Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 12:50:06 -0600 From: "Gary Smithe" <deb.guy@gmail.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: corporate backers of freebsd Message-ID: <10f7864f0801021050n587e4a52o6c822fd5c31574ef@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <BMEDLGAENEKCJFGODFOCIEEGCFAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> References: <10f7864f0712311010x2497409ava350991ccebf3ae2@mail.gmail.com> <BMEDLGAENEKCJFGODFOCIEEGCFAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com>
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On Jan 2, 2008 4:56 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> wrote: > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Gary Smithe > > Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 10:11 AM > > To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > > Subject: corporate backers of freebsd > > > > > > Good Day All and Happy New Year, > > > > I'm not looking to incite anyone, but here comes a BSD vs Linux > > question. Yes, I tried searching the archives and found nothing. > > > > I used FreeBSD back in 2000 for a few firewalls, but due to certain > > influences I switched to Linux after a couple of years. > > > > I'm interested in getting back to the BSD's but have just one big concern. > > > > As most users Unix and it's clones, I prefer the "free as in beer" > > licensing model, but want to know that someone else is paying the big > > bills. > > > > In short, here's my question: > > > > Canonical, RedHat, IBM, Novell, and a slew of others are funding / > > supporting Linux development and pushing some of that development into > > the free community, so that all can benefit from full-time developers > > and the money that supports them. > > > > I've seen where Cisco and Juniper are using FreeBSD, and assuming > > there are other big names, do they directly fund or contribute to the > > community? > > > > Gary, > > FreeBSD USED TO HAVE a single large corporate sponsor. Walnut Creek. > Well, while the upside of this is that you have a pot of money that > can be used to fund advertising ventures, fund a position to act as > the "public" face of the project, etc. the downside is that this ties > the project to the fortunes of that big money pot. > > When Walnut Creek went downhill it caused a LOT of people who were > using FreeBSD very much consternation. > > This is why today the project basically operates as a completely > distributed project. > > You might as well ask who the corporate sponsor of the Gnutella > network is. Nobody, and Everybody. Yet, that network carries > billions of bytes of pirat... I mean, valuable video data, and is > dependended on by many bootleggers.. I mean enterprenuers. ;-) > > People look at Linux and say "how great it is that Linux has RedHat > to make Linux look "legitimate" to the corporate world. They forget > that as RedHat is a corporation, it is under a mandate to make a > profit every year. Well, what happens if the day ever comes that > RedHat starts losing money? Don't you think that people will suddenly > start thinking that Linux has run out of steam? I do. > > There is no single corporation that is ever guarenteed to exist > forever, last forever, and remain profitable forever. History is > littered with large, rich companies that people once upon a time > thought would never ever go out of business - yet they did anyway. > > By contrast, MOVEMENTS in history NEVER run out of steam. There are > still, today, billions of people dumping billions of dollars every year > into the Catholic Church - despite it's sordid history and current > coverups of pedophiles - and that particular religious movement has been > around more than 2000 years. > > We want to keep FreeBSD operating as a movement. As long as 1 person > still believes and maintains it, it won't die. No matter how profitable > or unprofitable it is to run. > > Ted > > Thank you all for the responses. I've tried to track down ways to contribute funds, as my programming skills are just above that of an intoxicated monkey. I found the FreeBSD foundation, which seems like the best place to start. I can't find, however, that any book, T-Shirt, or CD purchase from any vendor (including BSDmall) will send money back to the project. I understand there is value in evangelism from promoting FreeBSD via T-Shrits, stickers etc., as well as showing the profitability of books on BSD related topics to publishers (like No Starch). Have I missed an avenue of getting monetary support to FreeBSD? Thanks again. GS
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