Fascism Arch Linux gets more funding.
Omarchy has been on something of a roll now. Funding for its foundation has been climbing fast, from an $8 million launch to $10 million a few weeks later, and now crossing $13 million with the most recent pledge.
What's drawn my attention are the first two Corporate Patrons, 1Password and 37signals, both of whom have decided to pitch $100,000 a year for the next three years. Now, 37signals I get; DHH is heavily involved there, but 1Password was a surprise entry.
Naturally, not everyone's onboard with their pledge.
Signs of disagreement
This has not gone well with employees working at 1Password, with company leadership having to take certain damage control measures to assure their staff.
An internal Slack message has surfaced (courtesy of The Verge), which shows cofounder Roustem Karimov downplaying the criticism, telling team members that:
people have different personal opinions. You believe in your heart that DHH is evil, that you have the moral high ground, and that nothing will change your mind.
However, not everyone believes that. It is not fair to claim a monopoly and ostracize team members who might disagree with you. There are people who are afraid to speak up simply because they will be personally attacked.
CEO David Faugno responded on a different note, telling employees the company doesn't endorse DHH's views, while also noting that Omarchy is the second most used Linux distribution among 1Password's own users. Why the backlash?
DHH is known to be someone who firmly falls on the "right" side of the political spectrum, someone who doesn't shy away from putting his opinions in public view.
He regularly posts blogs that show where he stands on certain societal issues, and some of his recent writeups are what's fueling this particular backlash.
His recent July post, titled "Wolves, sheep, and gypsies," compares Denmark's wolf population with the Romani people camping in Copenhagen parks, where he argues: "When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them."
Then there's "As I remember London" from September 2025, where he laments about London losing its native Brit majority and a nod of approval for a Tommy Robinson march.
Of course, these aren't the only factors behind his disapproval, but you get the gist of it, right?
Users could jump ship
If you search for the terms "1Password" and "Omarchy" right now, you are bound to run into the many comments made by disgruntled 1Password users on Reddit and Hacker News.
They are calling the choice tone-deaf, given how many smaller open source projects could've benefited from the money. Some are already jumping to alternatives like Bitwarden, while others suggest self-hosting Vaultwarden or going with KeePass and its forks instead.
I see the issue compounding too. Back in February, 1Password raised subscription prices, taking effect at renewals from March 27. Individual plans went up 33 percent from $35.88 to $47.88 a year, and family plans went up 20 percent from $59.88 to $71.88.
Its community forum already has a long thread full of longtime users saying they were leaving over it. If 1Password continues playing with its users' trust like this, who knows what kind of exodus it will see next?
If you yourself are open to multiple perspectives coexisting, then you should have a problem with DHH's exclusionary philosophies.
Have you read anything he's written?
Yes I have read the stories that people always point to as their "proof", and 1. I think everyone twists his (poorly chosen) phrasing to fit a specific narrative that is not reflective of any actual intent, and 2. I don't believe he actually wants to hurt anyone.
As far as I know, nobody has confronted him about these posts and gotten any clarification of his intent, they just want to crucify and not believe any other perspectives because it fuels their confirmation bias.
The "wild comment" (according to someone) I made elsewhere about his London post:
To me, complaining about too many immigrants does not inherently imply someone is racist, xenophobic or claiming anyone doesn't have a right to exist (the most common criticisms I see from his "proof" posts) as countries do need a healthy balance of immigration to work well... too much or too little can both be problematic for several different reasons that have nothing to do with where they came from or what they look like.
Imagine if people called you racist simply because the community/culture you grew up around is what you're used to and no longer what's all around you, and you never asked for such change... of course some people won't like it, but that doesn't mean they dislike the people themselves, just the situation.