Theo de Raadt says Pegasos Bad

[gary_c]

If I were Genesi, I'd consider this a very important problem to deal with. I wouldn't know how to resolve the issue of the Marvell NDA, but at least Genesi should let it be known that they're a serious hardware vendor and should correct the misleading picture that some important developers may have now. Genesi should work on improving the information flow to and from developers, it should make damn sure email isn't bouncing from any of its offices, and where changes need to be made, they should be.

If there are issues with Peg II hardware or firmware that preclude OpenBSD support, Genesi should proactively outline them, to avoid situations like this. It seems otherwise it will be impossible to win the confidense of outside coders.

Well, it's easy to make suggestions like this in hindsight, but there've been communication and organizational problems with Genesi on various levels since the beginning, so something like this breakdown isn't exactly a huge surprise. The important thing is to make constructive use of it: fix what's broken internally, correct outside impressions that are inaccurate, etc. Just my two cents' worth.

-- gary_c

[gary_c]

Dale Rahn has posted his side of the story at ann.lu (http://ann.lu/detail.cgi?category=news&file=1080281455.msg). Anyway, I assume it's really him; certainly seems authentic. I've spoken up for Genesi in the past because I think their intentions are good, and they have in fact gotten products out, but this kind of situation is really hard to take. First, the apparent obstinance or indifference of bplan and others that don't let outside developers have the information they need. And also the gall to not only not pay a guy but not be forthcoming about things, and even to try to charge for boards that were supposed to be -- I thought -- provided without charge for the porting work.

I think things have to be straightened out if Genesi intends to continue to do business. (And before "the other side" jumps in to further take advantage, let me just say that I still think Genesi management is well-intentioned but just screws up badly on the details, or those working under them do. And anybody supporting a platform that was secretly sold 11 months ago really has no basis for throwing stones about management integrity anyway IMHO, so I'd suggest not getting into things on that level.)

But there's definitely a lot of work to do to build trust on all sides, so let's see what happens. Just my two cents' worth, written impulsively after reading Dale Rahn's post.

-- gary_c