How the KDE community is building the EU's Public Administration's next desktop software
KDE is currently well-positioned to become the default upstream end-user software provider for many of the EU's desktop and workstation devices. This talk will explain how the community is preparing its software and itself to meet the challenge of satisfying the needs of institutions. We will also be introducing the attendees to the advantages of adopting this software over proprietary alternatives.
KDE is currently well-positioned to become the default upstream end-user software provider for many of the EU's desktop and workstation devices.
This does not cover only providing a desktop environment (which is called "Plasma", by the way, not "KDE"), but also office software like, document viewers, groupware software, creativity and development apps, and more.
There are external reasons for why KDE is in this position, not least of which is the current move towards EU technological sovereignty. It has helped that KDE e.V., the legal entity that represents the KDE community, is located in Germany.
However, the KDE community is now working closely with stakeholders, local authorities and companies all over Europe, and is devoting resources to meeting corporate and public institution's needs so as to seal the deal.
This talk will cover what KDE has historically lacked, how we are addressing these shortcomings, where we are now, and how we see things panning out.
In the beginning... There was teaching English.
But I began writing professionally for the countercultural Spanish tech magazine @rroba in the 90s, and then went on to be the editor/layout monkey/translator/jack-of-all-trades of the Spanish edition of "Linux Magazine – Chronicle of the Revolution".
When that closed, I also quit teaching completely and became editor-in-chief of Linux Magazine — the German one this time, but again in Spanish. I founded a publishing house with German partners in 2004. We published several tech magazines for a decade, covering free software, Linux, open hardware, and mobile technologies. I wrote scathing editorials criticising big tech, public administrations, proprietary vendors, opportunistic politicians, and everything in between. I did layout, marketed the mag to readers and advertisers, unloaded trucks full with pallets of copies, built an online subscription portal, and learned everything about the publishing business I could, just in case it would come in handy.
When the magazine market went belly up in the late 2000s and early 2010s, we held on until 2014 and then called it quits, and I recycled myself into a "communications expert" because, why not?
I started working as a marketing consultant for KDE e.V. in 2017. I work with the members of the Promo team, setting goals, managing campaigns and analysing results. I also help KDE projects optimise their communication strategies, and I copywrite and proofread their websites and blog posts.
I also run most of KDE's fundraising efforts, and consult for GNOME on the stuff I have become experienced with.
Am I expert? I guess so. I think I can answer a lot of questions of what's going on in the open source market, and can figure out what will work in a campaign, and see opportunities where they are not obvious. Either way, I'll let you be the judge of that.