I can’t find the words “open source” on the main landing page:
Yes, it is open source. All the licenses used are open source licenses. Here is the source code: KDE Linux / KDE Linux · GitLab
Thanks! Glad to hear… tho now I think why indeed the words “open source” are not used on the main landing page, nor in the blog posts by developers ![]()
I’m “paranoid” about this because while everyone “praises” SteamOS as “revolution” in Linux gaming, SteamOS very tactically hides the fact that it is a closed source, images-only “free” “Linux-based” OS.
Every piece of software made by KDE is open source. Wouldn’t it be redundant to mention it again and again in every page?
Steam itself is closed source, so it is obvious that SteamOS is closed source. There is nothing to hide. And it is literally linux-based, GitHub - ValveSoftware/steamos_kernel: SteamOS kernel branches is the kernel. Even widely known distributions like Q4OS have build systems that are not public and source code is only available on request.
On every page? Yes. On the main landing page? Absolutely no, because, again, me, as a new potential user of the OS, not finding these words on the main page or the official blog posts or on reddit announcement news, now have to guess and go ask on forums like here if it’s actually open source or not ![]()
Again, thanks for letting me and everyone who will read this know, but… If you type this stuff explicitly somewhere on your distro landing pages, no questions will be asked! ![]()
At least concerning comparing Valve and KDE community should be very simple one is a for profit company, the other an opensource community whose values are summed-up in https://manifesto.kde.org/
Still mentioning freesoftware/FOSS and not just “free” on the landing page seems in order.
I suppose you could argue that it depends on your definition of “Free.” (see https://www.fsf.org) For many/most people software freedom absolutely includes being able to see the source code. Calling something “free” (especially if used with quotes) often quickly makes me cringe. Remember - it’s free as in free speech, not just as in free beer.
Sure, we can explicitly mention that it’s open source. Which it is! Because of course it is; everything KDE makes is open source. But people out there in the world may not know that, so it makes sense to mention.
Edit: done
My guess, and I could be wrong, is that a lot of the KDE primary developers follow the stallman/fsf naming of preferring free software (as in freedom, not strictly free as in no price), because when discussing four software freedoms, open source misses the point.
Thank you, Nate! ![]()