Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Tom Smyth]

@ Radoslav Mirza

I should have read your mail thread before
writing the
OpenBSD Traning Docs / How Tos
If you are on for some doc work
im happy to work with you on it
Thanks
Tom

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Alexander Hall]

On August 2, 2017 10:03:13 AM GMT+02:00, Mike Burns 
 wrote:
>On 2017-08-02 13.21.44 +0930, Radoslav Mirza wrote:
>> Are there any resources that point to where I can begin to help with
>> the project?
>
>- Use OpenBSD to get your work done. When something breaks, fix it and
>  send in a patch. When something is sub par, improve it and send in
>  that patch.

This. And the rest. But, really. This.

/Alexander

>- Join #openbsd-daily on irc.freenode.net to get a walkthrough of how
>  code is written for the project.
>- Follow tech@. When someone sends a patch asking for an OK, try
>  applying it to make sure it works as intended.
>- Follow bugs@.
>- Donate hardware: https://www.openbsd.org/want.html
>- Donate money: https://www.openbsd.org/donations.html

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Ingo Schwarze]

Hi Radoslav,

Radoslav Mirza wrote on Wed, Aug 02, 2017 at 01:21:44PM +0930:

> Are there any resources that point to where I can begin to help
> with the project?

We don't maintain any global TODO lists, it's too little benefit
for too much work.

> Such as junior jobs, documentation etc.

The quality of OpenBSD documentation implies that finding bugs in
documentation is not much easier than finding bugs in code.  We do
not consider documentation a junior job, but something to be done
together with the code, by the developers who write the code.

I am aware of a number of documentation tasks, but all of them are
seriously difficult: For example, improving event(3), improving
sysctl(3), documenting undocumented functions in LibreSSL, cleaning
up LibreSSL manual pages in general, and figuring out how to fix
OpenGL documentation.

That said, there happens to be a TODO list for documentation tools,
as opposed to documentation tasks:

  http://mandoc.bsd.lv/cgi-bin/cvsweb/TODO?rev=HEAD

Most entries on that list are of high difficulty, but a few are easy.


The most important qualification round here is the ability to
find out what you are interested in, what you are capable of,
to identify tasks *yourself* that you want to spend time on
and are capable of making progress with.  Nobody can tell you
what that is.  Very many different areas could benefit from work.

And after that, the next most important qualification is being able
to learn from doing, from reading code, from listening to advice,
and from following ongoing discussions (in about that order).

> plan to head down the networking path

Fine, so watch your own networking needs (or the networking needs
that come up in the context of your research & studies), use OpenBSD
for them, identify bug or feature gaps, try to fix them, send patches
if you succeed, or ask *specific* questions for advice if you get
stuck on a problem and can't make progress.  In particular at first,
avoid spending long times (more than a few days) on a problem before
talking to somebody about the (even preliminary) results, because
spending weeks, then finding out that the basic approach was misguided,
is frustrating.

Yours,
  Ingo

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Mike Burns]

On 2017-08-02 13.21.44 +0930, Radoslav Mirza wrote:
> Are there any resources that point to where I can begin to help with
> the project?

- Use OpenBSD to get your work done. When something breaks, fix it and
  send in a patch. When something is sub par, improve it and send in
  that patch.
- Join #openbsd-daily on irc.freenode.net to get a walkthrough of how
  code is written for the project.
- Follow tech@. When someone sends a patch asking for an OK, try
  applying it to make sure it works as intended.
- Follow bugs@.
- Donate hardware: https://www.openbsd.org/want.html
- Donate money: https://www.openbsd.org/donations.html

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Chris Cappuccio]

Janne Johansson [...@it.su.se] wrote:
 
 I move money from my account into paypal, with the intention of those
 money may disappear from the face of the earth, then make PP donations
 using those. No ties to any account or CC for me, so I dont risk
 anything except what I give to PP in the first place.

That's funny that you trust PayPal to wire money from your account, but not 
with your credit card number, considering that banks often give you a very 
short period of time (24 hours?) to contest electronic bank transfers, but 90+ 
days to contest credit card transfers.

-- 
The past cannot be changed.  The future cannot be guaranteed.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[nayden]

I have been using OpenBSD for the past five years and have been
fortunate enough to have friends who have given me CDs as gifts so I
never had to buy one.
I also think that OpenBSD is the most exciting open source project,
with brilliant developers and outstanding track record for quality.

Thanks to all who make it happen.
Thanks Nick for reminding us that this great project does not run on
thin air and for prompting me to setup a $15/month PP donation.

cheers,
nayden

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Nick Holland]

Jeffrey 'jf' Lim wrote:
 On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 6:45 PM, Daniel Bolgheroni 
 m...@dbolgheroni.eng.brwrote:
 
 On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Nick Holland wrote:

  Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.

 I would like to buy CDs, but in Brazil these kind of products have a
 high tax fee applied when they hit the harbour. For a $50 CD, I'll
 probably pay almost $almost $70 to someone I don't want to contribute.
 This doesn't include the shipment cost (~$30 I suspect).

 I don't have a Paypal account (yet). If it's worth to trust him, I don't
 know, but I much prefer to donate $50 (although they will deduct 3.9% in
 my case, but at least OpenBSD doesn't have the CD cost) than to pay
 almost the triple to government, shipment, etc. Don't care if I don't
 get the CDs.

 Is it possible to OpenBSD to make profit for the project selling books
 or manuals? I don't know the costs or if it's worth (like CDs are better
 for the project than T-shirts, mugs, etc.). It's tax free here, and I
 think: if it's free here, maybe it's somewhere else.

Books and manuals are more like t-shirts and mugs than CDs -- relatively
high cost, relatively bulky, more variety to inventory.  They also have
an added problem of being in a competitive market -- if you want an OpenBSD
t-shirt, you will be buying it from OpenBSD.  If you want a book that covers
OpenBSD, you can buy it from OpenBSD, or you can buy it at the corner book
store and have it tonight, or at BigOnlineBookStore for a substantial
discount off list price and special deals with the shipping companies.
I'm not sure what the margin on books is, but if you try to price against
BigOnlineBookStore.com, I suspect your margin goes pretty close to zero.

 I have the same concerns as well (i mean the shipping. F, i'll support the
 project - but not the shipping?). I did get the disc set, though, but.. it
 would be nice to be able to check out knowing how much i'm supposed to be
 paying for shipping.

Don't get me wrong, pure cash donations work nicely to keep the lights on.
Well...briefly.  Based on some numbers Theo showed me after my earlier note,
cash donations from the US and Europe are..uhmm... how do I put this...PATHETIC!
We are talking the equiv. of less than 10 CDs each.  Canadians are doing a lot
better, relatively speaking, but as of Sept 8 (BEFORE I posted my note) all cash
donations barely put a dent in the cost of a mini-hackathon.

Theo tells me you guys have responded to my note, and thanks to those that did!
but there's still a lot of financial slacking goin' on...

Nick.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[matteo filippetto]

2009/9/15 Nick Holland n...@holland-consulting.net:
 Jeffrey 'jf' Lim wrote:
 On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 6:45 PM, Daniel Bolgheroni
m...@dbolgheroni.eng.brwrote:

 On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Nick Holland wrote:

  Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.

 I would like to buy CDs, but in Brazil these kind of products have a
 high tax fee applied when they hit the harbour. For a $50 CD, I'll
 probably pay almost $almost $70 to someone I don't want to contribute.
 This doesn't include the shipment cost (~$30 I suspect).

 I don't have a Paypal account (yet). If it's worth to trust him, I don't
 know, but I much prefer to donate $50 (although they will deduct 3.9% in
 my case, but at least OpenBSD doesn't have the CD cost) than to pay
 almost the triple to government, shipment, etc. Don't care if I don't
 get the CDs.

 Is it possible to OpenBSD to make profit for the project selling books
 or manuals? I don't know the costs or if it's worth (like CDs are better
 for the project than T-shirts, mugs, etc.). It's tax free here, and I
 think: if it's free here, maybe it's somewhere else.

 Books and manuals are more like t-shirts and mugs than CDs -- relatively
 high cost, relatively bulky, more variety to inventory. B They also have
 an added problem of being in a competitive market -- if you want an OpenBSD
 t-shirt, you will be buying it from OpenBSD. B If you want a book that
covers
 OpenBSD, you can buy it from OpenBSD, or you can buy it at the corner book
 store and have it tonight, or at BigOnlineBookStore for a substantial
 discount off list price and special deals with the shipping companies.
 I'm not sure what the margin on books is, but if you try to price against
 BigOnlineBookStore.com, I suspect your margin goes pretty close to zero.

 I have the same concerns as well (i mean the shipping. F, i'll support the
 project - but not the shipping?). I did get the disc set, though, but.. it
 would be nice to be able to check out knowing how much i'm supposed to
be
 paying for shipping.

 Don't get me wrong, pure cash donations work nicely to keep the lights on.
 Well...briefly. B Based on some numbers Theo showed me after my earlier
note,
 cash donations from the US and Europe are..uhmm... how do I put
this...PATHETIC!
 We are talking the equiv. of less than 10 CDs each. B Canadians are doing a
lot
 better, relatively speaking, but as of Sept 8 (BEFORE I posted my note) all
cash
 donations barely put a dent in the cost of a mini-hackathon.

 Theo tells me you guys have responded to my note, and thanks to those that
did!
 but there's still a lot of financial slacking goin' on...

 Nick.



One cd set from Italy! :)



--
Matteo Filippetto

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[nick]

* Nick Holland n...@holland-consulting.net [090915 07:57]:
 Don't get me wrong, pure cash donations work nicely to keep the lights on.
 Well...briefly.  Based on some numbers Theo showed me after my earlier note,
 cash donations from the US and Europe are..uhmm... how do I put 
 this...PATHETIC!
 We are talking the equiv. of less than 10 CDs each.  Canadians are doing a lot
 better, relatively speaking, but as of Sept 8 (BEFORE I posted my note) all 
 cash
 donations barely put a dent in the cost of a mini-hackathon.

Less than 10 CDs... and 3 of them are from me.  Truly sad.

jim

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Jim Razmus]

* n...@holland-consulting.net n...@holland-consulting.net [090915 08:51]:
 * Nick Holland n...@holland-consulting.net [090915 07:57]:
  Don't get me wrong, pure cash donations work nicely to keep the lights on.
  Well...briefly.  Based on some numbers Theo showed me after my earlier note,
  cash donations from the US and Europe are..uhmm... how do I put 
  this...PATHETIC!
  We are talking the equiv. of less than 10 CDs each.  Canadians are doing a 
  lot
  better, relatively speaking, but as of Sept 8 (BEFORE I posted my note) all 
  cash
  donations barely put a dent in the cost of a mini-hackathon.
 
 Less than 10 CDs... and 3 of them are from me.  Truly sad.
 
 jim
 

The previous message was not from Nick!  It was from me and intended for
Nick.  I simply overwrote the wrong address field.

Sorry for the noise.

jim

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Daniel Bolgheroni]

On Tue, 15 Sep 2009, Aaron Mason wrote:

 Perhaps you could make a donation and download the files?  You get
 what you desire and you support the project.  It wouldn't be as
 complete as the CDs, but you still get to contribute without paying
 huge taxes.

Yes, that's the point.

Teers,

--
Daniel Bolgheroni
FEI - Faculdade de Engenharia Industrial
http://www.dbolgheroni.eng.br/mykey

ASCII ribbon campaign ( )
 against HTML e-mail   X
  / \

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Christiano Farina Haesbaert]

On Wed, Sep 09, 2009 at 02:41:54PM +0200, Andri wrote:
 On Wed, Sep 09, 2009 at 12:04:54PM +0200, Iqigo Ortiz de Urbina wrote:
 
  On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Jordi Espasa Clofent 
  +2 from Euskadi and Catalunya, Spain, so to speak :)
  
 +3 from East Frisia!
 
+1 from the Southern Pampas, Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil.

-- 
Christiano Farina HAESBAERT
Do NOT send me html mail.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Aaron Mason]

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 8:45 PM, Daniel Bolgheroni
m...@dbolgheroni.eng.br wrote:
 On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Nick Holland wrote:

 Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.

 I would like to buy CDs, but in Brazil these kind of products have a
 high tax fee applied when they hit the harbour. For a $50 CD, I'll
 probably pay almost $almost $70 to someone I don't want to contribute.
 This doesn't include the shipment cost (~$30 I suspect).

 I don't have a Paypal account (yet). If it's worth to trust him, I don't
 know, but I much prefer to donate $50 (although they will deduct 3.9% in
 my case, but at least OpenBSD doesn't have the CD cost) than to pay
 almost the triple to government, shipment, etc. Don't care if I don't
 get the CDs.

 Is it possible to OpenBSD to make profit for the project selling books
 or manuals? I don't know the costs or if it's worth (like CDs are better
 for the project than T-shirts, mugs, etc.). It's tax free here, and I
 think: if it's free here, maybe it's somewhere else.

 Teers,

 --
 Daniel Bolgheroni
 FEI - Faculdade de Engenharia Industrial
 http://www.dbolgheroni.eng.br/mykey

 ASCII ribbon campaign ( )
  against HTML e-mail   X
  / \



Perhaps you could make a donation and download the files?  You get
what you desire and you support the project.  It wouldn't be as
complete as the CDs, but you still get to contribute without paying
huge taxes.

I'm assuming your download rates/limits are reasonable, of course.

--
Aaron Mason - Programmer, open source addict
- Oh, why does everything I whip leave me?

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Jeffrey 'jf' Lim]

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 6:45 PM, Daniel Bolgheroni 
m...@dbolgheroni.eng.brwrote:

 On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Nick Holland wrote:

  Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.

 I would like to buy CDs, but in Brazil these kind of products have a
 high tax fee applied when they hit the harbour. For a $50 CD, I'll
 probably pay almost $almost $70 to someone I don't want to contribute.
 This doesn't include the shipment cost (~$30 I suspect).

 I don't have a Paypal account (yet). If it's worth to trust him, I don't
 know, but I much prefer to donate $50 (although they will deduct 3.9% in
 my case, but at least OpenBSD doesn't have the CD cost) than to pay
 almost the triple to government, shipment, etc. Don't care if I don't
 get the CDs.

 Is it possible to OpenBSD to make profit for the project selling books
 or manuals? I don't know the costs or if it's worth (like CDs are better
 for the project than T-shirts, mugs, etc.). It's tax free here, and I
 think: if it's free here, maybe it's somewhere else.


I have the same concerns as well (i mean the shipping. F, i'll support the
project - but not the shipping?). I did get the disc set, though, but.. it
would be nice to be able to check out knowing how much i'm supposed to be
paying for shipping.

-jf

--
In the meantime, here is your PSA:
It's so hard to write a graphics driver that open-sourcing it would not
help.
   -- Andrew Fear, Software Product Manager, NVIDIA Corporation
http://kerneltrap.org/node/7228

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[eagirard]

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 8:45 PM, Daniel Bolgheroni
m...@dbolgheroni.eng.br wrote:
 Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.

 I would like to buy CDs, but in Brazil these kind of products have a
 high tax fee applied when they hit the harbour. For a $50 CD, I'll
 probably pay almost $almost $70 to someone I don't want to contribute.
 This doesn't include the shipment cost (~$30 I suspect).

Far be it from me to tell other people how to spend their money (usually), but 
someone who wanted the giving effectiveness of a CD purchase without paying 
hideous taxes or shipping could locate a non-profit where low taxes and 
shipping would apply, and buy it for them.

This assumes that the purchaser could spare the actual physical product.
--
Ed Ahlsen-Girard
Ft. Walton Beach FL

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Daniel Bolgheroni]

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Nick Holland wrote:

 Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.

I would like to buy CDs, but in Brazil these kind of products have a 
high tax fee applied when they hit the harbour. For a $50 CD, I'll 
probably pay almost $almost $70 to someone I don't want to contribute. 
This doesn't include the shipment cost (~$30 I suspect).

I don't have a Paypal account (yet). If it's worth to trust him, I don't 
know, but I much prefer to donate $50 (although they will deduct 3.9% in 
my case, but at least OpenBSD doesn't have the CD cost) than to pay 
almost the triple to government, shipment, etc. Don't care if I don't 
get the CDs.

Is it possible to OpenBSD to make profit for the project selling books 
or manuals? I don't know the costs or if it's worth (like CDs are better 
for the project than T-shirts, mugs, etc.). It's tax free here, and I 
think: if it's free here, maybe it's somewhere else.

Teers,

--
Daniel Bolgheroni
FEI - Faculdade de Engenharia Industrial
http://www.dbolgheroni.eng.br/mykey

ASCII ribbon campaign ( )
 against HTML e-mail   X
  / \

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Aaron Mason]

I'd be happy to preorder a CD, I just need to have the money to pay
for one, and I'm behind on bills...

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Rod Whitworthglis...@witworx.com wrote:
 Of course I try to be first to pre-order my CD setS but the orders
 always open when I'm asleep. I am going to keep trying, even after I
 achieve it!

 Good pitch, Nick. I'd love to see it on a wider screen somewhere.

 Rod/

 On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:54:12 -0400, Nick Holland wrote:

What makes OpenBSD unique?  Everyone's got their own list, but here's
mine:

* Good work is unacceptable, great work is expected.
* Quality is the #1 goal, it takes a back seat to NOTHING else.
* Freedom for the users to use OpenBSD without question and without
  lawyers having to be involved, again without compromise.
* Strong leadership.  Not a core team, or an elected committee
  that blows in the wind of public opinion, but one person who
  sets direction and policy for the project.  You may not always
  agree with Theo, but you never wonder where he stands on an
  issue, or what direction the project will go.
* Commitment to doing it right in one way, not twenty different
  ways (pick one, maybe you get lucky).
* Refusal to accept the damned all programs have bugs chant as
  an excuse for making crap
* No fear of retaining things that work, and trashing things
  that are broke or inferior to newer (or older!) alternatives.
* The Just Works philosophy.

But...a project like OpenBSD doesn't just run on volunteer effort,
it takes real money.  Hardware, infrastructure, Internet services,
and if you are going to have ONE PERSON in charge, you need to
keep them focused on the project, not in their spare time, and
give them the money to live in reasonable comfort.

I just had a talk with Theo, and he shared some numbers with me.
There's a digit missing from the current CD pre-orders from where
we were hoping to be now.  There's a trailing zero missing from
what we'd really like to have.

Long ago, while waiting for customers to hand me money, my first
boss told me, The hardest thing to do, but the most important,
is to ask for the sale.  I've never been very good at that, but
here it is...

People, it is time to get your browsers over to
  http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
and start running some money into the project.

Do you use OpenBSD for fun?  Contribute.
Do you use OpenBSD for work?  Contribute.
Does OpenBSD allow you to worry about the problem you are trying
to solve rather rather than the tools?  Contribute.
Do you wish your employer used the OpenBSD quality standard in
your work?  Contribute.
Does your employer use OpenBSD?  Ask them to contribute (after
you do, of course).
Do you bundle OpenBSD or subprojects like OpenSSH into your
product?  Contribute big! (you won't, you rarely do, but hey,
I'll ask anyway)
Do you find yourself wondering why so few take computer software
quality seriously?  Contribute!

CDs are our favorite way to get contributions.  The price is well
within what the average person can easily pay for, they are a lot
more educational than a month of cable TV (and maybe even more fun).
Sure, the CD itself is not something everyone needs anymore, but
it is about much more than the data recorded on it.  It is the mark
of being an active OpenBSD supporter, and it provides a nice, neat
count of this many people care.

Don't get me wrong, Theo likes big cash contributions, too, but
(ok, my life flashes before my eyes every time I try to put words
in Theo's mouth) while a $1 donation from BIGCORP Inc., is
nice, it is probably more satisfying to see two hundred $50
contributions from private people and small businesses who
appreciate and put a value not only the work OpenBSD does, but
the KIND of work, the Quality and Freedom Second to NOTHING
philosophy.  Don't wait and hope for a big company to speak for
you, speak your thanks directly for the work and effort that
goes into OpenBSD by buying a CD set.


I'm going to answer a question that comes up periodically: What
about T-shirts and mugs and ...?  Well, those are profit points,
too, but CDs are dirt cheap to make, they store easily, and one
size fits all.  T-shirts have a higher manufacturing cost, take
up more space, and must be stocked in multiple sizes, all of which
must be kept accessible.  Certainly, buy a t-shirt, buy a mug,
poster, whatever..but buy a CD set, too.


Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.
Thanks to the OpenBSD team, I can't tell you what an honor
it is to work (in my small way) with some of the worlds best
programmers and software DESIGNERS.
Thanks to Theo de Raadt for the years of showing that it IS
possible to hold one's ideals up high and proud, never
compromise them, and never give in, in spite of the pressures
from those that will trade their ideals for a little temporary
expediency.

And thanks to you for reading my rant.

Nick.


 *** NOTE *** Please DO NOT CC me. I am subscribed to the list.
 Mail to the sender address that does not 

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Jeffrey 'jf' Lim]

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Nick Holland
n...@holland-consulting.netwrote:

 What makes OpenBSD unique?  Everyone's got their own list, but here's
 mine:

 * Good work is unacceptable, great work is expected.
 * Quality is the #1 goal, it takes a back seat to NOTHING else.
 * Freedom for the users to use OpenBSD without question and without
  lawyers having to be involved, again without compromise.
 * Strong leadership.  Not a core team, or an elected committee
  that blows in the wind of public opinion, but one person who
  sets direction and policy for the project.  You may not always
  agree with Theo, but you never wonder where he stands on an
  issue, or what direction the project will go.


 all good stuff, yeah.


* Commitment to doing it right in one way, not twenty different
  ways (pick one, maybe you get lucky).


just one question - how do we determine this one right way? (like there
could be a multitude of ways to do the same thing)



 * Refusal to accept the damned all programs have bugs chant as
  an excuse for making crap
 * No fear of retaining things that work, and trashing things
  that are broke or inferior to newer (or older!) alternatives.
 * The Just Works philosophy.

 But...a project like OpenBSD doesn't just run on volunteer effort,
 it takes real money.  Hardware, infrastructure, Internet services,
 and if you are going to have ONE PERSON in charge, you need to
 keep them focused on the project, not in their spare time, and
 give them the money to live in reasonable comfort.

 I just had a talk with Theo, and he shared some numbers with me.
 There's a digit missing from the current CD pre-orders from where
 we were hoping to be now.  There's a trailing zero missing from
 what we'd really like to have.


I have a few questions about the stores in Australia (since we're on the
topic here). (http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html#au/lsl) LSL doesn't seem to
be doing pre-orders (see
http://www.lsl.com.au/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=openbsdx=0y=0);
does anybody know about the status of ESI? I cannot find any mention of
OpenBSD, let alone any pre-orders on their site (http://www.esi.com.au/).

If anybody living in Australia could help out to call the store/s (I dont
live there - it's just that this is the nearest store to me) and enquire,
that would be great.

thanks,
-jf

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Johan M:son Lindman]

On Wednesday 09 September 2009 08:45:41 you wrote:

 I have a few questions about the stores in Australia (since we're on the
 topic here). (http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html#au/lsl) LSL doesn't seem
 to be doing pre-orders (see
 http://www.lsl.com.au/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=openbsdx=0y=0);
 does anybody know about the status of ESI? I cannot find any mention of
 OpenBSD, let alone any pre-orders on their site (http://www.esi.com.au/).

 If anybody living in Australia could help out to call the store/s (I dont
 live there - it's just that this is the nearest store to me) and enquire,
 that would be great.

 thanks,
 -jf

Having spoken to some OpenBSD users in Australia it appears as if your best 
bet is to order directly from https://https.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/order

That way you can make a per-order as well.


Regards
Johan M:son

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Jordi Espasa Clofent]

People, it is time to get your browsers over to
  http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
and start running some money into the project.


Done.
+1

;)

--
Thanks,
Jordi Espasa Clofent

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Iñigo Ortiz de Urbina]

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Jordi Espasa Clofent 
jordi.esp...@opengea.org wrote:

 People, it is time to get your browsers over to
  http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
 and start running some money into the project.


 Done.
 +1

 ;)

 --
 Thanks,
 Jordi Espasa Clofent


+2 from Euskadi and Catalunya, Spain, so to speak :)

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Chris Bennett]

Aaron Mason wrote:

I'd be happy to preorder a CD, I just need to have the money to pay
for one, and I'm behind on bills...
  

I'm in the same boat. This year has been brutally tough for my business.
I simply cannot afford a CD.

However, I simply cannot do without OpenBSD.

So I will mention that other useful page:

http://www.openbsd.org/donations.html

They now accept direct donations in a variety of ways.

I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.

I suggest that anyone seeing hard times consider donating a small amount.
After PayPal fees, a hundred $1 donations is still around $72 extra for 
OpenBSD.


Anyone who has counted change to buy food knows that even a few extra 
bucks can make your day a whole lot better!


Chris Bennett

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Rod Whitworthglis...@witworx.com wrote:
  

Of course I try to be first to pre-order my CD setS but the orders
always open when I'm asleep. I am going to keep trying, even after I
achieve it!

Good pitch, Nick. I'd love to see it on a wider screen somewhere.

Rod/

On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:54:12 -0400, Nick Holland wrote:



What makes OpenBSD unique?  Everyone's got their own list, but here's
mine:

* Good work is unacceptable, great work is expected.
* Quality is the #1 goal, it takes a back seat to NOTHING else.
* Freedom for the users to use OpenBSD without question and without
 lawyers having to be involved, again without compromise.
* Strong leadership.  Not a core team, or an elected committee
 that blows in the wind of public opinion, but one person who
 sets direction and policy for the project.  You may not always
 agree with Theo, but you never wonder where he stands on an
 issue, or what direction the project will go.
* Commitment to doing it right in one way, not twenty different
 ways (pick one, maybe you get lucky).
* Refusal to accept the damned all programs have bugs chant as
 an excuse for making crap
* No fear of retaining things that work, and trashing things
 that are broke or inferior to newer (or older!) alternatives.
* The Just Works philosophy.

But...a project like OpenBSD doesn't just run on volunteer effort,
it takes real money.  Hardware, infrastructure, Internet services,
and if you are going to have ONE PERSON in charge, you need to
keep them focused on the project, not in their spare time, and
give them the money to live in reasonable comfort.

I just had a talk with Theo, and he shared some numbers with me.
There's a digit missing from the current CD pre-orders from where
we were hoping to be now.  There's a trailing zero missing from
what we'd really like to have.

Long ago, while waiting for customers to hand me money, my first
boss told me, The hardest thing to do, but the most important,
is to ask for the sale.  I've never been very good at that, but
here it is...

People, it is time to get your browsers over to
 http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
and start running some money into the project.

Do you use OpenBSD for fun?  Contribute.
Do you use OpenBSD for work?  Contribute.
Does OpenBSD allow you to worry about the problem you are trying
to solve rather rather than the tools?  Contribute.
Do you wish your employer used the OpenBSD quality standard in
your work?  Contribute.
Does your employer use OpenBSD?  Ask them to contribute (after
you do, of course).
Do you bundle OpenBSD or subprojects like OpenSSH into your
product?  Contribute big! (you won't, you rarely do, but hey,
I'll ask anyway)
Do you find yourself wondering why so few take computer software
quality seriously?  Contribute!

CDs are our favorite way to get contributions.  The price is well
within what the average person can easily pay for, they are a lot
more educational than a month of cable TV (and maybe even more fun).
Sure, the CD itself is not something everyone needs anymore, but
it is about much more than the data recorded on it.  It is the mark
of being an active OpenBSD supporter, and it provides a nice, neat
count of this many people care.

Don't get me wrong, Theo likes big cash contributions, too, but
(ok, my life flashes before my eyes every time I try to put words
in Theo's mouth) while a $1 donation from BIGCORP Inc., is
nice, it is probably more satisfying to see two hundred $50
contributions from private people and small businesses who
appreciate and put a value not only the work OpenBSD does, but
the KIND of work, the Quality and Freedom Second to NOTHING
philosophy.  Don't wait and hope for a big company to speak for
you, speak your thanks directly for the work and effort that
goes into OpenBSD by buying a CD set.


I'm going to answer a question that comes up periodically: What
about T-shirts and mugs and ...?  Well, those are profit points,
too, but CDs are dirt cheap to make, they store easily, and one
size fits all.  T-shirts have a higher manufacturing cost, take
up more space, and must be stocked in multiple sizes, all of which
must be kept accessible.  Certainly, buy a t-shirt, buy a 

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Richard Toohey]

On 9/09/2009, at 9:14 PM, Johan M:son Lindman wrote:


On Wednesday 09 September 2009 08:45:41 you wrote:

I have a few questions about the stores in Australia (since we're  
on the
topic here). (http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html#au/lsl) LSL  
doesn't seem

to be doing pre-orders (see
http://www.lsl.com.au/advanced_search_result.php? 
keywords=openbsdx=0y=0);
does anybody know about the status of ESI? I cannot find any  
mention of
OpenBSD, let alone any pre-orders on their site (http:// 
www.esi.com.au/).


If anybody living in Australia could help out to call the store/s  
(I dont
live there - it's just that this is the nearest store to me) and  
enquire,

that would be great.

thanks,
-jf


Having spoken to some OpenBSD users in Australia it appears as if  
your best

bet is to order directly from https://https.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/order

That way you can make a per-order as well.


Regards
Johan M:son

Not quite Australia but I've ordered 3.5 onwards from the Computer  
Shop of Calgary
and my orders have always arrived in New Zealand in good time (and  
well before release

if I get my order in on time - pre-ordering is definitely worth it.)

The CD jewel cases used to be - without fail - broken, but NO issues  
since 4.0 and the DVD cases.


And back to Nick's original email, I'll badger a few people ...

HTH.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Lars Nooden]

Chris Bennett wrote:

 After PayPal fees, a hundred $1 donations is still ...

It might be worthwhile to investigate additional payment services, the
fees or international presence might be more favorable than PP and thus
might enhance donation activity.

Regards
-Lars

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Brad Tilley]

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 6:33 AM, Chris Bennett
ch...@bennettconstruction.biz wrote:

 I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.

I was unaware of that. That's a nice feature. I don't have a PayPal
account (don't trust them) but I'd like to do something similar with
my credit card. Will we be able to use a CC to make recurring monthly
contributions someday?

Thanks,

Brad

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Marco Peereboom]

Paypal offers non-account CC processing.

You can trust them as much as anything else Internet.

On Wed, Sep 09, 2009 at 06:49:11AM -0400, Brad Tilley wrote:
 On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 6:33 AM, Chris Bennett
 ch...@bennettconstruction.biz wrote:
 
  I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.
 
 I was unaware of that. That's a nice feature. I don't have a PayPal
 account (don't trust them) but I'd like to do something similar with
 my credit card. Will we be able to use a CC to make recurring monthly
 contributions someday?
 
 Thanks,
 
 Brad

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Nick Holland]

Jeffrey 'jf' Lim wrote:
 On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Nick Holland
 n...@holland-consulting.netwrote:

 * Commitment to doing it right in one way, not twenty different
  ways (pick one, maybe you get lucky).

 
 just one question - how do we determine this one right way? (like there
 could be a multitude of ways to do the same thing)

First of all, it isn't we who determine the one right way, it is
the developers, and if there is a conflict, it's Theo.  (and yes,
internal conflicts take place, and if you think the abuse on the
lists is vicious, you don't want to see some of the internal disputes!)

it's a lot simpler than it might seem.

The process varies, but usually starts by someone writing code (and man
pages).  If the code is good, it is improved, if it sucks but solves a
problem, it may inspire someone else to write good code.  Talking about
the idea is not part of the OpenBSD development process.

But often in life as in OpenBSD, the key to making a good decision is
simply MAKING A DECISION, then you worry about making it the RIGHT
decision.  This is a problem you can see in almost any committee designed
system, compromise takes place to try to keep everyone happy-ish, but no
one is completely happy, and the result is usually far from ideal.  A
could work, B could work, A+B and neither suck.  Most committees end
up going for the A+B or neither option for fear of pissing off the A or
B camps.

Simply making a hard decision quickly and focusing all efforts behind that
decision produces better results than compromises that split development
efforts and drag out problems produces better results.

Nick.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Janne Johansson]

Brad Tilley wrote:
 On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 6:33 AM, Chris Bennett
 ch...@bennettconstruction.biz wrote:
 
 I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.
 
 I was unaware of that. That's a nice feature. I don't have a PayPal
 account (don't trust them) 

I move money from my account into paypal, with the intention of those
money may disappear from the face of the earth, then make PP donations
using those. No ties to any account or CC for me, so I dont risk
anything except what I give to PP in the first place.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Stefan Wollny]

 -Urspr|ngliche Nachricht-
 Von: Marco Peereboom sl...@peereboom.us
 Gesendet: 09.09.09 13:27:44
 An: Brad Tilley b...@16systems.com
 CC: misc misc@openbsd.org
 Betreff: Re: Supporting OpenBSD


 Paypal offers non-account CC processing.

 You can trust them as much as anything else Internet.

 On Wed, Sep 09, 2009 at 06:49:11AM -0400, Brad Tilley wrote:
  On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 6:33 AM, Chris Bennett
  ch...@bennettconstruction.biz wrote:
 
   I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.
 

At least for German donors it is quite easy via a direct bank transfer as Theo
has a German bank account.
http://www.openbsd.org/bank-donation.html

Just set up a monthly subscription of 10.

Ordered 4.6 (along with a mug) the day orders were up.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[André]

On Wed, Sep 09, 2009 at 12:04:54PM +0200, Iqigo Ortiz de Urbina wrote:

 On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Jordi Espasa Clofent 
 +2 from Euskadi and Catalunya, Spain, so to speak :)
 
+3 from East Frisia!

--- 
Andri 

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[HSL GmbH - Lukas Ratajski]

 I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.
 
 I suggest that anyone seeing hard times consider donating a small
 amount.
 After PayPal fees, a hundred $1 donations is still around $72 extra
 for 
 OpenBSD.

Citizen of the European Union owning a bank account there can use the German 
account Theo has set up, and issue a monthly standing order (that's what I did 
with 5 EUR/month).

Though I recommend to ask the bank about any fees that may come up, since it is 
not always guaranteed that SEPA transactions are completely free of charge. 
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area#Misconceptions).

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[L. V. Lammert]

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Nick Holland wrote:

 What makes OpenBSD unique?  Everyone's got their own list, but here's
 mine:

Looks pretty good to me (list and following points), .. I missed the
'early order' - ours will be in shortly.

Keep up the good work all!

Lee

==
 Leland V. Lammertl...@omnitec.net
  Chief ScientistOmnitec Corporation
 Network/Internet Consultants www.omnitec.net
==

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[shwegime]

On Wed, 9 Sep 2009, HSL GmbH - Lukas Ratajski wrote:


I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.

I suggest that anyone seeing hard times consider donating a small
amount.
After PayPal fees, a hundred $1 donations is still around $72 extra
for
OpenBSD.


Citizen of the European Union owning a bank account there can use the German 
account Theo has set up, and issue a monthly standing order (that's what I did 
with 5 EUR/month).

Though I recommend to ask the bank about any fees that may come up, since it is 
not always guaranteed that SEPA transactions are completely free of charge. 
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area#Misconceptions).




This is interesting, I have to check out what my bank charges back in 
Europe 
, and maybe consider doing the same thing. For the time being I 
made a simple donation through CC of 50 euro.


I'm a Windows switcher using OpenBSD as my (nearly) sole desktop since 
about a year. I think it really deserves support.

Thank a lot for keeping up this great project.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[ropers]

2009/9/9 Stefan Wollny ste...@wollny.de:

 At least for German donors it is quite easy via a direct bank transfer as
Theo
 has a German bank account.
 http://www.openbsd.org/bank-donation.html

 Just set up a monthly subscription of 10.

That isn't just useful for Germans.

If you're *pretty much anywhere in Europe*, talk to your bank about SEPA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

Most Europeans already can make a BIC/IBAN transaction to Theo's
account for no extra fee (beyond what you ordinarily pay for a
local/national transaction, which may be 0).
At least by 2011 at the latest, you will be able to set up EU-wide
direct debits, and by then you *should* also be able to set up EU-wide
standing orders. Maybe you already can. Ask your bank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_order_(banking)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_debit

Direct debits may not work in this case, since --AFAIK-- Theo is not
an organization that's been vetted by his bank.

EU-wide standing orders will work, again for no extra fee, as soon as
they become available. If your bank *doesn't* offer standing orders,
push and prod them a bit and tell them they really, really should
offer standing orders as well as direct debits. [1]
It's what Eurosystem [2] expects [3], and all the cool kids are doing it. [4]

[1] For this to work, it helps if you actually have money (unlike
*cough* some of us).
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurosystem
[3]
http://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/other/eurosystemsepaexpectationsform200903en.pdf
[4] http://tinyurl.com/lpm53r (4.5MB PDF)

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Daniel Ouellet]

Hi Nick,

Great post!

Rod Whitworth wrote:

Good pitch, Nick. I'd love to see it on a wider screen somewhere.


As to have this on a bigger screen! It has! (;

April 21, 2009 at Apple Store in Tysons Virginia!

For the Apple Night School event. All night long from 5PM to ~10PM or so 
on it's own table and also bigger screen too.


The idea is what kids are doing with their computers and all as well as 
what they do with their MAC computers.


Well, this is not news to some on this list here, but my son did promote 
OpenBSD as well as I in a big way and a unique way too.


You can check the following pictures below if you want proof. 9 of them 
all around 3.5 to 4Mb sorry about that.


Specially you can notice the last 4 pictures and the last one with the 
big screen on it. That's in the Apple store for presentations.


Puffy did show up that night big time and a few Genius sure asked a few 
very interesting questions about the setup and all to witch my son 
provided all the answers they wanted.


Only one said that the warranty was not valid on the MAC laptop anymore 
as it was temper with for dual boot and all to witch my son proudly 
answer that's it's been like that for a very long time and to make the 
Genius happy also said something in the lines of


That's no problem is it? If Apple makes good hardware, I don't really 
need that Apple Care and all to run great software on it do I? Are you 
saying that Apple do not make good hardware and I should pick a 
different company then?


To witch the Genius didn't have any answer and left it alone and the 
other Genius got a good smile out of. (;


Anyway, my son is a freak of Lego's and OpenBSD and that night show up 
how to use BlockSmith on him workstation in dualboot and how to use 
OpenBSD to secure his MAC right there in the Apple store on bigger 
screen then his laptop! (; He even did a Lego figure of one of the 
Genius right there in BlockSmith witch I can tell you got him the hart 
of the various Genius there in the store too. (; I guess I call that 
Puffy PR!,(;


http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-1.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-2.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-3.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-4.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-5.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-6.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-7.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-8.jpg
http://openbsdsupport.org/apple-night/OpenBSD-9.jpg

He got many questions and really got the curiosity of the people in the 
store that night going for sure. Did anyone got home and got a CD after 
that, obviously I can't say. I would like to believe that may be some 
did! But, did Puffy got visibility in the more obvious and may be hot 
places, I guess so. (;


Sometime you will never know where Puffy will show up and how big the 
screen he might end up on. (;


And you can notice the different OpenBSD T-Shirt's there as well 
including the Apple one around the neck oppose to hide the Puffy one.


Even to the question of Well, it might be difficult to install this OS 
then? by some of the visitors and Genius. Believe it or not, the answer 
came from my youngest son that was there too in the wireframe Puffy 
T-Shirt and that you can see there. He explain how to do it and also 
explain that he did many servers install as well in my business 
replacing hard drive and all. Even a demo install in 5 minutes was 
possible to do. (; If not even a Teenager can do it in public, then I 
guess a Genius should be able to right? Sure got the attention of many 
there and really show that installing OpenBSD is even much faster then 
Mac OS X. OK, not all the X was install, but you get the picture. 
Visitor sure did! (;


So, talk about big screen, well you got one. OK it's far from Australia 
I know, but never the less, you can fell the vibe now can you? (;


Best,

Daniel

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Gerald Chudyk]

On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Nick Hollandn...@holland-consulting.net
wrote:

 People, it is time to get your browsers over to
 B http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
 and start running some money into the project.

Apologies for procrastination and thanks for the timely reminder.

Order placed.

Gerald.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[James Polera]

Seconded, and order placed.

- James


On Sep 9, 2009, at 14:02, Gerald Chudyk gchu...@gmail.com wrote:

On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:54 PM, Nick Hollandn...@holland-consulting.net 


wrote:


People, it is time to get your browsers over to
B http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
and start running some money into the project.


Apologies for procrastination and thanks for the timely reminder.

Order placed.

Gerald.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Eric Furman]

On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:33 -0500, Chris Bennett
ch...@bennettconstruction.biz wrote:
 Aaron Mason wrote:
  I'd be happy to preorder a CD, I just need to have the money to pay
  for one, and I'm behind on bills...

 I'm in the same boat. This year has been brutally tough for my business.
 I simply cannot afford a CD.
 
 However, I simply cannot do without OpenBSD.
 
 So I will mention that other useful page:
 
 http://www.openbsd.org/donations.html
 
 They now accept direct donations in a variety of ways.
 
 I just signed up for a $5 USD a month subscription using PayPal.
 
 I suggest that anyone seeing hard times consider donating a small amount.
 After PayPal fees, a hundred $1 donations is still around $72 extra for 
 OpenBSD.
 
 Anyone who has counted change to buy food knows that even a few extra 
 bucks can make your day a whole lot better!

This is wonderful and I am sure direct donations are much appreciated,
but

Buy the CD's people. The best way to support the project is to support
Theo.
Nothing supports Theo more than CD sales. The surest way to maximize the 
money that actually goes to OpenBSD is to buy the CD's.
Instead of a monthly donation you could put aside $10 a month in a
savings
account and buy the CD set twice a year. No PayPal. No credit card. Just
your bank account.
If you *really* want to help OBSD buy the CD's.
(plus you get all the neat stickers)

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Sam Vaughan]

Thank you Nick, very well said!

And thank you Theo and team for doing what you do.

4.6 CD ordered!

-Sam


On Tue, 8 Sep 2009, Nick Holland wrote:


What makes OpenBSD unique?  Everyone's got their own list, but here's
mine:

* Good work is unacceptable, great work is expected.
* Quality is the #1 goal, it takes a back seat to NOTHING else.
* Freedom for the users to use OpenBSD without question and without
 lawyers having to be involved, again without compromise.
* Strong leadership.  Not a core team, or an elected committee
 that blows in the wind of public opinion, but one person who
 sets direction and policy for the project.  You may not always
 agree with Theo, but you never wonder where he stands on an
 issue, or what direction the project will go.
* Commitment to doing it right in one way, not twenty different
 ways (pick one, maybe you get lucky).
* Refusal to accept the damned all programs have bugs chant as
 an excuse for making crap
* No fear of retaining things that work, and trashing things
 that are broke or inferior to newer (or older!) alternatives.
* The Just Works philosophy.

But...a project like OpenBSD doesn't just run on volunteer effort,
it takes real money.  Hardware, infrastructure, Internet services,
and if you are going to have ONE PERSON in charge, you need to
keep them focused on the project, not in their spare time, and
give them the money to live in reasonable comfort.

I just had a talk with Theo, and he shared some numbers with me.
There's a digit missing from the current CD pre-orders from where
we were hoping to be now.  There's a trailing zero missing from
what we'd really like to have.

Long ago, while waiting for customers to hand me money, my first
boss told me, The hardest thing to do, but the most important,
is to ask for the sale.  I've never been very good at that, but
here it is...

People, it is time to get your browsers over to
 http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
and start running some money into the project.

Do you use OpenBSD for fun?  Contribute.
Do you use OpenBSD for work?  Contribute.
Does OpenBSD allow you to worry about the problem you are trying
to solve rather rather than the tools?  Contribute.
Do you wish your employer used the OpenBSD quality standard in
your work?  Contribute.
Does your employer use OpenBSD?  Ask them to contribute (after
you do, of course).
Do you bundle OpenBSD or subprojects like OpenSSH into your
product?  Contribute big! (you won't, you rarely do, but hey,
I'll ask anyway)
Do you find yourself wondering why so few take computer software
quality seriously?  Contribute!

CDs are our favorite way to get contributions.  The price is well
within what the average person can easily pay for, they are a lot
more educational than a month of cable TV (and maybe even more fun).
Sure, the CD itself is not something everyone needs anymore, but
it is about much more than the data recorded on it.  It is the mark
of being an active OpenBSD supporter, and it provides a nice, neat
count of this many people care.

Don't get me wrong, Theo likes big cash contributions, too, but
(ok, my life flashes before my eyes every time I try to put words
in Theo's mouth) while a $1 donation from BIGCORP Inc., is
nice, it is probably more satisfying to see two hundred $50
contributions from private people and small businesses who
appreciate and put a value not only the work OpenBSD does, but
the KIND of work, the Quality and Freedom Second to NOTHING
philosophy.  Don't wait and hope for a big company to speak for
you, speak your thanks directly for the work and effort that
goes into OpenBSD by buying a CD set.


I'm going to answer a question that comes up periodically: What
about T-shirts and mugs and ...?  Well, those are profit points,
too, but CDs are dirt cheap to make, they store easily, and one
size fits all.  T-shirts have a higher manufacturing cost, take
up more space, and must be stocked in multiple sizes, all of which
must be kept accessible.  Certainly, buy a t-shirt, buy a mug,
poster, whatever..but buy a CD set, too.


Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.
Thanks to the OpenBSD team, I can't tell you what an honor
it is to work (in my small way) with some of the worlds best
programmers and software DESIGNERS.
Thanks to Theo de Raadt for the years of showing that it IS
possible to hold one's ideals up high and proud, never
compromise them, and never give in, in spite of the pressures
from those that will trade their ideals for a little temporary
expediency.

And thanks to you for reading my rant.

Nick.

Re: Supporting OpenBSD

[Rod Whitworth]

Of course I try to be first to pre-order my CD setS but the orders
always open when I'm asleep. I am going to keep trying, even after I
achieve it!

Good pitch, Nick. I'd love to see it on a wider screen somewhere.

Rod/

On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:54:12 -0400, Nick Holland wrote:

What makes OpenBSD unique?  Everyone's got their own list, but here's
mine:

* Good work is unacceptable, great work is expected.
* Quality is the #1 goal, it takes a back seat to NOTHING else.
* Freedom for the users to use OpenBSD without question and without
  lawyers having to be involved, again without compromise.
* Strong leadership.  Not a core team, or an elected committee
  that blows in the wind of public opinion, but one person who
  sets direction and policy for the project.  You may not always
  agree with Theo, but you never wonder where he stands on an
  issue, or what direction the project will go.
* Commitment to doing it right in one way, not twenty different
  ways (pick one, maybe you get lucky).
* Refusal to accept the damned all programs have bugs chant as
  an excuse for making crap
* No fear of retaining things that work, and trashing things
  that are broke or inferior to newer (or older!) alternatives.
* The Just Works philosophy.

But...a project like OpenBSD doesn't just run on volunteer effort,
it takes real money.  Hardware, infrastructure, Internet services,
and if you are going to have ONE PERSON in charge, you need to
keep them focused on the project, not in their spare time, and
give them the money to live in reasonable comfort.

I just had a talk with Theo, and he shared some numbers with me.
There's a digit missing from the current CD pre-orders from where
we were hoping to be now.  There's a trailing zero missing from
what we'd really like to have.

Long ago, while waiting for customers to hand me money, my first
boss told me, The hardest thing to do, but the most important,
is to ask for the sale.  I've never been very good at that, but
here it is...

People, it is time to get your browsers over to
  http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
and start running some money into the project.

Do you use OpenBSD for fun?  Contribute.
Do you use OpenBSD for work?  Contribute.
Does OpenBSD allow you to worry about the problem you are trying
to solve rather rather than the tools?  Contribute.
Do you wish your employer used the OpenBSD quality standard in
your work?  Contribute.
Does your employer use OpenBSD?  Ask them to contribute (after
you do, of course).
Do you bundle OpenBSD or subprojects like OpenSSH into your
product?  Contribute big! (you won't, you rarely do, but hey,
I'll ask anyway)
Do you find yourself wondering why so few take computer software
quality seriously?  Contribute!

CDs are our favorite way to get contributions.  The price is well
within what the average person can easily pay for, they are a lot
more educational than a month of cable TV (and maybe even more fun).
Sure, the CD itself is not something everyone needs anymore, but
it is about much more than the data recorded on it.  It is the mark
of being an active OpenBSD supporter, and it provides a nice, neat
count of this many people care.

Don't get me wrong, Theo likes big cash contributions, too, but
(ok, my life flashes before my eyes every time I try to put words
in Theo's mouth) while a $1 donation from BIGCORP Inc., is
nice, it is probably more satisfying to see two hundred $50
contributions from private people and small businesses who
appreciate and put a value not only the work OpenBSD does, but
the KIND of work, the Quality and Freedom Second to NOTHING
philosophy.  Don't wait and hope for a big company to speak for
you, speak your thanks directly for the work and effort that
goes into OpenBSD by buying a CD set.


I'm going to answer a question that comes up periodically: What
about T-shirts and mugs and ...?  Well, those are profit points,
too, but CDs are dirt cheap to make, they store easily, and one
size fits all.  T-shirts have a higher manufacturing cost, take
up more space, and must be stocked in multiple sizes, all of which
must be kept accessible.  Certainly, buy a t-shirt, buy a mug,
poster, whatever..but buy a CD set, too.


Thanks to those that contribute money and buy CDs.
Thanks to the OpenBSD team, I can't tell you what an honor
it is to work (in my small way) with some of the worlds best
programmers and software DESIGNERS.
Thanks to Theo de Raadt for the years of showing that it IS
possible to hold one's ideals up high and proud, never
compromise them, and never give in, in spite of the pressures
from those that will trade their ideals for a little temporary
expediency.

And thanks to you for reading my rant.

Nick.


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Rod/
---
This life is not the real thing.
It is