Re: OpenBSD project support idea

["Daniel R. Anderson" <dan@mathjunkies.com>]

> 	The real question is if the additional funds collected would
> amount to a net gain when you figure in the overhead of administering a
> subscription system.  My guess is that given the volumes involved, it
> would be questionable.  There are very few companies who make any money
> working this way.
> 

	Perl scripts don't necessarily have to have a large cost overhead. :-) 
I think that John, the original poster, makes a good point; if I get my
company to regularly purchase OpenBSD CDs, they pay exactly what
everyone else who buys a CD pays.  Except, the cost of the CD is
distributed over the number of servers that OpenBSD is installed on.  So
if I pay $40 for a CD for 5 servers, I am paying $8 a server, versus a
whopping 8 cents a server for companies that install their $40 CD on 500
servers.

	Now even $40 a server would be miniscule to the money saved by many
companies through uptime and security.  So, if there were a way to get
the people who are payign 8 cents a server to pay a couple bucks
instead, the cost could certainly be justified to the companies, and
OpenBSD could get a commission on a per server and not per company
basis.

	And, after all, very few companies will just donate money to a
project.  You don't get by in the business world by haggling with
somebody to raise his or her price.

Dan Anderson