OpenBSD Foundation At Risk Of Shutting Down

[erendorn]

Solution: bitcoin.

ah yes, they can just pay their electricity in bitcoin.
Unless a middle man takes a cut when converting to USD?
(not even considering the incredible volatility of bitcoins, and how people tend not to like having revenues in one currency and costs in another)

[JX8p]

I don't have to be aware about their conections. OpenBSD is bsd licensed, so it's proprietary friendly. Now you're telling me they take very hard line on proprietary software. Are you serious? It's one of the biggest bullshits I've ever heard.

Translation: "I am doing mental gymnastics to cover up my own ignorance.".

I strongly recommend educating yourself on the OpenBSD project's views of proprietary software before you rattle on any further on subjects about which the whole of Phoronix knows you are totally ignorant about. Your posts are providing no benefit to the community and you may wish to get a grip and reconsider your hobbies if you aren't prepared to give it a rest. Now, depart from me, go read up about Theo de Raadt and his dedication to Free Software.

[Annabel]

I strongly recommend educating yourself on the OpenBSD project's views of proprietary software...

OpenBSD remains blob-free

from: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html

FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD all include instructions for obtaining nonfree programs in their ports system. In addition, their kernels include nonfree firmware blobs.

Nonfree firmware programs used with Linux, the kernel, are called ?blobs?, and that's how we use the term. In BSD parlance, the term ?blob? means something else: a nonfree driver. OpenBSD and perhaps other BSD distributions (called ?projects? by BSD developers) have the policy of not including those. That is the right policy, as regards drivers; but when the developers say these distributions ?contain no blobs?, it causes a misunderstanding. They are not talking about firmware blobs.

No BSD distribution has policies against proprietary binary-only firmware that might be loaded even by free drivers.

also the text seems to be talking about their views on ``blobs'' not on proprietary software

[Del_]

I strongly recommend educating yourself on the OpenBSD project's views of proprietary software before you rattle on any further on subjects about which the whole of Phoronix knows you are totally ignorant about. Your posts are providing no benefit to the community and you may wish to get a grip and reconsider your hobbies if you aren't prepared to give it a rest. Now, depart from me, go read up about Theo de Raadt and his dedication to Free Software.

Well, Theo has unfortunately also taken a somewhat confrontational approach to GPL too: http://www.openbsd.org/lyrics.html#42

That said, I am sad to see OpenBSD struggling, both ssh and ntp are important pieces to the free software ecosystems, and I am very grateful for all the work that has gone into it. I also have a lot of respect for Theo's integrity when it comes to open software. It is a sad state of affairs when FreeBSD gets all the funding for BSD while OpenBSD gets zip. Admittedly I haven't followed the BSDs very closely, so I may be way off. Still, my impression is that all valuable contributions to the wider free ecosystem comes from OpenBSD while FreeBSD does little more than contribute to a destructive fragmentation of the same ecosystem.

Unfortunately, I do not personally donate to permissively licensed projects. If I did, and didn't mind the patent issues with the BSD license, then OpenBSD would be at the top of my list.

BTW, to avoid the middleman you can use direct bank transfer, works great for KDE. Paypal is unfortunately more convenient, but if the sum is substantial it does make sense to use bank transfer, and depending on your bank's web-site it is far more convenient to do it the second time around.

[prodigy_]

Theo de Raadt and his dedication to Free Software.

I don't like BSD in general but I understand the importance of OpenBSD and I definitely hold Theo in high regard. Still, his stance on proprietary software is idealistic and simply isn't helpful in the long run. It's not 1970s anymore, these days if you want freedom you need to fight for it, so views and words need to be backed up by actions.

Come think if it FSF should deemphasize the "free" part, maybe even get rid if it completely. Why? Because too many people today think that freedom is actually freedom to abuse the efforts of the community for personal gain. We should stop calling GPL-sheltered software "free". We should instead call it "non-proprietary" (it sounds terrible, I know - there must be a better word that conveys the same idea).

Admittedly I haven't followed the BSDs very closely, so I may be way off. Still, my impression is that all valuable contributions to the wider free ecosystem comes from OpenBSD while FreeBSD does little more than contribute to a destructive fragmentation of the same ecosystem.

You're right on the money here.

[dee.]

ah yes, they can just pay their electricity in bitcoin.
Unless a middle man takes a cut when converting to USD?
(not even considering the incredible volatility of bitcoins, and how people tend not to like having revenues in one currency and costs in another)

People can donate money to them in bitcoin, they save money from not having to pay paypal, convert the bitcoins to whatever currency the electric department wants and pay them in that. What exactly is hard to understand about this?

And volatility? Let alone "incredible"? In recent times, bitcoin's value has only gone up. How exactly is it bad again, if people donate bitcoin to a project, and they end up with more money than originally was donated? There hasn't yet been a case where bitcoin's value would have dropped so much as to actually cause significant losses to anyone who would have purchased them right before.

Damn luddites.

[dee.]

Many open source projects already accept donations in bitcoin, because really - there's zero risk involved in it for them, and there's virtually no cost/overhead involved in it - they get bitcoins, exchange them for whatever currency they need, and that's it - free money.

I've personally donated bitcoins to two projects - GIMP and Linux Mint. It's a great way to transfer currency and cheaper than any alternative.

[Vistaus]

ah yes, they can just pay their electricity in bitcoin.
Unless a middle man takes a cut when converting to USD?
(not even considering the incredible volatility of bitcoins, and how people tend not to like having revenues in one currency and costs in another)

OpenBSD is not based in the USA so what's this about USD?

[eidolon]

That's quite a US-centric view, given that no EU country that I know of gives tax breaks for donations to private orgs (only to public orgs such as universities count, and those only in some countries).

Not exactly, as the OpenBSD Foundation is based in Canada, and Canada has such a provision for those NPOs that receive charitable status from the Canadian Revenue Agency. The point isn't that one nation's regulations with regard to the deductibility of donations is a global catchall (I realize it isn't), the point is that every extra bit counts.

Also, looking at the FreeBSD Foundation's top donors for 2013, with the exception of Tarsnap (in Canada, which by treaty generally recognizes donations to US 501(c) organizations as being tax deductible), every donor giving donations above $10,000 USD is headquartered/located in the US. The NetBSD Foundation didn't break down their 2013 donations by amount, but the only platinum donor (> $10,000 USD donation) currently listed on the NetBSD homepage is ISC (stateside). And from the look of things, Theo de Raadt is looking for a Canadian company to take over OpenBSD's electrical expenses. If that doesn't come together, OpenBSD will need to cover those expenses, and the OpenBSD Foundation will factor into that. The OpenBSD Foundation doesn't tier donation amounts, but of its list of "significant foundation contributors", the three companies listed are headquartered in the US. For the record, the two individual donors listed I believe to be from Croatia and Sweden (and I'm not discounting the importance of individual contributions). The donations listed at openbsd.org aren't categorized by year or amount, though again, it is not my intent to downplay any donations, but I am focusing on the current deep pockets for this particular case.

As I said, deductibility of donations isn't really an issue for smaller donations, but I do think it can help incentivize larger donations, even though it is usually limited to the nation where the non-profit is established. There are also tax treaties between some nations, such as the Canada-United States Convention with Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital/United States - Canada Income Tax Convention, which generally respect donations made across borders as being tax deductible if they meet the nation's requirements whence the donations originate.

[brosis]

Come think if it FSF should deemphasize the "free" part, maybe even get rid if it completely. Why? Because too many people today think that freedom is actually freedom to abuse the efforts of the community for personal gain. We should stop calling GPL-sheltered software "free". We should instead call it "non-proprietary" (it sounds terrible, I know - there must be a better word that conveys the same idea).

It is free software, free as in free speech, not beer.
If you dislike "free", you can use "libre".

Also BSD and the like are not "free", they are "open". The word "free" is not mentioned at all, while GPL is explicitly dedicated to protecting "freedom" and includes definition of "free" in Preamble.

For those in confusion, go read license text first.