They don’t always make it easy though. I’m not signing up for Patreon just to donate a one time amount.
What ways do you recommend?
I like Patreon because I trust it and it provides a subscription-like service. And having a way to communicate and engage is really nice.
But the “buy me a coffee” and the direct PayPal, I’m rarely getting any kudos.
You can try librepay
This is not for everyone, but I like when they post their crypto wallet address, because then I can send them money anonymously (especially if it’s Monero), it can be a one time donation and I don’t have to create an account on some website.
Direct PayPal is my preference, but I know PayPal does dumb things with people’s money sometimes.
I know, it’s a real pain sometimes.
I am interested in paying donations to free and open source software I regularly use and have into my workflow. I will completely ignore your project if you make me deal with license keys. The Grayjay method is ok but would prefer that code and buttons not be dedicated to getting in my way. I hope that the mentality of paying for what you use becomes more common in FOSS culture so that prompts aren’t needed.
That said if your broke, don’t dontate. Take advantage of it being free and when you get a good job again, then consider helping out the developers.
In recent personal experience, I recently changed the motherboard on my Winblows VR gaming PC and It wouldn’t recognize my legit product key anymore. I don’t have patience for DRM shit so I activated it with KMS. Activation keys are a pain in the arse.
I emphasized It’s use for VR gaming just in case someone tries to sell me on the Linux Proton compatibility system. Someday soon steamVR will hopefully have good compatibility and I will give it a go. However I will always at minimum be stuck with windows on a secondary ssd as I have some Oculus games I also like and Oculus+revive will likely never work under Linux.
I should add that I am broke myself so it’s a bit high and mighty of me to say people should donate when I have not done so yet.
I have started by at least supporting game developers on Steam. Mostly indie to medium size studio ones. Again, I can’t stand the AAA game DRM key crap.
I have started by at least supporting game developers on Steam.
Steam puts DRM in games and requires proprietary software (the Steam client), so you should consider not buying there at all. GOG’s client is also proprietary, but its optional and there is a free alternative called Heroic Games Launcher. Itch.io has a libre client (also optional). As far as I know games on those two platforms are DRM-free.
Steam is my dirty little secret when it come to my interest in open source. I believe that Valve will continue to hold it’s long tradition of user first business as a private business with lord Gaben at the helm (yes I know he’s mostly in the background at this point). I know that GOG exists however I really like steam forums, achievements, steam deck integration, steam link streaming and most importantly steamVR. Buying through GOG is going to massively impact my steamVR experience if you can even at all. steamVR compared to Oculus makes steamVR look like a very open platform. I hate Facebook with a passion for a variety of reasons so steamVR it is.
FOSS is a great tool/concept but at this time it doesn’t apply to gaming and I don’t really care to massively inconvenience my gaming experience for a small amount more of open source code. I say this as someone who daily drives a PinePhone, runs a Linux server with ZFS and is looking at a Framework laptop for my next laptop to run Linux on. Windows is still where gaming is at, especially for VR, and I don’t care to try and fight to run close source games on an open source operating system. Seems like a waste of effort to me.
It’s silly to be an absolute open source purist when it comes to Valve anyway. They arguably deserve the money for the amazing ecosystem they have compared to the competition and are one of the biggest contributors to getting GUI frameworks and other Linux systems developed for the Linux based steam deck.
Valve will likely be the party that gets VR working mainstream on Linux for the upcoming Valve Decard standalone headset. You want to talk about the power of open source… well… an affordable VR headset that’s at least mostly open source in the software department that is also good for gaming. Sign me up. It’ll be miles better than what Facebook shits out for it measly 3-4 years of support.
I have an OG Vive that I use as the multiplayer setup for when friends come over and it’s still fully supported. 8 years later.
Valve may not be completely committed to everything open source but until someone out shines them they are the best option for flexibility and longevity.
Also someone need to be paid to develop open source software. This being the beginning of the topic and all. I’m happy for that to be Valve at the moment as they have shown the industry how to be better.
No I don’t work for Valve, I’m just sick of closed restrictive platforms as well as open janky platforms for gaming and hardware with fixed EOL dates. I see Valve as the best balance/compromise.
Sorry for my brains wall of text mode.
I don’t think it’s silly at all to demand that users should have rights and that they should be able to control their computers. Valve makes proprietary software, which takes away user’s freedom, so it is unethical. They could make money in an ethical way if they only wanted. SteamOS is proprietary software too.
I don’t know much about VR, but if Valve makes a headset that doesn’t require proprietary software, that will be great. It should then be used as an example that other companies could follow. But it can’t be used as an excuse for them abusing users in other ways.
Also someone need to be paid to develop open source software. This being the beginning of the topic and all. I’m happy for that to be Valve at the moment as they have shown the industry how to be better.
Certainly, but Valve’s business is mostly focused on proprietary software and DRM. When they do make Free Software, it seems to be for the purpose of attracting people to their proprietary platform.
I don’t doubt that Steam is convenient. I was just saying that we should buy DRM-free games when possible and support alternatives that don’t force us to use proprietary software. More freedom is better and if we don’t try to change something, we will be stuck like this forever and it might even get worse.
I say this as someone who daily drives a PinePhone
Same as me then, nice!
Grayjay is proprietary. Its license doesn’t allow you for example to modify the source code, which is one of the 4 essential freedoms. Programs that don’t give you all of those freedoms are not Free Software.
https://gitlab.futo.org/videostreaming/grayjay/-/blob/master/LICENSE
Booo! Use Calvin & Hobbes instead of this fascist shitstain.
Show me the meme generator I can use for that and I’ll do it
Absolutely proprietary.
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/482493120/Calvin--Hobbes-change-my-mind
Here you go sir. Just for future reference.
@GravitySpoiled@lemmy.ml you could edit the OP and replace the image
Thx but I shouldn’t. It wouldn’t have all those downvotes
So, I’m pretty much always out of the loop. What the hell did this guy do to get that label?
He’s a right-wing podcaster and meatspace video troll.
His sole piece of merchandise reads “Socialism is for F*gs.” Verbatim.
He claims it says “figs.”
Ooooh boy… This is Steven Crowder. Not only has he shown multiple times to hold far right views and platforming people who identify as white supremacists (most notably Stefan Malynuex and the guy who founded the proud boys) he has also been shown on camera abusing his wife.
He is anti-semitic, anti-abortion, anti-divorce (specifically so he can control his wife more), and very pro-gun and pro-white people.
Other than that he’s just another great example of a failed entertainer turning to the right wing griftiverse in order to make money.
What a fucking loser…
You should donate to free software you like because you like it.
____________________________________Change my mind.
But I don’t want to change your mind
Id pay taxes to support open source projects.
Those in the EU do with NLNet! (Although arguably not nearly enough)
Yeah def not enough. It’s funny how governments and companies are willing to pay overpriced proprietary software that even comes with no or horrible support, but when they use OSS they hardly contribute and sometimes even get great support via github. But sometimes that’s also the other way around. You pay for expensive license and get shitty support even if it’s OSS. Looking at you Teleport
As European, thatvis not true in my case! (I get funded by them)
Downvote cause calvin should have been used instead
We should stop using memes of a hateful and abusive douche
With how few pixels left of his face this has, is it really still of this douche?
Just curious, who is this guy, sounds like you knew about the original picture? I’ve been curious
steven crowder, a far-right talking head who moves in the same circles as Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, etc. if rush limbaugh was vader then crowder is kylo ren.
Do you mean: failed comedian, and wife abuser Steven Crowder? That Steven Crowder?
That is a great description, okay fuck that guy. Thank you
He also abused his wife a bit.
Why?
And I do mean that honestly, it’s not like he’s empowered by people making memes of him. He receives no benefit, there is no gain. If I used Hitler in a meme because he made a funny face, that isn’t an endorsement of his actions or beliefs, sometimes a meme is just a meme.
I know you weren’t asking me, but to chime in, it’s safer to say that the circumstances of memeing are actually way more complex than we give credit. I’d argue that it’s rarely the case that a meme is just a meme. Situations where an event or a person becomes a meme can be totally misinterpreted, reinterpreted or otherwise change from reality. Memes are used tools, many times as propaganda, and who is in a meme possibly, does have an effect. Memeing is actually a big complex part of the human experience! Especially since proliferation of the internet.
Anyway, it’s interesting to think about.
Yes but I’m broke lol
That asshole doesn’t deserve a meme, cmm.
Just use Calvin.
Seriously! I really don’t want to see this nazi fuckface any more.
Which meme generator do you suggest?
Photopea - free browser Photoshop
I mean, we are talking free software here, so how about one posted to Lemmy the other day: https://github.com/Fredolx/meme-maker
winrar wrote this
Confusing free as in freedom with gratis there
They said “free” and I elected to interpret that in the way that allowed me to make a little joke
No joking allowed here. Straight to jail.
You interacted with the joke. You will now be one-way shipped to Elon’s Mars.
WinRaR is not in prison, so it’s free
If winrar is free, why aren’t you paying for the work they do?
Checkmate, atheist.
It’s not Free Software, because it doesn’t give you the 4 essential freedoms.
WinRar is proprietary
Fuck Steven Crowder. He does not deserve this meme format.
You sure I can’t change your mind there buddy?
It would be nice if I could quit making proprietary software for a living. Maybe some day I will try making some commercial libre software and will see how it goes.
Stop using this bigot’s picture to smug up a lukewarm take.
Spicy but true.
Nah, keep using it so we can point and laugh at the moron.
Eight fucking years of fascists’ jeering faces every god-damn day is more than enough, thanks very much.
The cost of switching to an unfamiliar Interface and workflow is high enough, charging money to do it will further increase the barrier to entry.
Paying for open source software sounds good on paper, but if it is required, the software will never accumulate the users to make the development have any meaning.
There has to be a “try it before you buy it” too. Otherwise the permutations of scams are obvious and nobody will fall for that. Idk how you would prove that the software works, without giving an actual copy of the software.
Also, legalities between different countries. You will just not get your money back from “trustworthy nigerian software dev who just needs 50$ to give you some software”.
So no.
Do donate if you can though. If you value the software you use, you will pretty obviously recognize the utility and the cost to you, should it go away.
Paying for open source software sounds good on paper, but if it is required, the software will never accumulate the users to make the development have any meaning.
Based on what you said, I’m not sure what you mean by “open source”, but Free Software gives you the right to distribute the program (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms). So anyone who owns a copy can legally share it with you. There are commercial Free Software projects. The game Mindustry is one example.
The game Mindustry is one example.
Yes. And as you can see it has 14k reviews on steam while factorio has 141k reviews.
It’s also a game, so there is no productivity gain or loss associated with it. There is no on call IT support, but you also don’t need any and if something breaks, you lose nothing except the ability to play THIS game for a short while. It’s not a… webserver you run your online shop through where every hour of downtime costs you X hundreds of euros or dollars.
The game was also made by what looks like one guy. It’s not, you know libre office. With hundreds and thousands of contributors and a huge problem of how to distribute the money.
Of course you’re allowed to distribute it. And of course you’re allowed to charge for it. But realistically, nearly nobody would use it.
You could go the Grayjay approach and have it be “paid” software but not stop you from using it without pay, not even anything other than a small buy button which stays until you pay.
That is most likely going to generate less revenue than promoting donations, or a comparable amount at best. WinRAR is the meme example.
From a PR and marketing perspective, if I wanted to maximize my revenue as a single developer I would set up a Patreon or encourage recurring donations through the software by providing bragging rights stuff (merch, insider access, early access to unfinished builds and so on). Single mandatory payments simply reproduce the piracy/license access of commercial software and shaming people into paying without coercion just makes you seem less appealing to people who would donate anyway.
Free Software can be legally distributed (it’s one of the 4 essential freedoms that it gives you). It doesn’t matter if it’s commercial or not, someone can always give you a copy.
There is a game called Mindustry, which is a libre game that is sold one Steam and it seems to be doing fine. This is just one example of a commercial Free Software project.
Grayjay is proprietary software. The license doesn’t allow you to for example edit its source code: https://gitlab.futo.org/videostreaming/grayjay/-/blob/master/LICENSE
So it’s denying you at least one of the 4 essential freedoms.
Ok
