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All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

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Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#12
post #8

How much money is he donating?

How much money is he donating? That's between me and the FreeBSD Foundation. I don't feel that me making a charitable donation should require me to divulge what I consider to be private personal information.

Well, you certainly don't have to divulge anything, but it's not the charity that makes that so.

Also, it occurs to me that if this were a truly charitable act (instead of a partially charitable act along with a plug for your business), then you would have done it and not told anyone, or at least you wouldn't have asked people to buy TarSnap at the end of your article.

So, as long as you are marketing me your product, please do tell me how much money you think this donation amounts to so I can judge your corporate giving appropriately.

Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#13

As much as I like FreeBSD, and as much as I prefer the BSD license to the GPL, everytime I think about it, I reach the same conclusion: the BSD License is flawed. Because of the GPL, Linux has companies like Red Hat committing 25% of the new code base. Companies have to improve the product, and Linux can evolve without direct funding. The BSD license allows Apple and others to shamelessly rip code out of the product…

Because of the GPL, Linux has companies like Red Hat committing 25% of the new code base. Companies have to improve the product, and Linux can evolve without direct funding.

There's two routes for money to take:

1. People donate money to the FreeBSD Foundation, which then funds FreeBSD development.

2. People pay for RHEL, and then RedHat uses that money to fund Linux development.

Is there really any significant difference between these?

Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#14
post #11

Does FreeBSD accept donations in picodollars?

No -- but for tax purposes I need to round numbers to an integer number of cents anyway. For some reason the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency only allows space for two digits after the decimal place on all of their tax forms...

Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#15
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much money is he donating? That's between me and the FreeBSD Foundation. I don't feel that me making a charitable donation should require me to divulge what I consider to be private personal information.

Well, you certainly don't have to divulge anything, but it's not the charity that makes that so. Also, it occurs to me that if this were a truly charitable act (instead of a partially charitable act along with a plug for your business), then you would have done it and not told anyone, or at least you wouldn't have asked people to buy TarSnap at the end of your article. So, as long as you are marketing me your product…

you would have done it and not told anyone, or at least you wouldn't have asked people to buy TarSnap at the end of your article.

The more customers he gains through this, the more he can give back come the end of the month, so why not mention it?

Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much money is he donating? That's between me and the FreeBSD Foundation. I don't feel that me making a charitable donation should require me to divulge what I consider to be private personal information.

Well, you certainly don't have to divulge anything, but it's not the charity that makes that so. Also, it occurs to me that if this were a truly charitable act (instead of a partially charitable act along with a plug for your business), then you would have done it and not told anyone, or at least you wouldn't have asked people to buy TarSnap at the end of your article. So, as long as you are marketing me your product…

I'm honestly taken aback by the poor taste of this comment.

There's no such thing as a "partially charitable act", FreeBSD can use the help - Colin shouldn't feel compelled to disclose his company's financials because someone on the internet feels that he somehow deserves that information.

I guess if you needed some sort of baseline by which to base your donation (assuming you actually intend to make one instead of just being snarky on the internet), I'd suggest starting with donating significant portions of your time to the FreeBSD project as Colin has done.

Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#18
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you certainly don't have to divulge anything, but it's not the charity that makes that so. Also, it occurs to me that if this were a truly charitable act (instead of a partially charitable act along with a plug for your business), then you would have done it and not told anyone, or at least you wouldn't have asked people to buy TarSnap at the end of your article. So, as long as you are marketing me your product…

I'm honestly taken aback by the poor taste of this comment. There's no such thing as a "partially charitable act", FreeBSD can use the help - Colin shouldn't feel compelled to disclose his company's financials because someone on the internet feels that he somehow deserves that information. I guess if you needed some sort of baseline by which to base your donation (assuming you actually intend to make one instead of j…

There's a certain worldview that assumes personal profit is the ultimate evil and self-sacrifice is the ultimate good. Thus, Colin's good act is canceled out by the fact that he could benefit from it.

Frankly, this seems dumb to me. Self-sacrifice is not good if others are also made to suffer, profit is not evil if others also benefit.

Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you certainly don't have to divulge anything, but it's not the charity that makes that so. Also, it occurs to me that if this were a truly charitable act (instead of a partially charitable act along with a plug for your business), then you would have done it and not told anyone, or at least you wouldn't have asked people to buy TarSnap at the end of your article. So, as long as you are marketing me your product…

I'm honestly taken aback by the poor taste of this comment. There's no such thing as a "partially charitable act", FreeBSD can use the help - Colin shouldn't feel compelled to disclose his company's financials because someone on the internet feels that he somehow deserves that information. I guess if you needed some sort of baseline by which to base your donation (assuming you actually intend to make one instead of j…

... organizing charity drives as Colin has done for years ...

Say again?

Re: All Tarsnap profits for Dec '09 will be donated to the FreeBSD Foundation

#20
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly taken aback by the poor taste of this comment. There's no such thing as a "partially charitable act", FreeBSD can use the help - Colin shouldn't feel compelled to disclose his company's financials because someone on the internet feels that he somehow deserves that information. I guess if you needed some sort of baseline by which to base your donation (assuming you actually intend to make one instead of j…

... organizing charity drives as Colin has done for years ... Say again?

Sorry, my original verbiage wasn't quite right - I was looking to see what year you started contributing to FreeBSD and came across some fundraising information but it doesn't look like it's really pertinent to the point - I've removed the sentence.

Thank you for making the donation though; it really is a great gesture.

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