On 18 Jan 2014, at 20.01, Desktop User OpenBSD <openbsd.desktop.u...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello, > > I would love to subscribe to the monthly donation on: > > http://openbsdfoundation.org/donations.html > > but I need to ask, say a few things before: > > 1) The > https://openbsdfoundation.org/donations.html > is redirecting to http://www.obtuse.com/ > why? HTTPS should work properly or it shouldn't be there. Word. > 2) What is the status of the funding? The CAD$(?) 20,000? Word again. Open with the code doesn’t mean black box with the money. > 3) Are there any subscriptions too or there are only one-time donations? > I would do a subscription if it were possible, but the amount has to be entirely of my own choosing. Paypal certainly does offer recurring payments, so there is no reason not to offer them to people willing to support the project. > 4) Could Theo or anyone from the OpenBSD team contact any vendors, or has > the project any bigger subscription donator already? > Again, and I really need to highlight this: when the project comes to the position that it is asking for money or die, then the project is also in a requirement to provide financial transparency. If money is the question, then a mailing list isn’t the answer - this is 2014 and most of the world couldn’t give a flying shit about email anymore (and if I can additionally stick in a side comment regarding antiquity, then give up the FTP already - it’s a dinosaur, it’s unnecessarily complex, and it serves no specific purpose when HTTP is available.) > 5) If something would happen to Theo (which __I don't want or wish__), who > would be the project leader? Son or daughter? Or any lead developers? Are > there any plans for this? > In the book: Absolute OpenBSD (2nd) which came out at April of 2013 says > only one sentence about this: > "Theo takes whatever actions necessary to keep the OpenBSD Project running > smoothly. If something should ever happen to Theo, the project does have > plans for replacing him.” Maybe Michael knows something that we don’t as the result of an evening full of beers together with the core team. According to Wikipedia, Theo is only a year and a half younger than me, so he’s still got at least 30 years in front of him barring accidental death or an incurable tumor. Corporate attitude likes to propagate the attitude that none of us are indispensable, but the fact is that unless you are a java coder and by default travelling down the Ho Chi Min trail then you are also indispensable. Friends don’t let friends code Java. Period. > 6) "off:" If OpenSSH is deployed widely in the world, wouldn't it be nice > to put the donation URL in it? (man page or after install) That’s great if what you are after is peanuts from people like me. People with serious money waiting for a purpose don’t read man pages, with the possible exception of Mark Shuttleworth, and he shouldn’t need to be prodded to throw some money in this direction - but again, I simply can not overemphasise the importance of my response to point 4 above. Isn’t Mark running a Canadian company? Even if the OS he’s promoting is directly competing, he is standing on the shoulders of at least one giant - Theo. -mike
