thejemreport.com — Even if you don't use OpenBSD, you're likely to be benefiting from it unknowingly. No matter what OS you use, chances are you're using the OpenBSD-developed OpenSSH for secure shell access to remote machines. This article asks the question: If so many are using this software, why are so few paying for it?
Mar 28, 2006 View in Crawl 4
valourMar 28, 2006Submitter
That's ridiculous. The article calls for for-profit corporations to donate to OpenSSH, which they all rely on to make money. OpenBSD doesn't make any money, and is currently operating at a $20,000 per year loss.To further illustrate the silliness of your comment, RED HAT maintains GCC and spends money to do it, but doesn't give one dime to OpenSSH. There are other compilers out there -- YaCC and ICC to name two -- but there are no other free-of-charge or free-of-restriction SSH client/server packages.
mianosMar 30, 2006
Never heard of dropbear? <a class="user" href="http://matt.ucc.asn.au/dropbear/dropbear.html">http://matt.ucc.asn.au/dropbear/dropbear.html</a>It's even in Debian. You do have a choice. Like the same choice you have with a BSD license. You are not under any obligation to pay anything.
bogthaMar 30, 2006
> RED HAT maintains GCC and spends money to do it, but doesn't give one dime to OpenSSH.Then consider a portion of the money Red Hat spends on developing GCC to be their donation to OpenSSH.
Closed AccountMar 30, 2006
Correction: it appears it's BSD license with no GPL code.
corrosionMar 30, 2006
Never considered to pay, because I thought that companies that make money with GNU/Linux (redhat.. ibm.. hp...) contribute...
radu79Mar 30, 2006
I don't really understand all this talk here. Either donate some money like I did (50 USD), or shut up. Those guys work their ass off so that others can benefit from their work. Don't you think they deserve at least some respect, if not money as well?When the Gentoo leader had to work for MS, because he made little or no money with Gentoo, a lot of /. idiots started to put him down, because, omfg, he is a traitor siding with the enemy.Well, if you don't liek OSS developers to go work for MS, or for other big company that doesn't open source their code, how about supporting them? If every Digg user would donate 1 USD on average, a lot of OSS projects could be supported.
merdelyApr 15, 2006
Nowhere is a donation REQUIRED by anyone. Theo's saying that if you want continued development of OpenBSD and OPenSSH, contributions will be necessary. He's said over and over that it's not individuals that will ultimately make the difference but the countless companies (Cisco, HP, Apple, Redhat, Sun, Novell, ...) that use OpenSSH in their products but don't give back to the development of the software.In terms of the "free software" argument. Free software is free for you to use, sell, develop, etc. But you will pay in one way or another. If you continue to use the free software, but don't contribute (pay) to its development in some way, it'll eventually stop being developed. If you rely on that software, you'll "pay for it" by not having it around to use or be improved.
merdelyApr 15, 2006
You'll pay for it one way or another. Either you pay a contribution to help its continued developement or you'll pay because it's no longer available for you to use.But, again, they're not asking YOU to pay unless you represent Cisco or Apple or Sun or ... Joe Sixpack is probably not going to make THE different (though buying shirts and CDs and small donations WILL help).