DARPA pulls OpenBSD funding (US military shuns BSD)

[FoolishMcNasty]

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The project plans to ship version 3.3 of the OpenBSD system on Friday. An acknowledgment of the role that DARPA played, which was to appear on the back of the box, will instead be covered by a sticker, he said.

 

[MasterSamwise]

hmm

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

They didn't shun BSD, they removed funding for a project. That headline is alarmist.

 

[BatmanNate]

I wonder if they will still use it or if not, what they will use.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Last I heard, and I admit I haven't kept up with this story, is that the funding was "under review." This is what anti-imperial attitudes get you, a clean conscience and no government funding.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
I wonder if they will still use it or if not, what they will use.

What will who use? I'm not sure what all DARPA does except hand out money. OpenBSD is already reported to be in production for other government depts.

 

[Sunner]

There's a crapload to read about this over at OpenBSD's press page.

 

[Nothinman]

Theo's mouth/attitude strike again.

I have nothing against free speach, but if the US gov't is going to give you $2M you'd think it would be common sense to not say anything anti-whateverthey'redoingcurrently if you'd like to actually get the money.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Theo's mouth/attitude strike again.

I have nothing against free speach, but if the US gov't is going to give you $2M you'd think it would be common sense to not say anything anti-whateverthey'redoingcurrently if you'd like to actually get the money.

Though I am anything but pro-Theo, I would have to say that sometimes he is logical and I would agree with him in this case. He's a loudmouth and always will be, if he stopped being one just because of government funding, that'd be pretty lame. Also note that they haven't said why they pulled funding, you can only speculate why exactly they did.

 

[Nothinman]

Though I am anything but pro-Theo, I would have to say that sometimes he is logical and I would agree with him in this case. He's a loudmouth and always will be, if he stopped being one just because of government funding, that'd be pretty lame. Also note that they haven't said why they pulled funding, you can only speculate why exactly they did.

Unless he's exorbitantly rich it wouldn't be too much of a big deal to keep his mouth shut for a little bit, I think I saw that people already started flying in so he (and donations) will most likely be footing the bill now because of that.

 

[Rainsford]

Ya know, maybe Theo should stop going around shooting his big mouth off all the time. It's one thing to have whatever opinion you want, but if someone is giving you a couple million dollars, going out of you way to insult them is just stupid. Whether or not he's right, he has no reason to be shooting his mouth off about the war. He's a damn software developer, and the only reason anyone cares what he says is that he is well known in the IT industry. He uses his "fame" (such as it is) as a bullhorn to shout his opinions at everyone. He's just as bad as the actors who think that because they are famous it makes their opinion worth something. And then, big surprise, he insults the actions taken by the US government and they no longer want to give him money. Shocking!

I'm just sorry his ill-advised actions are going to hurt a good (and of course free) OS.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Though I am anything but pro-Theo, I would have to say that sometimes he is logical and I would agree with him in this case. He's a loudmouth and always will be, if he stopped being one just because of government funding, that'd be pretty lame. Also note that they haven't said why they pulled funding, you can only speculate why exactly they did.

Unless he's exorbitantly rich it wouldn't be too much of a big deal to keep his mouth shut for a little bit, I think I saw that people already started flying in so he (and donations) will most likely be footing the bill now because of that.

So his principles should be worth <$2milllion? Screw that. If he stopped voicing his opinion when it wasn't popular I would consider going to a lesser platform. I don't think I would be able to trust him at that point.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
Ya know, maybe Theo should stop going around shooting his big mouth off all the time. It's one thing to have whatever opinion you want, but if someone is giving you a couple million dollars, going out of you way to insult them is just stupid. Whether or not he's right, he has no reason to be shooting his mouth off about the war. He's a damn software developer, and the only reason anyone cares what he says is that he is well known in the IT industry. He uses his "fame" (such as it is) as a bullhorn to shout his opinions at everyone. He's just as bad as the actors who think that because they are famous it makes their opinion worth something. And then, big surprise, he insults the actions taken by the US government and they no longer want to give him money. Shocking!

I'm just sorry his ill-advised actions are going to hurt a good (and of course free) OS.

Blah blah blah. His convictions should be worth more than money. His opinion is worth just as much as your own, he just speaks louder than you do.

If the government wants to pull money based on, not the technology involved, but the *NON-RADICAL* political beliefs of the creator, then screw them. Let them talk to RMS, he's quiet enough right?

 

[Nothinman]

So his principles should be worth <$2milllion? Screw that. If he stopped voicing his opinion when it wasn't popular I would consider going to a lesser platform. I don't think I would be able to trust him at that point.

It depends where his priorities are. Personally I would find the funding to be more worthwhile than p!ssing off the US gov't.

I don't agree with with DARPA's decision to pull his funding over what he said, but everyone knows how susceptible many gov't divisions are to bad publicity.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

So his principles should be worth <$2milllion? Screw that. If he stopped voicing his opinion when it wasn't popular I would consider going to a lesser platform. I don't think I would be able to trust him at that point.

It depends where his priorities are. Personally I would find the funding to be more worthwhile than p!ssing off the US gov't.

I don't agree with with DARPA's decision to pull his funding over what he said, but everyone knows how susceptible many gov't divisions are to bad publicity.

His priorities aren't to the US government. Especially since he is not a US citizen (and if he was, it would be illegal to do what he does). They lasted 5.5 or so years without the US government's money, they can keep going.

 

[Nothinman]

His priorities aren't to the US government

No, but the $2M they offered to give him for his pet project should be one of his priorities, now not only has he lost that grant but he also has to pay for all the developers flying in out of his own pocket.

 

[Bremen]

Personally I never understood why DARPA funded OpenBSD to begin with. Yes it is a very secure OS used by many government departments, however on must remember our enemies recieve the same benefits as the US government. The defense department is not about parity with the enemy, it wants complete superiority. While doing this stuff in house may not be as efficient as funding OpenBSD it does ensure that enemies don't have access to US tech. So they have to do it themselves, thus leading to an arms race where american know-how will prevail, hopefully.

 

[igiveup]

What will who use? I'm not sure what all DARPA does except hand out money. OpenBSD is already reported to be in production for other government depts.

One of DARPA's most well known projects was a little thing called ARPANET. Originally put together to let defense, scientific and academic universities communicate more effictively via electronic means. With a lot of growth, this technology has become the internet that we are using now to post here.

ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) is the original governmental body that in 1972 was renamed DARPA (had the word Defense thrown in there for some reason) . Naturally they are doing mostly defense related work.

DARPA History

Current DARPA Programs

They basically do anything and everything having to do with research. Water as a rocket fuel? If you want to see the cutting edge of a lot of things, DARPA is the place to look at. The list of projects here is really amazing.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

1. AFAIK they didn't lose all $2M, just whatever's left till this september.

2. Can someone point me to where it was proven that his mouth was the cause for DARPA pulling out?

3. OpenBSD will still make great progress like they did before the DARPA money.

4. What's more important, sticking to principals and not trading your dissent for money, or XYZ feature being added to OpenBSD?

You can't have a free society without belligerent, annoying people like Theo, and I am glad he, and other people like him, are the way the are (of course I'm also glad that _everyone_ is not like that ) - it's just an unfortunate coincidence (well, relative to this topic anyways) that he's also the head of a large project.

 

[Nothinman]

2. Is there any evidence to support another possibility?

3. Noone said otherwise.

4. Depends. It seems apparent what Theo would choose and I admire him for his strong moral values, but I think most people in his situation wouldn't have acted the same way. If a large organization (gov't or not) was going to give you a large sum of money to do what you already do every day, would you insult them before you get to cash the check? I personally don't think it's a big compromise, it's not like they offered him a large sum of money and then said he could only collect if he started working on Linux instead. And before anyone says "but where do you draw the line", you have to take each situation individually, making blanket statements in any direction is stupid IMHO.

 

[igiveup]

And before anyone says "but where do you draw the line", you have to take each situation individually, making blanket statements in any direction is stupid IMHO.

I agree. When you are in charge of a project like Theo was/is you really shouldn't have an opionion (publicly) on matters that involve politics and do not directly affect your project. Personal opions yeah. Publicly voicing those opionions? Dumb. Real dumb.

His first duty should be to the project, not his political goals. It wasn't, now the former will suffer a bit.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
2. Is there any evidence to support another possibility?

I hope you don't aspire to become a lawyer. Internet news sites love to interpret, speculate, and insinuate. I have no reason to believe any reason, because no hint of proof of any reason has been shown to me. I don't like to just assume things when there are lots of possibilities (e.g. govt cuts funding for things all the time, plus we are at war, etc etc)

4. Depends. It seems apparent what Theo would choose and I admire him for his strong moral values, but I think most people in his situation wouldn't have acted the same way.

I agree, and in alot of ways, that's ok. You can still hold your beliefs without spouting your mouth to newspapers, if some government organization was giving me lots of money, I would probably not run around publically bashing them. But on the other hand you can't really complain when people do, because without people like that, society as a whole would never be where it is today. So while you can perhaps say that he could have kept his mouth shut, I don't think you can really complain for him doing it.

 

[Sunner]

Immature/stupid/tactless or whatever you wanna call it, but you gotta respect Theo's integrity nevertheless.

 

[Spyro]

Originally posted by: Sunner
Immature/stupid/tactless or whatever you wanna call it, but you gotta respect Theo's integrity nevertheless.

I suppose so, but it sure wasn't very strategic of him.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Spyro

Originally posted by: Sunner
Immature/stupid/tactless or whatever you wanna call it, but you gotta respect Theo's integrity nevertheless.

I suppose so, but it sure wasn't very strategic of him.

Yes, big lack of strategery