On Wed, Oct 03, 2007 at 06:28:52PM +0200, Paul de Weerd wrote: > > I think the project is always in need of money. There's no steady > supply of incoming cash except for the (dropping) CD sales etc. Always > try to persuade your employer to donate if they're using OpenBSD or > OpenBSD-derived software (eg, OpenSSH) (of course, you can also try to > persuade your employer if he doesn't use OpenBSD-code, the more > donations the better, methinks ;)
Do the other OSs/Distros that include OpenSSH make any contributions? The one I'm familiar with is Debian. Its well funded. It uses OpenSSH, OpenSSL, and OpenBSD's lpr, plus who knows what else here and there. I understand the moral bind that OBSD is in. For its own reasons, it wants to be able to interoperate with other OSs so it needs to create OpenSSH and have other OSs adopt it. However, it costs money to produce and mainatin yet a non-BSD licence would preclude its inclusion in some OSs and many/most hardware devices. I guess the closest analogy is the educational one. The BSD licence is a University licence. Universities are funded by governments (sometimes) and foundations. The foundatations get the money from corporate sponsorship and alumni. For OBSD, the alumni are all the people using OBSD products; they earn money with it so they should send money back. University alumni earn money with their degrees so are asked (repeatedly!!!) for money. Think of watching a TV show on PBS in/out-of the USA. There's the Pledge Drive that interrupts the movie, and there's the "This program made possible in part by contributions from...". Perhaps the top 10 donors to OBSD at each release should be included in a MajorDonors.txt file on the ftp and CDs and on the inside cover package, and included in the install /etc/motd file. The latter can be changed by the end-user but at least it will be seen once. If a major donor wanted to fund a whole 6-month cycle, their name could go on the CD cover: "OpenBSD 4.6 release cycle funded entirely by the acme tire and widget company. Proceeds from these CDs goes towards future releases." Or something. --- There's also the business ethics issue. I have a nephew working on a business degree and they don't have time in 5 years (he's doing two degrees at once) for philosophy or ethics. If I was buiding a new widget that needed an OS, I'd say: It will take 3 years and $10 million to create an OS in-house that I'd be comfortable putting my name on the box. Or, I could put OpenBSD on it right now. I'll put OpenBSD on it, lable the box "Powered by OpenBSD" and give OpenBSD $2 per box. Sure, it should be $50 per box but the boxes only sell for $25, and $9.99 on sale, and cost the store only $8.99. Its difficult for ethical companies to compete ethically with unethical companies when everything that everyone is doing is perfectly legal, yet alone if some to illegeal things that aren't prosecuted. Doug.
