Theo de Raadt wrote:

quoted text
>> On 6/13/07, Edd Barrett  wrote:

>>

>>> Hi guys,

>>>

>>> I have been reading a thread on opensolaris.org regarding the

>>> open-sourcing of 4front's OSS. After explaining why CDDL licensing is

>>> unsuitable for OpenBSD, some of the developers have expressed an

>>> interest to contact Theo regarding licensing and OpenBSD.

>>>

>>> I do not know much about licensing, nor do I feel that I should email

>>> Theo personally as he may not appreciate it. Just thought I would

>>> point out the thread here.

>>>

>>> http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/thread.jspa?threadID=32401&tstart=0

>>> Is OpenBSD even interested in multi threaded OSS? I wouldn't mind it.

>>>

>> "...After much deliberation - we're going with CDDL for BSD. I don't

>> know why OpenBSD can't work with CDDL since FreeBSD and NetBSD can."

>> - http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/thread.jspa?threadID=32401&tstart=0

>>

>> It appears that the question might be whether anyone over in their

>> camp is concerned with releasing code under a license even permissive

>> enough to be included. They don't seem to care that OpenBSD as a

>> project seems to have more stringent goals and policies than others.

>>

>

> Noone cares about being Open and Free anymore.

>

> They just care about being called Open and Free, and how convenient --

> a bunch of laywers generated an organization that will label then Open

> and Free when they are not in fact so.

>

>   

You know, phrases like 'free as in beer / free as in speech' have

oversimplified and diluted open and free principles to the point that it

is now equivalent to 'cheap and easy'. Complaining that OpenBSD has

'more stringent goals and policies than others' stems from this

laziness. Free and open goals and principles have taken a back seat to

easy solutions for cheapskates and greedy corporations. A sincere belief

that something is open and free is held higher than having a factually

verifiable open and free license. Sincerity should never overshadow fact

in the realm of software. Sincerity is an emotional response where a

factual response is most appropriate. Principles have taken a back seat

to cheap and easy thinking.
I propose a new phrase to describe 'Open and Free' projects that don't

approve of OpenBSD's policies because they are 'more stringent ... than

others':
'They aren't free as in speech. They aren't even free as in beer. They

are cheap and easy as in prostitutes.'
Society is failing to produce quality because it is acceptable, and in

many cases preferable, to be sincere rather than factual. All these

projects which don't understand OpenBSD's uncompromising policies are

suffering from sincerity syndrome. They think that they can just feel

like their projects are free and open and then say that they are. We

live in a society of bullshitters, and the bullshitters have infiltrated

open and free software. We have an uphill battle to fight because

bullshitting has become generally accepted behaviour. Most people are

bullshitters. We need to stop tolerating it in ourselves and in others.
Breeno