Buying software for 10 bucks isn't even bad. Buying a license, which can be revoked at any time, is.
this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2026
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I've given a lot more money to the Krita Foundation than any other graphics applications combined. Every time there's an update I'm like "woaaah awesome taek mi monies!!"
I wonder how much Krita being on steam has generated alone.
I have about β¬10 in Proprietary software purchases, and β¬1500 in donations to FOSS projects.
Would you accept sloppy mouth kisses from a basset hound in the form of thanks? Because though I am not affiliated with any foss project, I am affiliated with some charitable corporations and this makes my soul happy.
Yes I will accept kisses.
This is the way
I mean, I proudly wired 100 euros to Graphene simply because how awesome it is.
I remember buying a CD set of FreeBSD 3.3 back in the day. Partially to support the project, and partially because the alternative was to download it over 33.6baud where I paid per minute.
in the early 00s my Dad and I bought a copy of Linux Mandrake from a Software ETC. didn't have much of a choice in the matter as unless you were in university or something that was the only way of getting it.
Man did we fuck up the family PC trying to install that thing. Came with a massive manual and my Dad figured he could do it cause he kinda sorta not really knew DOS. me? I knew how to put ram and a cpu in a computer. we were not prepared.
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Insert the super fancy Tux for donating more for the FOSS than you would have paid for the proprietary software π€΄
And the mind explosion Tux for donating to a project you don't (yet? or ever?) use but want to see developed anyway.
I try and donate where I can, but stuff like Signal, that refuses to employ engineers outside of the US because "talent doesn't exist anywhere else" is where I draw the line. Yes, opensource donations are amazing, but not for projects with attitudes like that.
No-one deserves your donations, but that sounds like you're letting perfect get in the way of good. There are tons of things that speak for Signal. They made the whisper protocol and they consistently protect privacy where they can. I've used it for years (meaning I've actively generated costs for them without any revenue), and that qualifies as good for me.
There is no such thing as the Whisper protocol, AFAIK.
Signal uses the Signal protocol, formerly known as TextSecure due to Signal being a merge of the earlier (proprietary) projects TextSecure for encrypted messaging and RedPhone for encrypted voice calls.
The two projects were initially started by Whisper Systems, co-founded by Moxie Marlinspike and Stuart Anderson. The name of this company may be the cause of confusion, but the protocol has to my knowledge never been called anything else than TextSecure and subsequently Signal.
Whisper Systems was acqui-hired by Twitter who then open-sourced both projects under the GPL license, after which the Open Whisper Systems organization was created by Moxie to continue development on what later got merged into the Signal project as we see it today.
The protocol uses the Double Ratchet algorithm (a.k.a. Axolotl Ratchet) for cryptographic key exchange, invented specifically for secure messaging and use in Signal (although naturally open source and applicable for oher use cases too).
Wikipedia (understandably) has a nice timeline over the various projects:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3ASignal_timeline.svg
End of nerd snipe transmission, over and out. :-)
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Whoa, that's so toxic. I'm glad I switched my donation to Delta. Plus it just feels so much better to use.
I don't have evidence for this but Signal feels just like an app right before it's sold off to a megacorp. I can't put my finger on it...
Is that really the case? I work for a multi national FLOSS organisation but every additional country you want to hire from requires additional compliance overhead so in practice we generally hire from countries where we already have the legal setup to employee people.
How big an org is Signal?
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I know this is super weird but, I kinda like seeing a buy button on stuff like "elementaryOS" or "Zorin OS", its essentially just an donation, but I think especially for normal people its that extra "professionalism" which makes it looks like yet another "normal" OS to consider.
I donate to the most important projects out there: Servo, PostmarketOS, F-Droid, Signal (from time to time).
Wikipedia? It's not software but worth donating to.
I donated couple of times. Aren't they doing really well financially? If they will put the big banner asking for money again I will give again :)
I'm also subscribing local newspaper even though the amount of trackers they have is ridiculous and The Guardian. Good journalism is also very important.
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there's also the Internet Archive if one's looking for something to donate to :)
SO important. They're always under some kind of attack, and they're pretty much the most accessible way we have to access a web that keeps disappearing and getting replaced.
That is an excellent place to sonate, that ans FUTO.
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Made my first round of donations to FOSS projects last weekend!
Support the people doing the work that benefits you.
I have nothing against paying for quality software even if it's not open-source. I pay for Plex, Symfonium (Android) and Kagi. What I hate is yet another subscription for terribly software.
Template for those that want it.
Thanks!
Buying ~~$10~~ $1000 Proprietary Software
~~Donating $10 to FOSS Software~~ Subscribing to the FOSS Software Patron Tier for $10/mo
I've given more to FOSS projects in the last year since ditching with does than I gave Microsoft in the 20 before it.
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One software please
Hey, random question here. Is there a project or a website where you can specify your Foss projects which you want to give money to and how much and you only have one payment? In my head I think it would be cool if I could split 50 euros in percent or something like this and target my favorite 20 projects. Obviously this project or website should and must be secure and trustworthy.
I think thanks.dev can do this, it's more designed around donating to dependencies of your own projects, but you can manually specify other projects.
This is actually a great idea, especially if it also supported recurring payments. I've terminated all my subscriptions to various streaming services and am planning to instead use that money for monthly donations to FOSS projects I use - such a service would help, both for payment and possibly discovering other projects I haven't thought about that offer ways to donate!
I donate to Codeberg and do kofi to linux content creators (many of whom have been a life saver) and whatever random neat FOSS CLI or TUI I come across. I also donate to dnkl who is the dev of Foot and Fuzzel.
If it's something I like and I use daily then I donate.
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