Hacker Humor: Red Hat,
OpenBSD to Merge
From: "Buffer the IP Slayer" <info@openbsd.org>
To: announce@openbsd.org
Subject: OpenBSD to merge with RedHat
Sender: owner-announce@openbsd.org
Precedence: bulk
X-Loop: announce@openbsd.org
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 09:56:27 PST
April 1, 19100
Durham, NC -- MSNBC News Services
"OpenBSD to merge with RedHat"
Linux vendor Red Hat Inc. (Nasdaq: RHAT) announced today it
will acquire secure OS maker OpenBSD in a deal involving Red
Hat shares. OpenBSD, widely regarded as the world's most secure
operating system, will be merged with Red Hat Linux, the market
leader in Linux distributions. The new company will be called
Rad Hat Labs.
Said Red Hat CEO Robert Young "The Linux mascot is a
penguin and OpenBSD's is a blowfish. Both of these are marine
animals so it
really was a natural pairing. In the same way that the ocean
covers
over 75% of the surface of the earth, we hope to gain at least
75%
of the operating system marketplace. Also, because of the strength
of the US dollar in comparison to the Canadian dollar we were
able
to pick them up for a song." Said de Raadt of the purchase
"I tried
to get them to pay me in Krugerrands but had to settle for stock".
The exact purchase price has not been disclosed. Red Hat shares
closedFriday at 42-3/8.
According to industry analyst Mudge of L0pht @Stake the corporate
image was a negotiating stumbling block. "I tried to convince
them to call it GrayHat OpenBSD but that didn't fly." Young
told us "That's just not the image we're going for. We're
thinking more along the lines of the OpenBSD blowfish wearing
a backwards red baseball cap to give it a real rebel edge."
There will be a few changes at Red Hat as well. Reportedly, `Rhad
Labs' will be changing its name to `deRaadt Labs' in honor of
OpenBSD's founder. And speaking of the Labs, Alan Cox had the
following to say "I've admired the OpenBSD security model
for some time now and look forward to working with Theo."
The new merged operating system will also be released under
the Rad HatCommunity Source License. Young was quick to point
that the new 15 pagesource license still means business as usual
for developersand users. "Whatever you could do with the
source code before, you canstill do under the new license",
said Young. "It's just that corporatebuyers didn't take
us seriously with the GPL or the BSD licenses. Now that they
have to spend serious cash on lawyers to interpret this thing
for them, they view us as a real software vendor."
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:-)
