On Mon, Oct 01, 2007 at 09:43:37AM -0600, Bob Beck wrote: > > Wouldn't it be win-win if people there could buy DVD (with more data on > > it, i.e. needing less downloads) and an agreement could be made that XX > > $ (enough to compensate for the not-sold CDs) for each DVD sold are paid > > to OpenBSD? > > No, it wouldn't. The project has already contemplated making DVD > releases, but the fact is what we have fits currently on what we ship. > > Having said that CD sales are lagging badly this release, and are > threatening > the financial health of the project. If you want OpenBSD to continue, you > should be buying > official CD's. You certainly should not be worried about download volume, and > misguided > attempts to make your own releases and sell them only put the project in more > financial > duress. You want to help? go on to the CD site and order 20 or 40 and resell > in the > philippines - Don't try to pirate the artwork to make your own release and > screw everything > up.
I say: make your OpenBSD DVDs, sell them cheaply, and just don't use the official artwork. Don't be misguided by what has been said here. OpenBSD is genuinely *free*. That means you can use it for whatever you like. There's nothing in any way immoral from selling it, whether or not you make a profit. If Theo or the other contributors didn't want you to have the freedom to do that, they wouldn't release their work under the BSD licence. Speaking for myself, I fully support making free software more widely available, especially in developing countries. Such users often cannot bear the developed-world price, and dare I say it, often there's a wide availability of pirated commercial software to compete against too. Heck, if your users decided to use Linux they could get a CD shipped to them *free* anywhere in the world: e.g. https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ So go for it. Selling OpenBSD DVDs in the Philippines won't hurt anyone; it can only help your customers, and help OpenBSD gain mindshare which would otherwise go to Linux. Good luck in your venture. Regards, Brian. P.S. If you still feel uncomfortable by what others have said in this thread: then I suggest you make, sell and evangelise FreeBSD DVDs instead. Unlike OpenBSD, the FreeBSD project releases ISO images which you are free to copy.
