Coverage of the OpenBSD Hackathon

ccparrish writes "'In Calgary until May 20, they belong to an organization known as OpenBSD, a grassroots software movement with historical links to the University of California at Berkeley.'"

Re:Is is legal ?

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

Outside the US, so the "Patriot Act" doesn't apply. Canada is a different country, eh.

I'm sorry.

[Alethes]

This blurb makes almost no sense. You picked the wrong sentence to copy for the story, ccparrish. Please drink more coffee before submitting a story.

Let me help:

A group of OpenBSD whitehat hackers are getting together in Calgary until May 20th with the goal of creating a free, state-of-the-art operating system that is entirely resilient to hacking, viruses and other cyberattacks.

Re:I'm sorry.

[cymen]

That one is better but it still doesn't make much sense. Their goal is to improve, not create, the operating system. Of course I could be wrong. Maybe the OpenBSD people are going to rewrite OpenBSD from scratch in a week or two!

Wahoo!

Re:I'm sorry.

[buysse]

Then the code will be release in three years after being fully audited...

Funny!

[JDizzy]

I like this snipet from the article:

While the OpenBSD hackathon is a big event, it is eclipsed by others.

The A-list hacker event of the year takes place every summer in Las Vegas. Since 1993, some of the brightest and craftiest minds have gathered at a conference called DEFCON to mingle with like-minded people, drink alcohol and learn tips from old-school hackers.

Over the years, however, the "underground" reputation of DEFCON has disappeared. Attendees are increasingly suit-and-tie, computer-security professionals, gawkers, media and government officials.

"It's cheesy now," scoffs de Raadt. "Nothing happens there -- it's just a party."

My conference is better than your conference, yaar! Naannaa--booboo

Re:Funny!

[TheRaven64]

"It's cheesy now," scoffs de Raadt. "Nothing happens there -- it's just a party."

Am I the only one who has problems with this sentence? Nothing happens, it's a party. Umm, in my world a party counts as something happening...

Re:Funny!

[chefbimbo]

If it's a geek party, the one thing you think about probably WON'T happen.

Re:Funny!

[MeauxToo]

The snippet also completely misses the point. The purpose of the OpenBSD hackathon is not to berak into OpenBSD, but to hack out new code and quash bugs.

Fluffy

[rumpledstiltskin]

This article is a bit fluffy for the slashdot crowd. it is good, however, to have articles thrust into public awareness of alternative operating systems. This article probably didn't have any information that the readers from here didn't already know. It must either be a slow newsday in Canada, or the writer had to lobby his editor pretty hard to get permission to submit this story.

Re: slow news day in Canada

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

Which ports are broken? Which arch? We want them all to work, so please let us know.

Wow no publicity like good publicity

[1nsane0ne]

They are also hackers, capable of destroying e-mail accounts and wiping out hard drives with the click of a mouse.

Gee now they can put the whole city of calgary in a panic because the newspaper reporter doesn't understand that these hackers are programmers, not 31337 5kR1pT k1dd135. And plus if they were going to wipe out a hard drive or e-mail account, I doubt there would be a mouse involved. After seeing that bit I'm sure the guys interviewed for the article are real happy. Anyways, just my two pennies.

Re:Huh?

[Rick the Red]

Oh, well, if Steve uses BSD, then it must be good. Ringing endorsement, there!