Lunduke
News • Science & Tech
The incredibly boring, totally reasonable finances of the GNOME Foundation
Frugal. Transparent. Focused on their core business.
December 28, 2022
post photo preview

I recently reported on the incredibly bizarre finances of Mozilla (the makers of Firefox). Payments to nonexistent companies, major payments to political extremists (that have no relation to their core business), a total reliance on a single customer… and that’s just for starters. The finances of Mozilla are absolutely wild.

Which brings up a question:

How does that compare to the financial operations of other “non-profit” organizations in the Tech and Open Source world?

Are the finances of other organizations similarly corrupt and strange? Or is Mozilla… unique?

In order to (begin to) answer that question, I dove into the available financial data of the GNOME Foundation — the Non-Profit Foundation behind the GNOME Desktop Environment (among many other software projects).

What I found was shockingly boring. Full transparency. Reasonable salaries and expenditures. Not one drop of anything even remotely controversial, shady, or questionable.

In other words… the exact opposite of Mozilla.

Read on to be utterly bored by the reasonableness of The GNOME Foundation… IF YOU DARE.

What does The GNOME Foundation actually do?

GNOME is, without question, the most commonly used Desktop Environment on Linux operating systems in 2022. It provides the default experience for the majority of the most popular Linux variants in existence (including Ubuntu).

But what, exactly, does the GNOME Foundation do? What is the Foundation’s role in all of this?

In their own words…

The GNOME Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to support the GNOME project.

 

Together we create a computing platform, composed entirely of free software, that is designed to be elegant, efficient, and easy to use. To achieve this goal, the Foundation coordinates releases and determines what software to include in these releases.

 

The Foundation provides the infrastructure necessary to building a technical project, including email services, hosting servers, and software for collaboration.

 

The Foundation acts as an official voice for the GNOME project, providing a means of communication with the community, media, and commercial and noncommercial organizations interested in GNOME software.

The Foundation produces educational materials and documentation to help the public learn about GNOME software.

 

In addition, it sponsors and helps organize GNOME related conferences, such as GUADEC, GNOME.Asia, and the Pan African GNOME Summit; represents GNOME at relevant conferences sponsored by others; helps create technical standards for the project; and promotes the use and development of GNOME software.

Infrastructure, release coordination, documentation and educational materials, conferences…

A good, clear list of services. All of which are clearly focused on the core business and market of GNOME.

How much money does the GNOME Foundation take in?

Now that we know what The GNOME Foundation sets out to accomplish… let’s take a look at how much money they take in with the purpose of accomplishing their goals.

Here are the breakdowns, for both 2020 and 2021, according to the GNOME Foundation annual report:

In 2020, The GNOME Foundation brought in a total of $925,189 dollars (USD). In 2021… that number dropped substantially. Down to $286,708.

One heck of a drop.

While that decrease in income is not a great thing… there’s nothing shady there. Simply a down year in terms of donations. As the Foundation stated in their report:

“The income for 2021 was a bit higher than projected. While down significantly from 2020, that was to be expected as 2021 did not have any high stakes events and the pandemic did not allow for many in-person events”

Here’s an important bit: All of these numbers are confirmed (at least for 2020) by the publicly available 990 forms from the IRS. (We don’t have the full 990 forms from the IRS for 2021 yet… thanks to the IRS being very, very slow.)

How much money do they spend?

Like with their income, The Gnome Foundation has provided clear breakdowns of their annual expenditures.

You’ll note that total expenses were actually higher in 2021. Which is concerning, considering the decreased income.

“While we spent less money in 2021 for conferences and other in-person events, we had directed funds that needed to be spent on specific programming items like the community challenge. Reduced staffing mid-year led to a slight decrease for staff spending for the year.”

For those of you doing the math at home, you’ll notice a little potential issue.

The GNOME Foundation brought in $286 Thousand in 2021… and they spent $926 Thousand. That means they spent $640 Thousand dollars more than they earned. Not great. How did they pull that off?

Digging into their 990 for 2019 and 2020 provided the answer: They had some money in the bank. You know. For a rainy day.

Specifically $1.8 Million in the bank. Which more than covered their losses in 2021.

While a loss year like that is not fun for any company or foundation… they happen. Just hopefully not too often.

Looking deeper into where the expenditures go reveals an organization that is quite frugal.

For example: The Executive Director of the Foundation earns a yearly salary of almost exactly $100,000 USD.

By comparison, the head of Mozilla earned $5.6 Million.

Note: You could make the argument that the head of Mozilla deserves to earn more because of the larger total market share of Firefox. Except… the difference between GNOME and Firefox, in terms of total users, is actually not all that dramatic. Firefox has a market share of around 3% (across all operating systems). Linux has almost the exact same market share (slightly less)… with GNOME being the dominant Desktop Environment. While it’s difficult to pin down, precisely, a good “from the hip” estimation would put the GNOME user-base at roughly half of Firefox’s. Give or take.

And, heck, a senior software developer or engineering management position in the United States is going to be able to earn far more than $100,000 yearly. $100k is nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but is a potential drop in terms of what the same person could earn elsewhere.

Which means: The Executive Director of The GNOME Foundation is (most likely) sacrificing some of his earning potential in order to be able to work at GNOME.

At present, other than an Executive Director, there are 6 staff members of the Foundation. Which means the average salary of a Foundation employee is going to be less than $100k.

And, here’s something that struck me: No major discretionary spending. With GNOME, every dollar spent seems to be accounted for and earmarked for specific purposes — with clear relationships to the core business.

Reasonable salaries. No shady spending. All very carefully spelled out.

If anything, some of their staff probably could use a raise.

Seriously? There’s no shady stuff going on?

I warned you: Boring.

I can’t find a single objectionable thing in either their annual report or their filings with the IRS.

No bizarre business dealings whatsoever. Every dollar accounted for. All spending is very reasonable — and, importantly, all focused on their core mission and business.

I have a few take-aways from this:

  • This makes me more comfortable in donating to the GNOME Foundation… I know that my donated dollars will be used carefully.

  • It stands in stark contrast to the concerning, bizarre financials of Mozilla.

  • I now am curious: Is Mozilla the oddity for being so strange and shady? Or is GNOME the oddity for being so frugal, transparent, and focused on their core business? This may require some additional research to determine the answer to that question.

I’ll be honest. I’ve had a few criticisms of GNOME in the past — both in terms of the technical aspects of the Desktop Environment and related software… and of the running of the community and Foundation.

But, after doing some digging — and finding their operations and financials to be so utterly reasonable and boring — I am finding that I am having increasingly positive feelings towards them.

community logo
Join the Lunduke Community
To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today
10
What else you may like…
Videos
Podcasts
Posts
Articles
PSX Emu Dev Forbids Arch Linux Packages

DuckStation developer says, "Next step will be removing Linux support entirely, because I'm sick of the headaches and hacks." Specifically naming Wayland as a source of problems.

00:15:52
Groupthink, Tech Journalism, & The Lunduke Journal

Why The Lunduke Journal uses the "10th Man Rule" to counter groupthink in the Tech Industry. (And why you'll definitely disagree with Lunduke sometimes.)

Stick it to Big Tech, 50% off everything at The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/stick-it-to-big-tech-50-off-everything

00:18:10
The Age of Non-Woke Open Source is Beginning

Non-Woke "Political Protest Forks" like XLibre & Redot are thriving. Non-DEl Linux Distributions like Open Mandriva are as well. But Woke projects? Not doing so well.

The Article:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/open-source-political-protest-forks

00:21:04
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

There's a new conference in town. And it seems it's already sold out!
#VibeCoding

For all you Commodore fans…

If you've done 6 impossible things this week, why not round it off with a trip onboard "thE grAvY trAIn" TONIGHT at 21:00 BST! (1pm PST/4pm EST)

https://erb.pw/y/tgt20250802

post photo preview
IBM Taking DEI “Under the Radar”
Whistleblowers provide details on how IBM & Red Hat are simply renaming “Diversity” programs, as the company continues discriminatory hiring practices.

Back in April, The Lunduke Journal broke the story of IBM “ditching DEI policies” company wide — including at their subsidiary, Red Hat. This change was announced in the wake of multiple lawsuits against IBM (for their DEI policies) and executive orders against DEI from President Trump.

At the time, activist employees at Red Hat / IBM were not happy (to say the least). Encouraging and planning protests, “raising hell”, and even “killing fascists”.

But, now that a little time has passed, let’s take a look inside at IBM and see how their “ditching DEI” change is actually going.

DEI Staying “Under the Radar”

Thanks to whistleblowers within IBM, we know that employee groups focused on DEI still, in fact, exist. They are simply changing names in order to “stay under the radar” and avoid having “a target on their back”.

 

The “diversity-inclusion” corporate Slack channel, for example, is now named “inclusion-at-ibm”. They simply dropped the word “diversity”.

The DEI Department is Still There

Employees are using that IBM DEI Slack channel to clarify corporate changes to DEI policy. Which, again, thanks to whistleblowers… we have screenshots of.

A few key items:

  • The “DEI Department” has been renamed to “Inclusion” — and now reports to Kitty Chaney Reed (the Chief Leadership, Culture and Inclusion Officer).

  • IBM is no longer part of the Human Rights Campaign — “the HRC no longer align with IBM priorities”.

  • “People can still identify their preferred pronouns in all of IBM systems.”

  • The game-ified “Allyship Badge” system has been removed.

 

As we can see, some DEI policies and programs are gone, while others remain. And IBM is making a point of renaming their DEI Department within HR.

We gain these insights thanks to Ruth Davis — an IBM Executive and who currently identifies as a “DEI Advocate”.

 

These clarifications were published by a current member of the IBM HR team… who was originally hired as a “Diversity and Inclusion Intern”.

 

In short: DEI advocates continue to control IBM HR, and DEI departments continue to exist.

IBM / Red Hat Discriminatory Quotas

Up until recently, both IBM & Red Hat had discriminatory hiring policies — including sex and skin color quotas and even rewards for executives for hiring fewer white men.

We learned, as part of the original leaks supplied to The Lunduke Journal back in April, that “diversity goals are no longer part of the executive incentive program”.

 

Which begs the question, now that a few months have passed, is IBM still discriminating against White Men?

Getting hard numbers on the demographics of new IBM / Red Hat employees is not likely to happen for quite some time — if ever. But here is a picture, posted yesterday, of new Red Hat interns.

That might give us some indication of where things are heading.

 

Well. Huh.

Finding the “White Guys” in this photo of Red Hat interns isn’t quite as challenging as a round of “Where’s Waldo?”… but it’s close.

Now for me, personally, I truly don’t care what the demographic ratios are of employees & interns within a company. Hire the best people for the job, regardless of their sex or ethnicity. Meritocracy is a good thing.

That said, considering the multiple pending lawsuits against IBM and Red Hat — specifically regarding their discriminatory policies towards White Men (and their previously stated goals of hiring less of them) — it is more than a little interesting that their latest crop of Red Hat interns is almost entirely… people who are not White Men.

Results Are Mixed

There are a few good signs in here of IBM dropping DEI related policies — including no longer being involved in the Human Right Campaign and the removal of the (rather repulsive, anti-White) “Allyship Badges”.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of what we’re seeing is less encouraging.

  • “DEI” groups simply being renamed to “Inclusion” in order to stay on the right side of the law.

  • What appears to be continued discriminatory hiring at Red Hat (despite lawsuits and stated policy changes).

  • Executives and HR still heavily controlled by “DEI Advocates”.

  • Corporate systems still using “preferred pronouns”.

While making significant changes to corporate policies can take time — especially across large organizations like IBM — some of these internal reports indicate an unwillingness to drop DEI policies on the part of key IBM leadership.

The Lunduke Journal will continue keeping tabs on both IBM and Red Hat.

Any employees looking to become whistleblowers can find whistleblower resources at Lunduke.com.

Read full Article
post photo preview
LibreOffice Developer’s Hotmail Account Locked After LibreOffice Criticizes Microsoft
“Wow that looks bad,” says Microsoft employee.

Mike Kaginski, a LibreOffice developer (who works for Collabora), has had his Microsoft-hosted email account, which he uses for open source development, locked for “activity that violates our Microsoft Services Agreement”.

 

Kaginski discovered this when attempting to send an email to the LibreOffice development mailing list (hosted by FreeDesktop). It remains unclear if that specific email (which he sent via another address and was rather bland and technical) was the reason for the ban… or if attempting to send the email was simply the first time the ban was noticed by him.

This happened just days after LibreOffice officially accused Microsoft of engaging in a “Lock-in” strategy by creating “artificially complex”, XML-based office documents.

Are the two events related? Hard to say with any certainty.

To make matters worse, Kaginski has had no success in getting Microsoft to lift his locked email account — with the company making him jump through numerous, impossible hoops (such as requiring him to sign in to submit an appeal for his account being locked… but not allowing him to sign in… because his account is locked).

You got that? Sign in to fix the account you can’t sign in with.

Gotta love a good Catch-22.

Good job, Microsoft.

The Lunduke Journal reached out to a contact, within Microsoft, who made it clear that their group was not aware of the LibreOffice Developer’s locked account, but they were aware of the LibreOffice complaint article regarding “artificially complex” XML lock-in. Adding, “wow that looks bad”.

The Lunduke Journal’s Analysis

The odds of locking a LibreOffice developer’s email account being an official Microsoft corporate decision seems highly unlikely.

Microsoft, as a company, makes a lot of bad decisions — but this would just be too stupid for words. A massive PR blunder.

But could a single employee, feeling grumpy, have done it on an impulse? As some sort of revenge for LibreOffice’s “harsh” words about Microsoft? Sure. That seems entirely plausible?

Though, it’s also entirely plausible that some poorly designed AI-driven “naughty activity” detection bot flagged his account. Or, perhaps, the developer was reported by some random Open Source hooligan who likes to cause chaos (there’s a lot of those).

Either way, the fact that Microsoft requires people to log in — on accounts which cannot log in — in order to file an “appeal” is incredibly amusing. And is very, very typical Microsoft.

Read full Article
post photo preview
Open Source “Political Protest Forks” Thriving
Many called XLibre & Redot nothing more than “political protests” that would quickly die and be forgotten. Boy were those naysayers wrong.

Over the last year, we’ve seen a couple of high profile forks, of large Open Source projects, which were inspired — in part — by a desire to move away from the political discrimination and Leftist Extremism within the original projects.

At the time, when each of these forked projects were started, many predicted that they would go nowhere. That they were nothing more than “political protest forks” — and they would die out quickly.

Let’s check in on both of those project to see if that has happened.

XLibre - The Xorg Fork

Since officially launching, at the end of June (last month), the XLibre project has published a handful of official releases (now up to version 25.0.0.5)… with a significant number of changes and fixes.

 

In fact, considering the significant new features (such as XNamespace Extensions), the first release of XLibre is larger (in every way I can think to measure) than any Xorg release in the last decade. With the number of contributors growing.

How about Operating System support? Many predicted that XLibre would be ignored by every Linux distribution on the planet. That it would go nowhere and nobody would use it.

According to the “Are we XLibre yet?” wiki, a number of systems have already (officially) adopted XLibre. Including: Devuan, Artix, GhostBSD, and (my personal favorite) OpenMandriva.

 

This is important to note: All of that support has occurred even though XLibre has only existed for one month. Several systems already officially supporting it is nothing short of “crazy impressive”. Borderline unprecedented.

In addition, a number of systems have 3rd party repositories which allow users to install and use XLibre. Including: Arch, FreeBSD, Gentoo, NixOS, Slackware, and (seriously) macOS.

 

In short: Growing group of developers. Rapidly growing platform support. New releases which put the original project (Xorg) to shame.

Redot - The Godot Game Engine Fork

The Redot project — which forked off of Godot back in October of 2024 — had a stable release (4.3.1) back in June, and just had a new test release (4.4 Alpha 2). Both with both new features and fixes.

 

In fact, Redot has had 13 releases since the project started late last year.

With an absolutely massive number of commits since then.

 

In short: Steady, new releases. New features and bug fixes. Both stable and testing releases.

These Projects are Thriving

It’s hard to look at either of these projects and come to any conclusion other than they are absolutely thriving.

At this point, it’s looking like those who predicted rapid failure for these “Political Forks” were not only wrong… but wildly, obscenely wrong.

There’s a lesson in there.

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals