In my last blog posts, I explained the KDE Free Qt Foundation, which guarantees the free availability of the Qt Toolkit. Today, The Qt Company introduced a new Qt online installer that requires users to accept additional license terms. Many people have contacted me with concerns about this change. I share this concern. Even before this, I have already been concerned about the structure of the qt.io download page, since it blurs the lines between the Qt Toolkit itself and additional, proprietary products.

As a workaround, please use the qt-opensource-* files in the sub-subfolders of http://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/.

In my function as KDE’s representative on the KDE Free Qt Foundation, I am working with The Qt Company on having all this fixed. I still trust that this was an honest mistake inside The Qt Company, and that the corrections will be made soon.

Update: The Qt Company is changing the installer to make the Qt account optional. This was a very professional reaction to the criticism voiced here and elsewhere and bodes well for the future of Qt.