Fundraising and the Development Fund.

[Halla Rempt]

On zaterdag 6 november 2021 04:10:44 CET Emmet O'Neill wrote:
> Ivan:
> 
> > However, while this point is fair, dont forget the UI for Android devices
> > is not at all polished, which I believe is the main reason we are not
> > thinking in charging the Android version.
> 
> Yes. I agree that if we were to charge for Krita on Android it would have
> to meet a certain standard of polish.

But it's not just Android -- there's also ChromeOS where the current UI is fine. It's a pity the two stores aren't separated.


> > I haven't been able to figure that out, and all I've seen were endless
> > round-robin arguments about yes/no integration with krita-artists. I don't
> > think we'll figure this out in time.
> 
> I'd be willing to put time into this post-5.0, but I will probably need
> some direction in respect to how to navigate KDE, who to talk to, etc.

Okay

> >There are two reasons it's free on android/chromeos: [only way to install,
> beta]
> 
> I can agree with the beta part, but I don't know if I understand the first
> point.
> Ideologically, I can respect the fact that you want Krita to be accessible,
> and being free is pretty damn accessible by any standard.
> Financially though, it feels like it's an unwise move, to be frank.

Well, that's what our reasoning was. If we're fine with Krita 5.9 in the state it's now for ChromeOS and Android, then we can try to price it -- something like $4,99 sounds reasonable to me.  Given how much trouble people have with animation on Android, maybe we should disable that first?

> 
> We can't control the fact that Android makes it difficult to side-load
> apps, let alone build something from source.
> 
> But the reality is that spending money to provide it for free (to an
> Android user base that's *potentially* bigger than the PC platforms
> combined) is costing you/the project money.
> The very real costs associated with Android specific development are going
> to come from somewhere, be it "subsidies" from our PC users, or worse, from
> your own pocket.

Yes, it's hardware, Sharaf's time, my time, support time, and currently we're getting about $30 a month for our pains.

> 
> And don't get me wrong, I don't want to come across as money-focused or
> against Krita for Android.
> I think Sharaf has been doing great work and I can see that the potential
> for Krita on Android is huge.
> And though I don't have a financial stake here and it's really not my
> business, I just want it to be done in a way that is realistic and
> sustainable, and that isn't going to bleed you or the project dry.

Well... Of course you have a financial stake. If there isn't enough money to pay us all, we've got a big problem. 

> 
> >I think we've been doing that, but it's a fact that I'm, outside of the
> steam store, pretty the only one who really does any messaging, and I don't
> feel like I'm getting a lot of support in getting the message out.
> 
> So I think we're just not communicating well enough with each other about
> these things.
> 
> I know that public communication isn't everybody's cup of tea and that's
> ok, but we definitely have enough strong communicators in our group that we
> should be able to
> share the burden with you when it comes to messaging. I know we're all
> contracted to be programmers, but with such a small team I think it's a
> good idea if we can
> also engage in the other important tasks that need to be done--like
> messaging and fundraising.

Yes, please...

> 
> We might have to once again restructure our meetings a bit so that we can
> make messaging and fundraising a more present part of what we think about
> every week.

> (But how we run our meetings is probably a separate topic altogether.)

Yes, but if you want changes there, please do send another mail, or discuss it during the meeting. 

> 
> >The bottom line is that I probably will have to ask some people to on
> hiatus starting with December. I'm going to hate doing that. I've kept
> going with the reserves we had, but I've spent half of what I'm going to
> need to pay the 2020 taxes already, which really is a problem.
> 
> Understandable, as it can't be helped.
> I think it's safe to say that none of us want to be the source of financial
> and mental turmoil for you.
> Do what needs to be done to have things be sustainable for the project.
> 
> I would say that I hope that this can be done in a way that is fair (hour
> cuts across the board, unwinding the stack as people were added, etc.) and
> gives people enough time to figure out what they will need to do to adjust
> their lives.
> Not that I'd expect anything else, but December isn't so long from now!
> 
> You know, It could just be that Krita grew a bit too fast. (I know it's
> hard to plan around what has been a pretty unprecedented time...)
> In the future, it should really be the goal to do things in a way that's
> sustainable and in service of a good quality of life, for the contractors
> and the project maintainer alike. :)
> 
> Thanks for engaging in this discussion, because I feel that it's an
> important thing that sometimes gets abstracted away during the week-to-week.

It first looked like 2020 would have been a disaster year, but then income shot up. I had not expected that to be temporary. Now we're back in 2018 again, which isn't a good place :-(

Halla