Open software are in the interest of people. People should fund these projects. But our funding model does not put emphasis on bringing the grass roots to open software, therefore we end up with neglishable funding.
There are FOSS projects that are better funded then some youtube channels (hiring multiple full time employees), but observing them i think you need a well thought out plan and possibly some experimentation.
Other companies seem to be doing ok with the linux desktop, for example linux mint (which seem to continually increase revenue) and pop os.
Their patreon donations have been declining, I Fear that some of their design decisions are just not attracting users (If not getting them to leave), that leads to less users and therefore less donations.
At least for Pop, the main funding stream is System76 computers, not Pop itself. It makes me a little nervous about the prospects if other companies start to move in more aggressively to the Linux consumer computer market. Personally, I just bought a Framework laptop that I might install Pop on, but none of that money is going to maintain Pop. I like Pop, so I don’t feel too great about that.
Why dont open software have a proper funding model? They are one of the most popular distros for christ sake!
@libre_warrior what would you define as a proper funding model?
Open software are in the interest of people. People should fund these projects. But our funding model does not put emphasis on bringing the grass roots to open software, therefore we end up with neglishable funding.
That would be nice, but unfortunately most people are more likely to fund streamers, podcasters, and youtubers than FOSS developers.
Yes! There’s the defeatist attitude I was looking for!
There are FOSS projects that are better funded then some youtube channels (hiring multiple full time employees), but observing them i think you need a well thought out plan and possibly some experimentation.
Exactly
Other companies seem to be doing ok with the linux desktop, for example linux mint (which seem to continually increase revenue) and pop os.
Their patreon donations have been declining, I Fear that some of their design decisions are just not attracting users (If not getting them to leave), that leads to less users and therefore less donations.
At least for Pop, the main funding stream is System76 computers, not Pop itself. It makes me a little nervous about the prospects if other companies start to move in more aggressively to the Linux consumer computer market. Personally, I just bought a Framework laptop that I might install Pop on, but none of that money is going to maintain Pop. I like Pop, so I don’t feel too great about that.
You could either donate to help Pop’s development or use its more community oriented upstream distro Debian.
Donating is a good idea, but it doesn’t necessarily fix things as a systemic issue.
This all depends on how big their team was, especially during the economic downturn from the pandemic.