cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/227964
There used to be a time when Linux gaming was a tricky affair, filled with trial and error, obscure fixes, and things randomly breaking. Many gamers used to avoid gaming on the platform due to those issues.
Now? Things have changed dramatically. Tools like Wine, Proton, DXVK, etc. have taken Linux gaming to another level. Bottles is one of those handy tools helping make the experience that much easier for gamers.
Sadly, the project has hit a funding roadblock.
Hard Work Deserves Appreciation
The lead developer behind Bottles, Mirko Brombin, recently shared an update on the project’s current state. He points out that, while Bottles has sponsorships from companies like Linode, JetBrains, and Hyperbit, they are still facing funding shortages that make sustained development difficult.
Despite having over 3 million downloads on Flathub, the project receives only about €100 per month in donations, an amount easily overshadowed by the server costs alone.
That sounds concerning. 🫤
Mirko also brought attention to Bottles Next, a complete rewrite of the app designed to modernize the codebase and improve performance. He said that they are still working on it, and while it’s due sometime in the future, continued support from Bottles users will help the team focus on development and deliver a better product faster.
He further added:
I am actively working to find sponsorships, I am in contact with a possible funding that could allow us to accelerate development, to pay a small bonus to those working on Next, to give some breathing room to those who are contributing. But here too, it takes time. And that’s precisely why today I feel the need to speak openly.
We don’t want to make Wikipedia-style appeals, with the usual “just one euro each.” But it’s right that those who love Bottles know how things really are. If you want to see Next grow, if you want to see Bottles finally become what it’s meant to be, we invite you to consider supporting us. Even just a symbolic donation, even just a monthly subscription, if done by many, can become what we need to take the next step.
If you use Bottles and want to see it grow, even a small donation helps more than you might think. Supporting the project now means faster updates and a better experience down the line.
Suggested Read 📖
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It’s FOSS NewsAnkush Das
When people complain about software being monetized and closed instead of everything being FOSS and I say people want to put food on their tables… This is exactly why. Most of the projects that have a good deal of recurring donations are some form of productivity software. Companies or freelancers use them to make money on a daily basis and decide to give back a bit, to ensure that their software continues being developed (large corporate donors sometimes also get a say in what features are prioritized).
Nobody sets up a recurring donation for a neat bit of software that makes life easier, but isn’t making the user any money.
It’s GPL, just like the Fediverse prefers it. Single most recommended launcher in the Linux gaming community in recent years. And the owner makes €100 a month off it. AND there are people in this very thread saying people shouldn’t donate to it because you could instead fund Wine development by buying a Crossover license (yay, proprietary software). Then another unrelated comment pointing out you can donate directly to Wine too. Then another comment saying they don’t like how FOSS projects often don’t disclose where the money’s going.
Well guess what, open source devs want money so they’d no longer be dependent on their soul-sucking corporate day jobs and have more time to develop neat open source software. Open source devs are often overworked and some receive a lot of abuse for not spending more time on their open source projects. Orchestrated abuse for not spending enough time on his open source project is how the author of xz was pressured to give maintainer status to what turned out to be a nation state level actor trying to integrate a backdoor into everyone’s Linux systems.
The open source community is abusive towards open source maintainers, really. I’m honestly glad I only have some small contributions to my name, and no large projects to maintain.
To be clear: No, I’m not any better when it comes to donations. I’m more likely to pay for proprietary software than to donate to an open source project I use. Same goes for most people I reckon. That’s why, while open source is awesome, actually being an open source dev sucks.