@sovtechfund (funded by the German government) just announced a €1M grant towards the @gnome project, an open source desktop environment.
Imagine a world in which governments don't spend billions of dollars in licensing fees every year to make Microsoft richer, and that money instead goes towards _public code_ that belongs to all of us.
That may seem utterly implausible - but every example like this brings us one step closer to it being inevitable.
https://foundation.gnome.org/2023/11/09/gnome-recognized-as-public-interest-infrastructure/
Here's some of what that money will be used for:
- Improve the current state of accessibility
- Design and prototype a new accessibility stack
- Encrypt user home directories individually
Here's what it will not be used for:
- More reminders to use Edge as your default browser
- Clippy 2.0, now powered by a Large Language Model
- Microsoft Teams brain-computer interface
Sinking taxpayer funds into Microsoft's money pits has always been indefensible. Another world is possible & necessary.
Here's some of what that money will be used for:
- Improve the current state of accessibility
- Design and prototype a new accessibility stack
- Encrypt user home directories individually
Here's what it will not be used for:
- More reminders to use Edge as your default browser
- Clippy 2.0, now powered by a Large Language Model
- Microsoft Teams brain-computer interface