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> And "Theo's a dick" doesn't qualify as a valid reason to not fund real security development. Yeah, but people who give money usually tend to see that as a va

> And "Theo's a dick" doesn't qualify as a valid reason to not fund real security development. Yeah, but people who give money usually tend to see that as a valid reason.

angersock 12y ago
Seems to have worked out for Torvalds and good chunks of the Web ecosystem.
- akerl_ 12y ago
  Most of the "Linus being a dick" examples are him being a dick to developers, and several of those cases are "him being a dick to developers because they did something that affects users". That's the kind of thing that's good for PR more than bad for it, because when Linus rages at a developer for breaking things, a large portion of users think "Linus has my back".
  - gnuvince 12y ago
    And that's not the case with Theo?
    - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
      Oh, c'mon, give it a rest. Linus, while not necessarily mild-mannered, "gets" people. Theo sounds a lot like a socially clueless ubergeek. They are both abrasive superficially, but Linus is aware of the "meta", or strategic, level in human interactions, and knows when to back off; Theo is blind to it. That much is obvious even from a cursory glance.
dfc 12y ago
Theo's "outspokeness" is believed to be the reason that DARPA canceled a million dollar development grant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_de_Raadt#DARPA_funding_cancellation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_de_Raadt#DARPA_funding_ca...
- Already__Taken 12y ago
  That reads less like Theo being a dick and more like the US making a farce of free speech in that instance.
  - XorNot 12y ago
    You have a right to make yourself heard, not be shielded from criticism and other's exercising the right to free association.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - danudey 12y ago
      Of course, but the reasoning here feels flawed. Person A doesn't approve of war, so we're going to cancel a university project grant to punish him? Not a wonderful way of running a grant program (or a government).
davidgerard 12y ago
I think you mean "excuse". Anyone who's ever attempted to sell anything will tell you of customers who say "I would buy it if only you turned it upside-down and painted it blue" but don't cough up when you do. Similarly, every single person reading this uses SSH daily but will go "ah, uh, but Theo's a dick!" as their excuse not to cough up.
- throwaway7767 12y ago
  The reason I don't contribute to OpenSSH is because it is impossible to do so directly. I have no way to know how much, if any, of my contribution goes to OpenSSH when I have to donate to "the OpenBSD foundation". If you feel better convincing yourself that this is not the case, feel free. But it is still a fact, and I do contribute financially to a lot of other projects.

> And "Theo's a dick" doesn't qualify as a valid reason to not fund real security development. Yeah, but people who give money usually tend to see that as a valid reason.

angersock 12y ago

Seems to have worked out for Torvalds and good chunks of the Web ecosystem.

akerl_ 12y ago
Most of the "Linus being a dick" examples are him being a dick to developers, and several of those cases are "him being a dick to developers because they did something that affects users". That's the kind of thing that's good for PR more than bad for it, because when Linus rages at a developer for breaking things, a large portion of users think "Linus has my back".
- gnuvince 12y ago
  And that's not the case with Theo?
  - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
    Oh, c'mon, give it a rest. Linus, while not necessarily mild-mannered, "gets" people. Theo sounds a lot like a socially clueless ubergeek. They are both abrasive superficially, but Linus is aware of the "meta", or strategic, level in human interactions, and knows when to back off; Theo is blind to it. That much is obvious even from a cursory glance.

dfc 12y ago

Theo's "outspokeness" is believed to be the reason that DARPA canceled a million dollar development grant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_de_Raadt#DARPA_funding_cancellation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_de_Raadt#DARPA_funding_ca...

Already__Taken 12y ago
That reads less like Theo being a dick and more like the US making a farce of free speech in that instance.
- XorNot 12y ago
  You have a right to make yourself heard, not be shielded from criticism and other's exercising the right to free association.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - danudey 12y ago
    Of course, but the reasoning here feels flawed. Person A doesn't approve of war, so we're going to cancel a university project grant to punish him? Not a wonderful way of running a grant program (or a government).

davidgerard 12y ago

I think you mean "excuse". Anyone who's ever attempted to sell anything will tell you of customers who say "I would buy it if only you turned it upside-down and painted it blue" but don't cough up when you do. Similarly, every single person reading this uses SSH daily but will go "ah, uh, but Theo's a dick!" as their excuse not to cough up.

throwaway7767 12y ago
The reason I don't contribute to OpenSSH is because it is impossible to do so directly. I have no way to know how much, if any, of my contribution goes to OpenSSH when I have to donate to "the OpenBSD foundation". If you feel better convincing yourself that this is not the case, feel free. But it is still a fact, and I do contribute financially to a lot of other projects.