Since I’ve added the banner to the sidebar of my blog, I wanted to re-post information on supporting one of the best projects in the Free/Open Source Software ecosystem: Gnome.

Help support the GNOME Foundation’s goal to provide a free desktop for all users – become a Friend of GNOME. Your donation will ensure that GNOME continues to be a free and open source desktop by providing resources to developers, software and education for end users, and promotion for GNOME worldwide.

The GNOME desktop is free and accessible software available in many languages. GNOME is the software of choice for programs like One Laptop Per Child, governments, and mobile phone applications.

If you are a user of Ubuntu, Fedora, or another Linux distribution which packages Gnome as the default desktop, or you use it heavily for other reasons, consider supporting a part-time employee to manage the Gnome servers. As of today the project has $5,303 to go to reach their goal.

I’m personally fond of the “Adopt a Hacker” subscription, which starts at $10 a month. I’m placing my donation today to adopt the work of ‘Johnny Jacob‘ who is working on the Evolution MAPI provider. (Technically you have to choose from a list, probably because they send you a postcard, but in spirit I’m adopting Johnny!)

Here’s my reason to support Gnome:

Since my employer made the switch to Exchange 2007, I sadly had to switch from my Ubuntu laptop back to a Macbook so I could work effectively with my coworkers. Almost a half dozen people that were managing to use Linux as our primary desktops were forced to migrate to another platform. One die-hard even used Outlook on our overworked Terminal Server via Remote Desktop so he could keep his Linux desktop. So, for me I’ve placed a personal priority on returning to my Linux desktop as soon as possible, and I can’t do that without great MAPI support. Thus, Johnny Jacob will receive my support.

So, if you have a similar story, please consider becoming a Friend of Gnome today, thanks!

[edit---]

I’ve started my subscription by adopting Gnome hacker Andre Klapper for his tireless work as bugmaster, especially as Bugmaster Emeritus on Evolution.