Fascism Arch Linux gets more funding.

Omarchy has been on something of a roll now. Funding for its foundation has been climbing fast, from an $8 million launch to $10 million a few weeks later, and now crossing $13 million with the most recent pledge.

What’s drawn my attention are the first two Corporate Patrons, 1Password and 37signals, both of whom have decided to pitch $100,000 a year for the next three years. Now, 37signals I get; DHH is heavily involved there, but 1Password was a surprise entry.

Naturally, not everyone’s onboard with their pledge.

Signs of disagreement

This has not gone well with employees working at 1Password, with company leadership having to take certain damage control measures to assure their staff.

An internal Slack message has surfaced (courtesy of The Verge), which shows cofounder Roustem Karimov downplaying the criticism, telling team members that:

people have different personal opinions. You believe in your heart that DHH is evil, that you have the moral high ground, and that nothing will change your mind.

However, not everyone believes that. It is not fair to claim a monopoly and ostracize team members who might disagree with you. There are people who are afraid to speak up simply because they will be personally attacked.

CEO David Faugno responded on a different note, telling employees the company doesn’t endorse DHH’s views, while also noting that Omarchy is the second most used Linux distribution among 1Password’s own users. Why the backlash?

DHH is known to be someone who firmly falls on the “right” side of the political spectrum, someone who doesn’t shy away from putting his opinions in public view.

He regularly posts blogs that show where he stands on certain societal issues, and some of his recent writeups are what’s fueling this particular backlash.

His recent July post, titled “Wolves, sheep, and gypsies,” compares Denmark’s wolf population with the Romani people camping in Copenhagen parks, where he argues: “When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them.”

Then there’s “As I remember London” from September 2025, where he laments about London losing its native Brit majority and a nod of approval for a Tommy Robinson march.

Of course, these aren’t the only factors behind his disapproval, but you get the gist of it, right?

Users could jump ship

If you search for the terms “1Password” and “Omarchy” right now, you are bound to run into the many comments made by disgruntled 1Password users on Reddit and Hacker News.

They are calling the choice tone-deaf, given how many smaller open source projects could’ve benefited from the money. Some are already jumping to alternatives like Bitwarden, while others suggest self-hosting Vaultwarden or going with KeePass and its forks instead.

I see the issue compounding too. Back in February, 1Password raised subscription prices, taking effect at renewals from March 27. Individual plans went up 33 percent from $35.88 to $47.88 a year, and family plans went up 20 percent from $59.88 to $71.88.

Its community forum already has a long thread full of longtime users saying they were leaving over it. If 1Password continues playing with its users’ trust like this, who knows what kind of exodus it will see next?

  • katy ✨@piefed.blahaj.zone
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    5 hours ago

    is there a good alternative that has shared/family support and is easy to drop in replace for my mum (on ios phone, linux desktop, and android tablet)?

  • Womble@piefed.world
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    20 hours ago

    Even putting aside the very real political ick around DHH, why does a bunch of preset configs on top of Arch need millions in funding?

    • annoying_cyclist@programming.dev
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      32 minutes ago

      I guess it isn’t that surprising. I bet the developers who write the software included in this distribution would love some of those millions, but being a guy with a brand and opinions is apparently more valuable to the investor class. Consistent with how they think about the workforce at their own companies, anyway.

      (I normally read things like this as people paying tribute to the guy running the company getting the money, or wanting to be perceived as in favor of that company’s viewpoints. I don’t understand why anyone would want to pay tribute to DHH. Ignoring the ick, he’s not that important or powerful. There are a lot of SWEs who don’t know who he is, let alone the general public)

    • mattwebb.dev@programming.dev
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      19 hours ago

      There’s been some talk of possible money laundering I saw on some threads in other Lemmy communities recently. I suppose that’s possible. We may never know.

      • user_6282638282@sopuli.xyz
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        19 hours ago

        It’s not that complicated. He’s just trying to get all the people he doesn’t like out of open source. With millions in the bank he can fund projects of people who think like he does or promise to.

  • SatyrSack@quokk.au
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    15 hours ago

    noting that Omarchy is the second most used Linux distribution among 1Password’s own users.

    I really doubt that is true.

    EDIT: Maybe the combined total of Arch and all its derivatives is #2, but I doubt even that.

  • mattwebb.dev@programming.dev
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    20 hours ago

    Let’s call it what it is in tech right now; it’s a supply chain attack against the whole industry. We’re being told to grab a bowl of this shit stew of venture capital, solidified grifts, and xenophobia with a side of Elon styled political activism.

    These fascists have bought, bullied, or got backing from fellow fascists to coopt the F/OSS community with sums of money not commonly used in this space. Elon bought a whole social media platform to craft it into a fascist/Nazi hellscape, strictly to sway public opinion.

    These guys are taking it even further; the very tools and means of production are being setup as a deeper rot in tech.

    The same fuckheads in DHH’s orbit are only a few contacts away from Elon himself. We developers of all stripes need to move our projects off of corpo services. Self host your repo, partner up with like minded devs, make software for the people who need it.

    • refalo@programming.dev
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      20 hours ago

      I (don’t) like how this comment completely dismisses and bulldozes through everything Karimov said, which was brilliant by the way, and is a sentiment sorely missing from the majority of comments in all this drama.

      • mattwebb.dev@programming.dev
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        20 hours ago

        I kinda expect the guys who are investing in something they hope to see a positive return on to try to calm everyone down. That’s why I don’t give a shit what either of them said; its predictable and they don’t like the internal disruption. It costs company time/money money to put out that fire. Their priorities dont align with the staff.

        My comment was aimed at the tech industry as a whole.

        • refalo@programming.dev
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          19 hours ago

          Just because it’s a for-profit operation doesn’t mean they’re wrong, though.

          IMO Being open to the idea that multiple valid perspectives can exist simultaneously, is a much more reasoned and intelligent position than “I don’t give a shit what either of them said.”

          • derAbsender@piefed.social
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            6 hours ago

            What is the other Perspective again that is now platformed again and that you so vigorously defend?

            • refalo@programming.dev
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              2 hours ago

              This is like saying only certain people should have free speech. My argument was not about any particular perspective.

          • mattwebb.dev@programming.dev
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            19 hours ago

            I haven’t once said anyone was wrong. What they said is immaterial to what I was originally talking about. I was pointing critique/concerns/feelings towards the present day tech industry as a whole.

            • refalo@programming.dev
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              47 minutes ago

              Then why say it in that way if you don’t disagree? To me it sounds like you’re specifically trying to paint the company in a bad light.

              Their priorities dont align with the staff.

              Perhaps they simply disagree with the staff? Again that doesn’t make them wrong. It’s possible the staff are simply misinformed on the real intent of what he was trying to say.

              Of course Brits don’t want to become a minority in their home country… who would? We all know how badly they are treated.

              Just because someone can’t articulate their thoughts in the friendliest way, doesn’t mean they deserve to be hanged. And just like what Karimov said, no single person gets to be the arbiter of what everyone else’s priorities should be.

  • EbAbDbGbBbEb@programming.dev
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    23 hours ago

    I’m a very long-time subscriber to 1Password, and I was already contemplating canceling because of the price increase. I already pay for Proton, so 1P was redundant, but I figured it’s fine–I’d be going from $3/mo to $4/mo. No big deal, and I don’t put all my eggs in the same basket.

    My sub is up in a couple weeks, so this happened just in time for me make the decision to cancel. And I hope I’m reading way too far into it, but I’m now looking at all their pricing ending in 88 in a different light.

      • FLAGSHIP@lemmy.zip
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        21 hours ago

        Anyone have experience with KeePassium and NextCloud? I self host NextCloud and would be interested in hearing anyone’s experience with this setup.

    • sbird@sopuli.xyz
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      17 hours ago

      I think KeePass is an awesome option to switch to. You can use Syncthing to sync between devices (so you don’t have to self-host, it can be between your phone and laptop, but of course you can set it up on an always on device in your home), you have clients for a wide range of devices (KeePassXC on desktop, KeePassDX on Android, KeePassium on iOS, and even Secrets for mobile Linux! I don’t think most other password managers have mobile Linux clients!)

      The password database is just a single file that can be easily synced and backed up, and the master password is the same between devices (you don’t need a separate one). Biometrics (at least on KeePassDX and KeePassium) are also supported if you prefer convenience

    • passingmagic@programming.dev
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      21 hours ago

      Also a long time subscriber and just fired off an email to their support - drop DHH and his associated projects or I drop 1Password. Going to start looking into Vaultwarden/Bitwarden and KeePass.

      • passingmagic@programming.dev
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        20 hours ago

        Got a response from their support trying to explain away their support of only the project etc… I have re-emphasized to them: “Drop support for DHH and any of his projects, or I drop 1Password and urge everyone I know and in social media to do the same”.

        For any other subscribers that want to do the same here is their contact page - form is at the bottom of the page. Very quick to let them know: https://1password.com/contact-support

        When it comes to people like DHH and Elon, I am more than happy to not have their corrosiveness or their “brilliant inventions”. The world will survive just fine without your contributions.

  • k0e3@lemmy.ca
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    19 hours ago

    What’s a floss and ethical alternative? I’ve been a long time user and I feel so betrayed…

    • fux@piefed.social
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      7 hours ago

      I’m in the same boat. Seems like there isn’t really anything apart from self hosted sync + keypass. If anyone knows of a service that includes online services that is not run by idiots please let me know.

    • sbird@sopuli.xyz
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      17 hours ago

      I think the best option is definitely the KeePass clients: KeePassXC (desktop), KeePassDX (Android), KeePassium(iOS), and Secrets (mobile Linux, yay!). You’ll need to set up Syncthing (super easy on Linux and Android, but more difficult on iOS), but if you use iOS (where there is no free Syncthing app), you might instead go for Bitwarden (which can be self-hosted using Vaultwarden too!)