corporate backers of freebsd

[FreeBSD WickerBill]

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On Jan 2, 2008 10:50 AM, Gary Smithe <deb.guy at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Jan 2, 2008 4:56 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm at toybox.placo.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> > > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Gary Smithe
> > > Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 10:11 AM
> > > To: freebsd-questions at 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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