Howdy folks, First off, disclosure: I work at Canonical on Ubuntu, but not in the applications group. I guess I could be bias. For those that aren't aware Ubuntu has introduced a new way to submit applications that appear in the Ubuntu Software Center[1]. It basically allows developers to submit their applications to a repository that exists outside the standard main/universe paradigm in a place called "extras." The applications that exist in this repository can be paid, free or Free Software, but the key difference is that they version is controlled by the uploader and not the Ubuntu core repository process. This means that we could, potentially, put Inkscape 0.49 in the software center for users that are on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS -- which would be nearly impossible in the main archives. I think that this is a win for our users who many of which are surely staying on the LTS release. But it is a change and slightly different legal relationship we'd be entering into with Canonical[2] to distribute the app. PROPOSAL 1: Inkscape should enter into the agreement with Canonical and submit future releases of Inkscape to the extras repository, pending review of the TOS from the Conservancy. At the same time, the My Apps interface allows us to distribute applications that have a fee associated with them. While it's really designed for selling proprietary software, it seems like we could also have an application that was "Inkscape (Donation Edition)" that cost something like $5 that users who wanted to could choose to install. I was thinking that this edition could have a special about screen or perhaps some filters or palettes -- some sort of Thank You. We could keep that in version control, just not distribute it with the main tarball/executable bundles we ship. I think the price and the Thank You should be discussed further, but in general I'm trying to say: PROPOSAL 2: Inkscape should release a donation edition of Inkscape to Ubuntu extras at a price set by the board. What are people's thoughts on all of this? Yea, nay? I'm not sure it would end up being a large donation stream, but I do think it's worth trying. There will probably be some people upset at us trying to "commercialize" Inkscape, but I don't think that's really the case here and I'm willing to have that conversation. --Ted [1] http://developer.ubuntu.com/publish/ [2] https://myapps.developer.ubuntu.com/dev/tos/