View Single Post
  #4   (View Single Post)  
Old 16th February 2012
ocicat ocicat is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 3,318
Default

While this comment may admittedly be off-topic when it comes to -current maintenance, it bears repetition.

It is very easy to get/stay in the mindset of "I'll just go out & download snapshots..." when dealing with updating/installing in the -current world, but this mindset can lead us to lose focus of the work the project developers are making.

Development takes time & resources. As opposed to how many interpret Open Source as being free, someone is having to expend time & effort to write & test the software. It's not always cheap either. The OpenBSD project has no corporate sponsorship, so money for keeping the project Website going along with Theo's time has to come from somewhere.

Although -current users tend to dismiss -release as being many months old, purchasing the official CD sets of -release is the predominant means by which the project funds itself. Sales of t-shirts & books helps, but the margin going to the project itself is highest when buying the official CD sets.

Even if purchasing the CD sets means that they are simply going into a drawer, purchasing them helps the project stay viable. If you find OpenBSD to be useful, help support the project. Buying OpenBSD swag twice a year isn't that expensive.

Open donations are also accepted:

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

Remember that the OpenBSD project is very small. There aren't as many users as other Open Source projects & securing enough funding to keep the project alive is an issue.

Last edited by ocicat; 16th February 2012 at 07:55 PM.
Reply With Quote