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Old 17th December 2013
ocicat ocicat is offline
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Default funding OpenBSD's electricity use

For those forum members in Canada, the OpenBSD project is looking to offset electrical costs. For those who might have contacts with interested companies/parties, more information can be found at the following:

http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=138730448307723&w=2

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Old 29th December 2013
shep shep is offline
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Default Second Request for Funding - Present usage "Unsustainable"

Quote:
I am resending this request for funding our electricity bills because
it is not yet resolved.

We really need even more funding beyond that, because otherwise all of
this is simply unsustainable. This request is the smallest we can
make.
http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=138758456722860&w=2

Wonder if outside pressure is in play and which entities may be applying it?
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Old 29th December 2013
J65nko J65nko is offline
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I don't think there is some conspiracy.

Here in the Netherlands electricity is more expensive for private households than for business or corporate entities. Using an energy tax the Dutch government is trying to stimulate people into conserving energy and thus natural resources.

Maybe something similar is going on in Canada. Maybe Canada or the state/province increased sales tax or VAT on energy in order to meet the Kyoto CO2 goals.

Sales tax or VAT for businesses usually are not expenses, they can deduct the VAT they pay for their purchases and deduct that from the VAT they have to charge their customers. The remainder VAT then has to be paid to the fiscal authorities.

Theo is a private person running a small datacenter in his cellar, having not any possibility to deduct any costs, therefore could face unbearable financial disadvantages.
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Old 29th December 2013
shep shep is offline
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Quote:
Here in the Netherlands electricity is more expensive for private households than for business or corporate entities. Using an energy tax the Dutch government is trying to stimulate people into conserving energy and thus natural resources.
My sense is that in the States, all energy is subsidized. That being said, in the Northwest both gas and electricity have had recent increases.

I wonder how some of the larger, non-profit LInux distros, Debian in particular, fund their build servers? Is there an option to distribute builds, say to academic centers? I know that the ftp3.usa.openbsd.org site is under the wing of NCAR at the Univ of Colorado.
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Old 29th December 2013
J65nko J65nko is offline
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See Electricy prices Calgary the highest in Canada and Alberta power price surge
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Old 1st January 2014
angryfirelord angryfirelord is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shep View Post
My sense is that in the States, all energy is subsidized.
It depends on each state. As a PA resident, I've noticed our electricity bills went up after the final electric deregulations went into place. This appears to be the same thing that happened in Alberta and across Canada.
Quote:
I wonder how some of the larger, non-profit LInux distros, Debian in particular, fund their build servers? Is there an option to distribute builds, say to academic centers? I know that the ftp3.usa.openbsd.org site is under the wing of NCAR at the Univ of Colorado.
There's no official document, but it seems Debian's build servers are more distributed among developers with everything tying into the master Debian server. I think one problem at the moment is that with OpenBSD, everything is still essentially built at Theo's "house" which is then mirrored to everything else. Some of the older architectures aren't exactly power efficient either (like the VAX boxes). So, I don't think Theo is going to get an answer by trying to offload the expense onto someone else's books.

The Gentoo wiki details how their server infrastructure is broken down: http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Infrastructure
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Old 1st January 2014
thirdm thirdm is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by angryfirelord View Post
It depends on each state. As a PA resident, I've noticed our electricity bills went up after the final electric deregulations went into place. This appears to be the same thing that happened in Alberta and across Canada.
That's interesting to hear. I've worked for a company in this area and the business analysts, if I remember rightly, made it out like PA was the place where it actually worked out well. Only when California came along was it really apparent what a bad idea it may be, at least for residential customers. I guess working well here just means the price spikes weren't catastrophic, eh?

We nominally have it in MA, but last time I looked there are hardly any options for residences, only for businesses. It sounds to me like the only use is for businesses with the sophistication to want to weigh different kinds of hedging schemes (contracts for future usage of various lengths, etc.) but that's neither something we as residential customers likely want to take on nor do we have the options. Someone like Theo probably has the intellectual fortitude to work out a more stable price for himself over time with these approaches, but, what, he's probably just treated as a residential customer so has few choices in terms of how his contract gets priced.

Personally, I think the Canadian government should consider OpenBSD as part of Canada's heritage and send them some kind regular, predictable grant, maybe from NSERC, but I've been away too long to even vote there so what business is it of mine.
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Old 17th January 2014
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I went and bought myself a wireframe Puffy t-shirt. A drop in the bucket, but I guess every bit helps.
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Old 18th January 2014
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JWJones,

Good! I bought the CD and a T-shirt yesterday. Not a lot, but, hopefully it helps a bit.
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Old 20th January 2014
undercover_penguin undercover_penguin is offline
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I've just checked my mails and found this link posted in the mailing-list:

http://www.thedrinkingrecord.com/201...saves-openbsd/

do you think it's true?
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Old 20th January 2014
Beastie Beastie is offline
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I really hope so. I've never used OpenBSD, but I always find it sad when great FLOSS projects kick the bucket.
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Old 20th January 2014
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Bob Beck just announced that funding for 2014 has reached approximately $100K, and that the foundation has set a 2014 goal of $150K.

http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=139024400731106&w=2
Code:
Greetings All,

About a week ago I warned you all that the OpenBSD project did not
have the funds to cover our bills for the past year (especially the
ability to handle the electricity) and that our funding sources were
not sustainable.

As most of you know the news of our predicament has been widely
distributed over the last week, and the response from the community as
well as corporate donors has been significant - some of this response
has been hitting the internet media already.

To all of you who have donated, please allow me to give you a huge
"Thank You".  In a nutshell, we have in one week gone from being in a
dire situation to having a commitment of approximately $100,000 in
donations to the foundation. From a developer's perspective let me
assure you that this reaffirms the worth of what we are supporting and
makes us want to work on it that much more.

We would like to continue to build on your groundswell of support, and
have set a target for $150,000 this year in fundraising.  Please see

http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/campaign2104.html

If you have contributed already - Thank you.
If you can help us by contributing - Please do.
If you know or work for someone who can help us reach our goals,
please contact us.

Sincerely,

-Bob
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Old 20th January 2014
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That's good news, the community's capability to react is quite impressive

$150k for 2014, OpenBSD's budget is really stable, it was $130k in 2011.
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Old 21st January 2014
undercover_penguin undercover_penguin is offline
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Is Bob Beck an official speaker?
And another question: if I buy a set of OpenBSD-CDs, how much of the 50 Canadian Dollar are going to the foundation?
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Old 21st January 2014
ocicat ocicat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by undercover_penguin View Post
Is Bob Beck an official speaker?
The two directors listed at the following:

http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/membership.html

...are also both project developers.
Quote:
if I buy a set of OpenBSD-CDs, how much of the 50 Canadian Dollar are going to the foundation?
I don't know. Perhaps corresponding to the address found at the above link is appropriate.
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Old 21st January 2014
J65nko J65nko is offline
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According to http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html the CD's are distributed by the Computer Shop of Calgary and not the OpenBSD foundation.

As an alternative you could make a one-time donation or a recurring donation each month. That way you are sure that only the credit card or Paypal fees are deducted, resulting in a higher netto proceed for OpenBSD.
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Old 21st January 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by undercover_penguin View Post
...if I buy a set of OpenBSD-CDs, how much of the 50 Canadian Dollar are going to the foundation?
None. The transactions go in the opposite direction, in that the Foundation funds Theo and other developers, as it sees fit, per its stated goals and prior activities.

CD sales have been the primary funding source for OpenBSD. The Foundation was initially established in 2007 to provide a corporate structure to accept donations, such as issuing receipts.

History:

http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=artic...&mode=expanded
http://marc.info/?t=118540734300003&r=1&w=2

Currently:

http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/activities.html
http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/donations.html
http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
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