Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
In March, 2017, I decided to become a paying user of Ubuntu, or, let’s say I decided to contribute some cash to the cause. It has been a wonderful free ride, and it still is a free ride, and I have been meaning to contribute for some time now, but one day, no more good intentions, I was motivated into action.
Two charities that I contribute to via my credit card called me on the same day. My credit card was no longer valid because I had to cancel my card when it went astray while on vacation. I now have a new number, but the two charities wanted to know if I would renew the monthly donations. The first call came from the Canadian Cancer Society; that is a no brainer, of course I renewed. The second call came from a social / political group I had forgotten that I was still contributing to. So I did not renew with them. I hate to say “no”; the fact is we are all in the same boat here, and there is a limit to the number of causes we can contribute money to without the risk of ending up being a “cause” ourselves.
It was moments after I got off the phone with the second caller, I started to think about my good intention to donate to Ubuntu. I have been a user of Ubuntu since the beginning in 2004 with Warty Warthog. At that time, I was getting a bit frustrated with Linux, but what I read about Ubuntu appeared to be the answer to my frustrations and it was.
We have had the option to make a donation at the download page for some time now. Ubuntu has given so much to me, I felt that I should contribute. Then I hesitate, because I live in Canada and our dollar is not worth a full dollar outside our borders, my donation is either not as strong as it should be, or it is going to cost more to give.
On the other hand, what about the money that I was giving the second charity that called? I really was not sure if I was getting the bang for the buck I expected. I could give at least some of that money to Ubuntu, and I would feel much better about it too. If all of us contributed just as much as we can, even if it is just a little bit, the total amount of money collected would go a long ways to help cover the overhead costs of Ubuntu. I gave to Ubuntu and Full Circle Magazine. Both donations are not huge, I would peg them both at around ten cups of coffee at my local coffee shop. Really folks, that is all it takes to make a difference.
So why not mark the Ten Years of Full Circle Magazine with a small donation to the free software project of your choice, including Full Circle Magazine? Ubuntu, Debian, the Free Software Foundation, or The Document Foundation are a few examples that come to mind. Many of these projects now have a page on the website to place your donation. Your donation does not have to be a lot of money, mine was not, but every little bit helps, no matter how much the donation is. With PayPal and credit cards, it has never been easier to give.
Resources:
The Document Foundation: http://www.libreoffice.org/donate
Free Software Foundation: https://my.fsf.org/donate
Debian: https://www.debian.org/donations
Ubuntu: https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/contribute
Last but not least, there is a donation button on the Full Circle Magazine home page: http://fullcirclemagazine.org/