I know OpenBSD sells books and install media, but could they possibly sell other "swag" to help bring in stable money? I'm sure they could partner with one of the dozens of nerd shops (This is why i'm broke, thinkgeek, etc.) and sell $7 shirts with an OpenBSD logo on it for $12 + shipping. The partner shop takes $1 for overhead, OpenBSD takes $4.
In fact, I wonder if this could be a feasible startup? Selling FOSS swag with the principal of ~90% of all proceeds given directly to the defined organization... I'm sure it's been tried, but how unsuccessful have they been?
This was raised on the OpenBSD Misc mailing list. The response from OpenBSD team members was along the lines of: this stuff takes time/effort away from the development work.
Recall that the original funding request was asking for a Canadian company to basically pay the electricity bill, i.e. one or a small number of large sponsors.
Now: I'd like a laptop that will work with the *BSDs no fiddling. No blob wifi, no need for acpi daemons to control fans &c
OpenBSD sells this stuff in online stores. But the marketing sucks. You have to find the sorta buried link named 'CDs/Tshirts/Posters' on the main page - no "shop" or "buy" or "order" nearby. Clicking that link gets you a page you have to read to figure out that you still need to pick a store. Then the US store only had the latest three versions on CD. I've got to find another store that'll ship to the US if I want a t-shirt.
OpenBSD swag exists, but you've got to be a determined purchaser to buy it.
Yeah, I was able to find that, too. There wasn't an easy way to purchase things on most of those sites. It seemed like half didn't incorporate an online shopping cart/ecommerce solution at all, and would rather you contact them via email or phone to make a purchase. This seems really backwards.
And while OpenBSD may list them as a preferred vendor (or whatever nomenclature they used) how can I be assured the bulk of the proceeds from that sale will go to OpenBSD? I didn't find much (if any) indication that any amount of money was given back...
In fact, I wonder if this could be a feasible startup? Selling FOSS swag with the principal of ~90% of all proceeds given directly to the defined organization... I'm sure it's been tried, but how unsuccessful have they been?