OpenBSD Lands $2 Million In DARPA Money

An anonymous reader writes "Canada's National Post is reporting today that DARPA is (indirectly) funding $2-million (US) to Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD. The article is available here." Update: 04/07 21:01 GMT by T : As several readers have pointed out, this blurb should credit instead The Globe and Mail rather than the National Post.

Comments

BSD is dying...

[rudib]

...well, wealthy... I guess...

Re:BSD is dying...

[Guppy06]

If government spending on something isn't an indication that that something is dying, I don't know what is.

Don't look a gift grant in the mouth

[dtolton]

I don't understand why getting money from DARPA makes them uncomfortable. He mentions it comes with no strings attached.

Shouldn't we be happy about grants like this that will promote and advance Open Source software in general?

Re:Don't look a gift grant in the mouth

[47PHA60]

Mr. DeRaadt thinks software should be secure, and that people should be free. He is now being funded in part by DARPA, which is also designing the Total Information Awareness project. Its main platform will probably be OpenBSD. A lot of free software is used for purposes that the original authors might not like.

So why not question the source of a gift? That shows intelligence, thoughtfulness, and awareness of the effects of one's actions on the wider world.

I agree that we should be happy for the promotion and improvement of free software, but it is smart of anyone, no matter his or her politics, to keep an eye on the big picture to make sure that one does not explicitly take money to promote an agenda that is abhorrent to his or her morals.

Re:Don't look a gift grant in the mouth

[leery]

Sometimes it twists the other way, too, like the internet becoming a public conduit for slashdotters all over the world to trash the agency that funded it's development (DARPA). The interstate highway system was also DoD funded.

And sometimes the military takes advantage of privately developed technology and adapts it to improve weapons systems and training (e.g. PC's, laptops, war sims).

Look, as long as military money is going somewhere, isn't it a thousand million times better that it goes to an open source free software project than to a more lethal bullet or some TIA code that no one can ever see?

(Can any lawyers here tell us whether military use of OpenBSD would be bound by GPL? Is our next tank's source code going to be available for download?)

Also, I'm pretty sure the military didn't conceive or order this "oil grab". They're just stuck doing the dirty work. I'm not saying that makes them the good guys or the bad guys, but they're not THOSE bad guys.

Re:Why open source works

[Lxy]

Why is this news?

$2 million is news. That's a lot of money to be out into open source.

Send a pic of the check to Sun

[uiil]

and maybe theo will finally get the sparc docs he needs.

Lack of vulnerabilities

[deepchasm]

From the article:

OpenBSD, which does not develop as many products as Microsoft, says only one vulnerability or hole has been found in its software in the past seven years.

Erm, shouldn't that be "only one remote hole in the default install"?

Re:$2 million? For a Dead OS?

[4of12]

1. Posses huge, pain-in-the-ass ego.

Alas, this happens.

Highly talented and intelligent people get exasperated with us mortals and let us know in no uncertain terms that we are stupid. I knew someone in school like this once. He would put pointed questions out that would show people's stupidity in broad daylight. But he was so intelligent, and I had enough intelligence still left, to know when he was right.

True intelligence is being able to recognize someone more intelligent than you are and to be able to support their work even if they have a grating personality.

Don't ever make the mistake of putting them in a role of managing people, though.

Motive?

[pmz]

When asked about his brand-new 24K gold biking helmet, Theo pointed behind the reporters and exclaimed "What's that!". With the reporters distracted, he promptly ran the other direction and hid behind some bushes. The reporters, being only average journalists, published that OpenBSD's leader can turn himself invisible at will and cited that OpenBSD appears to be some sort of Canadian rap group.

Crypto is good. Crypto is evil.

[Anonymous Coward]

from the openbsd website:

"Today cryptography is an important means for enhancing the security of an operating system...

'...When we create OpenBSD releases or snapshots we build our release binaries in free countries to assure that the sources and binaries we provide to users are free of tainting. In the past our release binary builds have been done in Canada, Sweden, and Germany...'

Gov spends millions to control crypto exports.

Gov spends millions to support OpenBSD which
bypasses US crypto export laws?!

..in other news...

[SubtleNuance]

Mr. de Raadt is no fan of the U.S. military at the moment. He calls the war in Iraq an oil grab. "It just sickens me."

IN other news, Theo de Raadt is held by the Department of Homeland Security in Seattle while attending an OpenBSD conference. Mr De Raadt, in the country to give a speech at the conference is whisked away by unknown persons in a black van. Other conference goers are later told by organizers that a quote by Mr. de Raadt is being held under the US PATRIOT Act for "'aiding and giving comfort to Evil Ones."

The Canadian high counsel in Washington lodges a formal condemnation of the act -- demanding that the Canadian Citizen be released. Washington replies "It is quite obvious that Canadians and The Canadian Regime has been overrun by The Evil Ones. Like Syria and Iran, Canada must learn that their Either With Us or Against Us." In Ottawa, American ambassador Cellucci says "yeah, what he said, Canadians baaaaad"

Republican Senator U.S. Nitwitt says "Why should righteous Americans be giving their defense funds to this communist^H^H^H^H^H^Hterrorist? Its obvious he's a terrorist - at least. This is a threat to our security. The Department of Homeland Security may or may not be justified in siezing him if they did or didnt... uhm, filthy Un American... i hear he rides the bus!"

Has anyone else heard about this DARPANET?

[Mothra the III]

Its supposed to hook scientists and researchers together over a "network" where computers can exchange information. It would be neat if this technology would some day be available to everyone!

it depends on whether it makes a difference

[Trepidity]

If he were taking money to implement DARPA-requested features, I could see the issue. However, if all he's doing is taking no-strings-attached money to do work he'd be doing anyway, I don't see the moral conundrum. If there are any negative effects of his work (OpenBSD being used by TIA, for example), they'd exist even if he wasn't funded by DARPA; the only solution would be to stop developing OpenBSD entirely, not to keep doing it without DARPA funding. So insofar as DARPA funding doesn't change anything, I'd say take it. Plus, at least it ensures that this portion of DARPA's budget goes to something worthwhile and unobjectionable, rather than letting them keep it to spend on something else.