KDE/Mission

Draft for KDE's Mission

To fulfill our Vision, KDE has taken on the mission to

• create software products which give users control, freedom and privacy
• provide users with excellent user experience and quality which convinces them to switch to these products
• reach users where they are
• do our part to promote Free Software development

To provide control, freedom and privacy, KDE's products

• allow users to adapt them to their needs (being simple by default and powerful when needed)
• strive to make it easy for people to modify our products' source code and build their own adaptations
• build on open standards to prevent "lock-in"
• store data in easily accessible formats
• integrate well with existing online services sharing the same values, or create their own where those do not exist
• give users full control over which information about them or their behavior is ever collected or transmitted, and collect information for our own purposes (e.g. for improving our products) only with explicit consent (opt-in)
• strive to provide usable security and privacy features to protect against surveillance and data theft

To create a convincing user experience, KDE's products aim to

• have consistent, easy to use human interfaces
• meet or exceed user's expectations regarding feature set and quality
• be at the forefront of emerging trends (e.g. mobile/desktop convergence, conversation-based user interfaces, ...)
• integrate well with other Free products to complete the experience

To reach users where they are, KDE

• strives to make our products available on all major Free and proprietary operating systems and platforms, for example by applying Qt as a technology that allows easy portability
• aims for a presence on all relevant device classes (desktop, mobile, embedded)
• offers a "classic desktop" product which makes the switch from other popular operating systems easy
• offers products that also inter-operate well with proprietary software, formats and services

To promote the development of Free Software, KDE

• provides frameworks and libraries which facilitate the development of high-quality Qt applications
• participates in and maintains mentoring programs to empower people to contribute to Free software or create their own
• collaborates with other organizations which share our values for mutual benefit