I thought donations were optional

Donationware: you must donate to use it. Not like regular optional donates.

110 comments

- I paid for "premium" boost fpr lemmy and it was 100% worth it. I didn't had too but having lemmy on boost made me forget about reddit.
  
  Boost is Freemium software.

One of my favorite programs was acting up, so I went to reinstall. Turned out this program that has been free for a decade, now wants $29 a month, to let me pirate movies. Da fuck? What a way to shit the bed, to offer the same free program but charge for it out of nowhere
- If anyone actually pays $29 a month to watch movies illegally modern streaming services have truly reached a new low
  
  Yeah it's was bittorrent. they went with a paid, tiered model now. They want me to pay to use a torrent client to pirate stuff, it's ridiculous
  
  I mean, that's cheaper than having three or four subscriptions to cover at least the basic catalog.
- now whatever you do, don't steal it
  also doublecheck you aren't on a scam site or that the product hasn't forked ;)
- Stremio

I think pay what you can/want is a great concept, but calling it donation is kinda misleading

Just about every instance of this, you can donate $0...
- That's the true definition of donationware.
  \ If you're being forced to "donate" any amount of money upfront to use the software, it's no longer donationware, it's literally just paidware. Even if the source code is available elsewhere under a FOSS license, that specific copy is by definition paidware.
- Annoying that I have to do that
  
  Sure. But the default is very powerful. They've proven they can literally get kids to eat healthier by where they place the vegetables in a school lunch queue.
  In this case, if people who can afford it choose to pay for software, and the developers are supported... what's the harm (besides the annoyance)?

Escortware. You're not paying for the software, you're paying for the time you're using the software.
- Isn't that essentially software as a service?
  
  Arrest creative cloud for prostitution. All those people are paying to get fucked.

Any real-life example of anyone doing this?
- FairEmail is a privacy oriented email app on fdroid which uses donation to activate pro features. €0.10 to activate one time and €7.50 for unlimited future devices. I think it's a pretty fair deal.
  https://email.faircode.eu/donate/
  
  It's a fair deal, but the point is it's not a donation. You can purchase pro features, and that's great. But it's not a donation if you get a product in return, that's just a purchase.
- Voicemeeter did that too.
  But honestly i don't really see what's wrong. There's a base donation for the price of the software but it just give the option to support the dev if you want...
  I mean most things that rely on donation like that are just cheap indie software (I think voicemeeter was $5)
  I'd take that over the awful and greedy subscriptions that cost an arm like adobe or Microsoft.
- afwall+
- Screenskraper but they have to pay server costs so it makes sense.
  OCCT for some fucking reason, where it doesn't.
  
  OCCT doesn't require you to purchase it for personal use (although you will get a 10sec timer before you can start a benchmark/stability test), which is why i think it doesn't count as "donationware"
- Parted Magic
  
  Maybe it's regional, but the webpage doesn't say anything about a donation. It uses language like "store," "purchase" and "subscription."
  
  It's free software. You can charge money for distribution of free software but if the user does then he has the right to have acces to the source code forever no restrictions. And that user is free to distribute copies of the software as he wishes.
- I think FreeFileSync does make some additional features available when you donate, which I don't think would otherwise be available.
  https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#donation-edition
- Not sure if it would count. But https://fritzing.org/download/ Went to pay it or ?compile it yourself? with version 1.0.
- Mynoise.com allows you to do a 1 time donation of 1$ to unlock all the sounds. You then just need the email you donated with.
  
  So... Freemium/Paidware.

I find it funny how the word removed has become a slur but the implication that something is removed is still acceptable
- Turns out there's a difference between insulting a person and disparaging an inanimate thing.
  
  Do y'all remember Wanda Sykes doing commercials about stuff being called gay and how it was offensive?
  This is basically the same thing but with removed instead of gay.
- I don't like either and have been mobbed over my opinion, despite being a caregiver for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
  One of the reasons I speak up as a caregiver is I have known ASD 1 people who admitted that it bothers them that people use that term, but they feel like they can't make the argument themselves. Because they're disabled.
  Out of touch assholes are the only ones still dug in over this.
  
  I'm sorry that you've been mobbed for sharing this view. That's shitty.
  I feel like ableism, especially against people with intellectual and personality disability, is the one sphere where nobody seems to take the objections of the targeted group seriously, and simultaneously dismiss people speaking up for the targeted group for being "virtue signalers" or as whiners. So it's like the only solution is to just not say anything.
  (Tangential but I have similar feelings about people calling others narcissists and attacking them for it, though I don't feel like that is going to change anytime soon. Still, if the person targeted is actually a narcissist, then I feel like it's bad to attack them for a diagnosis and symptoms they have no control over. And if they aren't actually a narcissist, then why further stigmatize people with narcissism? It's more complicated than the r-slur since abuse by narcissists happens and victims shouldn't feel restricted from sharing their experiences accurately, but similar in how it's disproportionately used to disparage and nobody takes objections to that usage seriously.)
  
  I mean I'm autistic and adhd. I've been called removed pretty much my whole life. To me it's like the nword at this point. The only difference is I'm not black so I'm not gonna be throwing that around.
  
  I say it every now and then, but only for normally abled people acting like idiots. Is that an acceptable use?
- i guess the problem comes from the term instead of its meaning, even if that makes no sense
- I think people who say it's a slur are removed /s

You can literally donate 1ct. I have no idea how people can complain when developers want money for their work.
The "Linux community" is 80% users that dont contribute, 10% "powerusers" that still dont contribute, 5% people that help with nondevelopment work (bug reporting, community support, etc.) and 5% actual developers.
(Completely rough estimation)
- I have no problem with "pay what you can". I just hate "you must donate X amount to use this software". If I need to donate, then it is not a donate. It is payment.
  
  Never had this but yeah maybe. "Pay for binaries" is still free software though

Randsomeware
You must pay to use your own software

I hear you. I think it's just exceedingly rare. Not saying it doesn't exist, I just think giving it a name is a little strange given how unbelievably rare it is. But, you got to start somewhere! So, I digress. I guess, here it is. 🤷‍♂️
- You have no idea how deep the -ware rabbit hole goes.
- It's the humble bundle model.

In a lot of religious areas, you're not allowed to buy religious iconography.
But if you make a set-price donation, they'll give you religious iconography as a completely unrelated gift to recognize your piety.

There is also software that you could compile from source yourself but the binaries are locked behind a donation. Are those also donationware?
- Theres also software you can download for free, but you gotta pay for the password to unlock the rar file...
- pls answer I need to know if I can use aseprite without disappointing daddy stallman
  
  Paid software is completely fine with RMS as long as the source is available to the users (not even to everyone) as long as you can freely redistribute the source (like RHEL before they enshittified)
  https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.en.html

Where the fuck did you get this definition from?
If I remember correctly vim is charityware and is entirely free, I only found out about the charity part on accident.
- https://vb-audio.com/Services/licensing.htm
  
  I agree this is bullshit, especially the donation for activation code.
  
  Yeahhh... I paid for it because I needed the functionality.
- Who needs to get definitions from other sources when you can make your own definitions?

English people on their way to ruin the meaning of every word.

In English, the correct meaning of words is always optional. The language is fluid, literally anything can be a euphemism; idk if that's also the case in other languages but it regularly trips up even native speakers.
Even so, even with that much flexibility built into the language, this is still just malignant, cynical, toxic lying of the worst sort.

What like itch.io? Hard disagree
- Itch is free, with optional donations.
  Donationware is "Please donate to continue"
  
  Donationware is "Please donate to continue"
  No, that's either Freemium or Trialware.
  
  You can set a donation minimum in itch
- I think they’re referring to software that has like donate indicators/prompts in the app, or features blocked behind “donation.”
  
  yes, those.
  
  donate indicators/prompts in the app
  That's either donationware or nagware depending.
  features blocked behind “donation.”
  That's just Freemium.

Hey what if my software is paid, but you can purchase it for N money or more, with an input field?
Because that I've seen a lot, and it sounds suspiciously like what you're describing, yet completely normal.
Edited for grammar

Here in Australia we have Meetup groups which request mandatory donations for hikers too.
Always by the worst guides. Surely the tax office and legal system (when people get injured) can't outsmart such actual genius lol

I dunno this lacks nuance… I think this could easily be referring to different economic situations. The concept of donation usually has this implication of not being a for-profit entity or for a indie developer’s side project. These kinds of apps usually are still either open source or source available which is different than closed, proprietary applications. With this focus on money, I would assume that “free” is meaning gratis where users can often be the product & while the source is not available …or some VC-funded product where they are loss-leading a free tier now just eventually charge everyone later which is hardly good, with a dash of open washing to taste.
- Free beer: dont pay and still get software
  Free speech: get software you can trust, be sure there are no active backdoors etc.
  
  Gratis vs. Libre

Now what about software that pays you to use it?
Oh no, I just described cryptocurrency.
- And bloatware. (Kind of. I understand it subsidises the cost of your device/software.)

110 comments