Different aspects of OpenBSD distribution, how to achieve more popularity, USB install images etc.

There are some different aspects of OpenBSD distribution, how to achieve 
more popularity etc.
1. OpenBSD distribution
- continous availability of CD-sets in all european countries
It is currently not as good as it should/could be to achieve more 
success of OpenBSD

- iso images of the CD-set (or comparable ones) are not available for 
downloads.
For this reaons a lot of people use debian, ubuntu etc linuxes and other 
*BSD OSes

2. Prices for the CD-sets
- prices for the CD-set (some more detailed view)
The average monthly salaries in Europe differ a lot:
Lowest one for Moldava                   - $263
Middle one for old East Europe countries - $432 (Ukraine) - $ 1'048 
(Slovakia)
Middle one for old West Europe countries - $1'090 (Portugal) - $4'230 
(Luxembourg)
Highest one  for Switzerland             - $5'600,-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_in_Europe_by_monthly_average_wage

The VAT varies from 8% in Switzerland to 27% in Hungary.

It is not a big deal for most of old West Europe working OpenBSD users 
to pay $50 for CD-set.
Students will not pay more then $30.

$50 or even $30 are definitively too much for most potential OpenBSD 
users from old East Europe countries.

Precondition: CD-sets are easy to buy locally and quickly available.

3. New strategies
Myself I would rather tend to offer:
- a more simple media kit for new release of OpenBSD for let say $10 or $20
   (with the possibility to pay more for it like $50 or $30)
   People are less interested in the Art and CDs for all 
CPU-architectures as they run not all of them
   so there is a possibility to cut production costs.
   As IT users in Europe worry a lot about the security they will prefer 
to buy original CD-sets locally.
- download of original iso images (or at least comparable ones as in the 
distribution CD-set)
   The current download possibilities are not enough
   (in particular when you want to install offline within secure 
environment without internet connectivity)
- ask users to donate instead.
   It is obvoious for every serious OpenBSD user, that it is necessary 
to support the development.

More active users means additional gain for development and testing of 
OpenBSD.

4. New requirements for USB install images
- as some new notebook or server hardware even doesn't have anymore a 
CD/DVD drive
   it is crucial to support installation from USB sticks (like amount 
others debian or ubuntu 12.04 LTS)

5. OpenBSD live images
- the idea is to boot from an iso (or hybrid-iso) live image (CD/DVD 
media or USB stick)
   and run OpenBSD in so called live mode using RAM for updating 
packages and temporary saving data,
   the local (encrypted) mass storage device can be used for permanent 
saving of data.
- example of live images I have created for debian (to give you more 
ideas what I speak about)
http://rsync.it-infrastrukturen.org/developer-live/README.txt
http://rsync.it-infrastrukturen.org/developer-live/server-live-developer-openJDK7.iso
http://rsync.it-infrastrukturen.org/banque-live/README.txt
http://rsync.it-infrastrukturen.org/banque-live/banque-live-lxde.iso

- example of profiles for live images
http://git.it-infrastrukturen.org/

- some demonstration
http://rsync.it-infrastrukturen.org/ofbiz-live/OFBiz_debian_live_BigFish_boot_1280x1024.mp4
http://rsync.it-infrastrukturen.org/ofbiz-live/OFBiz_debian_live_BigFish_demo_1280x1024.mp4

Thank you in advance for your feedback.


Kind regards, Mark

-- 
[email protected]

http://rsync.it-infrastrukturen.org