OpenBSD Seeks Cash to Save Open Source Server OS

How much are free, open source operating systems worth? The outcome of the financial crisis currently besetting OpenBSD, an open source OS that is particularly important in servers and embedded devices, could provide a clue, as the OpenBSD Foundation seeks $20,000 to pay overdue electricity bills.

OpenBSD, a Unix-like operating system spun off in the mid-1990s from the Berkeley Software Distribution system, which powered workstations durings the 1980s, is certainly not as popular as its much better-known cousin, Linux.  It's probably not even as widely used as FreeBSD, another Unix-based system that, by most indicators, has the largest community of followers within the BSD family.

But OpenBSD is a name with which plenty of seasoned open source developers are familiar, at least. It's a powerful operating system for enterprise servers and embedded devices, making it valuable for third parties who package it with other products—as well as geeks who are too cool for Linux.

OpenBSD fans may soon have to find a new platform, however. The OpenBSD Foundation, which supports development of the operating system and runs the servers that host it, is in trouble, according to an email from a developer. The problem, as he put it quite literally, is that "OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on." The Foundation is seeking a donation to cover the shortfall and allow it continue operations.

As of the time of writing, discussion among OpenBSD community members about the issue appears to have devolved into a debate over whether software emulators could help save on electricity costs. Opinions are strong and varied, but none of this discussion seems likely to solve the crisis at hand.

Let's hope nonetheless that the Foundation will find a solution, and that OpenBSD will not join Windows XP in becoming another operating system that goes extinct in 2014 (not that the latter's demise is an unwelcome thing). Critics might contend that OpenBSD replicates the functionality of other major open source operating system projects, and that putting its resources behind, say, FreeBSD would be more efficient. But one of the long-standing strengths of the open source ecosystem as a whole is its diversity, even if that implies degrees of redundancy. Diversity assures choice and flexibility, which are precisely the qualities that make open source software more attractive than proprietary code for individual users and enterprises alike.

Here's hoping someone with $20,000 to spare will agree.