Kubuntu Funding Cut

[jook]

I assume you prople heard of this.

http://blogs.kde.org/node/4531

Total bummer.

[DoYouKubuntu]

No, I hadn't heard about it. I'm waiting for my coffee to finish brewing...then, perhaps, after a cup [or two] I'll re-read the article and see if I can grasp what it means for Kubuntu's actual future...

[dragonbite]

I means it moves into the same status as Edubuntu and Xubuntu.

There was one developer, Jonathan Riddell, and he's going to be pulled into other projects and not be paid to work on Kubuntu. So he'll have less time for Kubuntu.

So it either means Kubuntu will slow development, or community members will rise up and pick up the slack or (even better) push Kubuntu even further!

[jook]

Maybe Rocket Man is tired of seeing his users move over to Kubuntu. How do you push Unity, when your sister project looks so much better?

Anyway I hope Kubuntu keeps charging forward. The developers do a kick-ss job. I've been on it since KDE 4.0 and don't want to quit.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Maybe Rocket Man is tired of seeing his users move over to Kubuntu. How do you push Unity, when your sister project looks so much better?

Very well said.

Anyway I hope Kubuntu keeps charging forward. The developers do a kick-ss job. I've been on it since KDE 4.0 and don't want to quit.

Yeah, I've used Kubuntu since its first release, 5.04, and can't imagine it not continuing.

[woodsmoke]

Ok
I will "test .isos" if it is within my skill set to so do.

woodsmoke

[GreyGeek]

I, for one, have never hesitated in paying for a good distro, even when free ones are available. Hence, I paid for 22 boxed sets of SuSE, a couple of Mandraka and several of Mandriva, and donated several times to PCLinuxOS. It surprised me that Kubuntu didn't show a front page way to buy the distro. You were given links to contribute in a lot of ways, but never to buy a "commercial" version of Kubuntu.

I would pay for Kubuntu in a heartbeat.

[DoYouKubuntu]

It surprised me that Kubuntu didn't show a front page way to buy the distro. You were given links to contribute in a lot of ways, but never to buy a "commercial" version of Kubuntu.

I would pay for Kubuntu in a heartbeat.

You and me both. I remember a while back SCOURING the Kubuntu pages looking for a 'donate' button, but all I found were ways to 'contribute' that didn't include financially. Unfortunately, my *nix skills aren't what they once were, so I'm useless as far as contributing anything to the project itself, but I'd be more than happy to donate money. I do that for all of the OS products I use on a regular basis, including SeaMonkey, the GIMP, KDE, etc. I'd love to add Kubuntu to the list.

[ardvark71]

It surprised me that Kubuntu didn't show a front page way to buy the distro. You were given links to contribute in a lot of ways, but never to buy a "commercial" version of Kubuntu.

I think they will now. :roll:

I would imagine those who are in the inner circle at Kubuntu will have to hire someone to replace Jonathan.

Regards...

[GreyGeek]

I think they will now. :roll:

I would imagine those who are in the inner circle at Kubuntu will have to hire someone to replace Jonathan.

Regards...

A programmer worth his salt will command over $50K/yr in small urban areas and $80K/yr in metro areas. For Kubuntu to enjoy the services of a paid programmer each of the active members of this forum would have to donate $50 to $80 per year. Typically, FOSS projects rarely experience more than 3% contribution rates. Those 30 contributors would have to donate $1,700 or more per year. That will never happen.

Mandriva proved that you cannot bifurcate the distro into "free" and "paid" releases, or use paid access to a special server where early access to new releases, new apps, bug fixes and patches are made available, and expect to draw enough income to pay a staff, managers, and generate a profit. You might, however, be able to pay for a programmer that way. The "problem" is that you can't create an artificial scarcity with GPL code, except I don't consider that a problem but a blessing. So, the paid programmer would be writing proprietary binary applications in order to generate his own income. He'd be working for his own well being and not that of Kubuntu's.

That leaves the traditional distro fund raising business model: selling T-shirts and other clothing, Tux dolls, squeeze balls, pen sets or, perhaps, hardware. For example, I see KDE.ORG offering Spark for sale on its web site. I also see it making deals with other distros to offer Spark on their websites for a percentage of the profit per sale.

Another thing the Kubuntu developers could do is offer their services to solve problems for individuals or corporations for pay, but releasing the changes to the repositor, as part of their contract. Over 500 corporations, IIRC, are paying one or more of their employees a salary while those individuals work on the kernel to add or modify kernel modules which benefit their corporate interests. Approximately 75% of the kernel code is written by corporate employees. It would be advantageous for a corporation to switch away from Windows to Kubuntu, and instead of investing those license fees in Microsoft's bottom line, they could invest in Kubuntu programmers to add & change the Kubuntu DE to suit their environment, and to find solutions to problems that always arise regardless of which DE one uses. They would also know that they would not be stuck into a perpetual license fee trap, and the costs would be coming to an end. Where I retired from the MS license fees for Windows alone was about $50K/yr for 500 workstations. There were also licenses for SharePoint, Exchange (which replaced LN for $200K/yr), Office, and 30 or so servers. It would be fair to say that MS licenses alone were costing close to $500K/yr. Oracle's fees are even more. Those license fees do not include the per MINUTE costs that incur when MS or Oracle support was called in. That's the income for 10 coders per year from ONE company.

Just a thought.

[jpenguin]

If worse-come-to-worse and kubuntu development completely stops (not very likely) What distro would you go with? Fedora, SimplyMEPIS, LMDE, strait Debain?

[DoYouKubuntu]

If worse-come-to-worse and kubuntu development completely stops (not very likely) What distro would you go with? Fedora, SimplyMEPIS, LMDE, strait Debain?

I'd keep using Kubuntu until there was a damned compelling reason to stop. (Hey, my mom's still running 9.10 on her computer and it's fine. ) I recently toyed around with looking at some other distros--for the first time in YEARS--and I did like a couple of them, including Bodhi and Fedora. So, eventually, I might switch to something else, but I'd just keep running whatever the last release of Kubuntu turned out to be until something happened to make that no longer a good idea.

[woodsmoke]

Hi
I will repeat what I have posted in other fora.

I donate to SomaFM.
I have donated to two distros.
I made a "tux doll" that was just darling and could have been sold very cheaply, but still at a healthy markup and so through volume make a significant amount of change for the distro, and was ROUNDLY IGNORED by one and all.

I also offered to produce, and ship, for cost, a "polo shirt" and or "jacket" that would have been able to be sold at a significantly LOWER cost then the normal costs for these things and was....roundly IGNORED.

I also had made a custom "snuggie blanket" with a Tux SEWN onto it, which would have been UNIQUE.... nobody sells "snuggie blankets".... and at a cost which would have made a nice piece of change for a distro even given what the cost of a "snuggie blanket" is sold for on late night telly.

Here is an image of the Tux. I paid a considerable up front cost to get just three of these things made. However, the actual production costs would have been chump change.... the distro could have made money hand over fist and probably actually paid an employee for development. But....roundly ignored.



Here is an image of the lozenge.



I removed the image of the snuggie blanket for some reason, don't remember why, probably too many rum 'n cokes and too much disgust at....

a) the continual "bleating" by the distros that they NEED MONEY....
b) and when I offer them money makers, I don't do things for no reason, when I do something I know it will work...but.....apparently, for the Linux elites....anybody who lives in FLYOVER country of the U.S. and is part of the ASTROTURF..... they can do nothing worthwhile.

Well this is not about what I have tried to do but it is a SMALL suggestion that if the Linux elites would actually let people who DO things....DO those things....just MAYBE.... there would be enough money to finance a lot of things...

Another example is One Laptop Per Child.

When the thing finally coalesced into the form factor that is now available, the developer went a huntin' to all the.......GOVERNMENTS....and guess what....

They BLEW HIM OFF.....lotsa talk.....lotsa patting on the back, good ol' chum and all that....but where the money met the road....ZILCH....

They ended up in South America.... BIG CONTRACT....gonna make jillions, can then give a lapttop to every kid in the world and Jupiter.

And....ummm welll......maybe not so much.....

Ok........little old me....here in flyover country, astroturf land..... I got in my car....and started driving....because I know just about every science teacher within three hundred radius driving range.... showed them the image..........notice IMAGE....because I could not actually GET one of the things......

I made a PAYPAL payment for the D@#$ thing.......and the money was SENT BACK....... okaaayyyyyyy

and the science teachers went nutso...yes this would be great.....they were just setting up their schools intranets then and everything was in a state of flux.

The teachers talked to the prinicpals, who talked to the superintendants.....

I stayed AWAY from the BIG schools....

And, in the space of about two months, I had people who guaranteed, on a handshake, that if they could actually GET ONE in their school, to show to the school boards that they would order classroom quantities.... it figured up to about three THOUSAND units....about one hundred schools at 30 per school. Actually 24 per school I don't remember particularly the number of schools it was really somewhere around 116.

So..... I then CALLED the guy and got a secretary who said he would get right back....waited....weeks....called again....same secretary..... waited....called again....waited.... called a number of more times....finally got an ASSISTANT.....the guy almost pe@# his pants when I said would DRIVE THERE and get one and pay for it and had standing orders.....

waited...waited....nope....they don't want anything to do with CRASS MONEY...it has to be "government" stuff.

But....OOOPS.....this WAS government stuff..... but they would have to actually get their hands DIRTY dealing directly WITH SCHOOLS....instead of the big government that would then give them to schools.... ok a government entity is not a "government"....don't want to actually have to DEAL with anybody....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child

Anybody who remembers me from Klikit can verify this.

Fast forward to a guy in the Philipines who had a netbook.... a post was made either at Klikit or Rev. The article said he was ready for investment and could ship within a short while.

I called that day....answering machine....called again....answering machine....e-mailed, e-mailed, called, finally got "a secretary" said she would take my information and he would call me IMMEDIATELY.....when he got in...

still waiting.... rather like Godot....

Ok this is not about my trials and tribulations trying to actually make some INCOME for "Linux"....

It is to point out that there are probably a LOT OF PEOPLE who would love to "do" something financially, but don't want to just "donate" ..... and they just don't volunteer because they have seen that when they do....Linux people ignore them as if they are some kind of multi-dollar-sign monster that should be squashed in favour of .....fund raising.

Just my thoughts... of little worth.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Just my thoughts... of little worth.

Stop knocking yourself, or I'm going to grab your whip and knock some sense into you.

Seriously, your post was interesting and really conveys your feelings about TRYING to do something useful, only to be ignored or disregarded, for whatever "reason." It's sad, really, that there are people out there like you who WANT to do things to help the Linux community but whose efforts are summarily dismissed. Doesn't make much sense.

[rms]

@jpenguin

The ancients were right. Everything, big and small, is moving in a circle. So, me too, would be flipping back to SuSE from which I strayed long ago wishing to see The Linux World.