If you read this blog entry it is very likely that you are a direct beneficiary of open source and free software. Like myself you probably have been able to get hold of, use and tinker with software that in the old world of closed source dominance would all together have cost you maybe ten thousand dollars or more. So with the spirit of the Yuletide season fresh in mind it is time to open your wallet and support some important open source fundraising campaigns.

The first one is the Builder, an IDE of our GNOME which is an effort by the unstoppable Christian Hergert to create a truly powerful and modern IDE for GNOME. Christian has already made huge strides forward with his project since quiting his dayjob to start it, and helping fund him to cross the finish line would be greatly beneficial to us all. And I think it would make a wonderful addition to the Fedora Workstation effort, so this is an easy way for you to help us move that effort forward too. So head over to the fundraiser webpage or start by viewing the great fundraiser video below:

The second effort I want to highlight is the still ongoing fundraiser for the PiTiVi video editor. Since they started that effort they have raised 22190 USD of the 35 000 USD they need to get PiTiVi to a level where they are confident to make a 1.0 release. And I think we all agree that having a top notch video editor avaiable, especially one that uses GStreamer and thus helps improve our general multimedia story is very important. This effort also has a nice introduction video if I want to know more:

I have personally contributed money to both these efforts and I hope you will too! Both projects are crucial for the long term health of the ecosystem and both are done by credible teams with the right skills to succeed. So for those of us out of school and in paying jobs, setting aside for example 100 USD to help these two efforts should be an easy choice to make, the value we will get back easily dwarfs that amount.