with a mention to donate.
However much the funding is needed, it is an abuse of kde's position on the system it has been installed on. Other projects having more egregious donation requests is no excuse, especially since most of those do not have the position of trust on the system that kde does.
What would make it much more acceptable to me is if it were an opt-in through the welcome screen and/or notification settings. A simple "remind me to consider a donation" option.
Last edited by emphy on 1 Sep 2024 at 6:27 pm UTC
However much the funding is needed, it is an abuse of kde's position on the system it has been installed on.
Why? It's free software, simply asking for funding. That's an "egregious abuse" in your book? If so, your book is stunningly privileged. Free and Libre Open Source Software is an absolute anomaly in our (mostly) capitalist society. Give them some money, and if you have no money to give, then at least don't complain when they beg for funds once a year, in a trivially ignored pop-up.
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