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Facebook are now funding the open source 3D creation suite Blender

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In a move that's sure to raise a few eyebrows, the Blender Foundation has announced that Facebook has joined the Blender Development Fund.

Facebook are joining as a Corporate Patron, meaning they will be supplying Blender with at least €120K/year or more. It's not a small sum but for the likes of Facebook, it's likely still money they found down the back of a sofa. Ton Roosendaal, Chairman of the Blender Foundation mentions, "We at Blender see this as another important signal of the industry’s willingness to migrate to open source, and contribute to open source’s continual improvement.".

This money will go towards funding Blender developers to improve this excellent open source 3D creation suite. It does mean at this level that Facebook will be a bit more involved, as Corporate Membership gives companies the option to monitor what gets funded with their monies and access to speak to the Blender team directly.

Lots of companies are doing this now including NVIDIA, AMD, Unity and Epic Games at this same level. At lower levels you also have the likes of Microsoft, Ubisoft, Intel and more. Checking in on the Blender funding page, they're now hitting €116,507 a month but it's not clear if the Facebook monies has been added to it yet.

Learn more about Blender on their website. Free, open source, used by game developers, film creators and more.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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whatever Nov 20, 2020
"Please log in with your Facebook account to continue"

dpanter Nov 20, 2020
Blender good.
Money good.
Facebook... pure evil.
Kimyrielle Nov 20, 2020
Quoting: dpanterBlender good.
Money good.
Facebook... pure evil.

Money is money, though. No matter where it's from. ;)
ObsidianBlk Nov 20, 2020
Quoting: Kimyrielle
Quoting: dpanterBlender good.
Money good.
Facebook... pure evil.

Money is money, though. No matter where it's from. ;)

Not if there are strings attached to that money. The worry is Facebook using their money to control Blender like a puppet.
Alm888 Nov 20, 2020
Quoting: Kimyrielle
Quoting: dpanterBlender good.
Money good.
Facebook... pure evil.

Money is money, though. No matter where it's from. ;)

Famous last words of "Nokia" and many other companies striking a deal with Microsoft®
Tuxee Nov 20, 2020
Quoting: ObsidianBlk
Quoting: Kimyrielle
Quoting: dpanterBlender good.
Money good.
Facebook... pure evil.

Money is money, though. No matter where it's from. ;)

Not if there are strings attached to that money. The worry is Facebook using their money to control Blender like a puppet.

You mean like AMD, NVidia, Google, Microsoft, Canonical, Ubisoft, Epic... Because they are all corporate sponsors.
pete910 Nov 20, 2020
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Why Fakebook, Trying to see the connection
pageround Nov 20, 2020
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Quoting: pete910Why Fakebook, Trying to see the connection

Better 3D content creation software will translate into better VR games and yield more Oculus VR sales and Facebook users.
CatKiller Nov 20, 2020
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QuoteIn a move that's sure to raise a few eyebrows, the Blender Foundation has announced that Facebook has joined the Blender Development Fund.

It's not really that big a deal: others have already shown that donating money to Blender is an easy and cheap way to get some positive PR, and I'd imagine that they would like people to be able to make game assets so they can sell them in their games store to run on their games hardware.

More interesting is oomd, which is a proper open source infrastructure product out of Facebook that serves a genuine need in the Linux ecosystem. They had an itch that needed scratching, and everyone benefits, exactly as it should be.
Purple Library Guy Nov 20, 2020
If they were the only big corporate donor, I'd be worried. But they're just one of the pack, this won't put them in a position to take the reins.
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