14 DAY TRIAL // The new elementary OS 0.3 Beta 2 has been launched, but it looks like the people are focusing on a different aspect of this release. The development team changed the way they are providing the download, which is still free, but the online community went nuts.
There are a ton of Linux distributions out there, and most of them are free. The same can be said about elementary OS and the devs haven't said that they plan to change this policy anytime soon. The only thing they changed was the download page, which by default invites users to donate a modicum amount of money. That sum of money can be changed to zero, so there is no real problem. Or so you might think.
The developers have also posted a message in which they explain how elementary OS has a high development cost and that the community should really participate financially. As you can imagine, things did not go well after the announcement, especially on Reddit (this is just one of the threads).
The online community was very upset by the fact that the developers said people should not assume something is free and not pay for it. They also said that the original message on the elementary OS blog has been changed after the blowback.
Building on free foundations is a tricky business
elementary OS is based on Ubuntu, which in its turn is based on Debian. Both of the systems are free. These systems are using the Linux kernel, which is also free, and a ton of other free packages.
On top of all this work, the guys from the elementary OS team are making their own contributions. And this is where the problems started. They feel and they’ve proved that the development process involves a lot of work, and they want the community to be a little bit more supportive. On the other hand, the Linux community is not really used to participate with large sums of money for projects they view as free.
Then again, Ubuntu has been doing the same thing for a few years already, and there was no real discussion or controversy around it. Now, the elementary OS team has a lot of problems to solve and they are no longer technical. This entire debate has spread like wildfire and they are doing their best to contain it.
