OpenBSD Journal

TECHSPLOITATION: The Mysteries of Theo

Contributed by Dengue on from the mad-genius dept.

BSDForums.org writes : "There are certain people about whom one loves to speculate and dream without actually meeting them. Of this set, the person most on my mind lately is the infamously acerbic and reportedly mad hacker Theo de Raadt. Theo is the evil computer genius your script kiddie friends warned you about. Working from home in Calgary, Canada, Theo has built one of the most obsessively secure operating systems known to humanity: OpenBSD. "

This is the lead paragraph of an at times hypberbolic article from Analee Newitz of AlterNet.org. Hmmm, I thought we had confirmed that Theo was mad.

(Comments are closed)


Comments
  1. By Anonymous Coward () on

    I think Theo is really Tyler Durden.

    Comments
    1. By SFNative () on

      Theo is Alex Trusk.

  2. By Anonymous Coward () on

    > Hmmm, I thought we had confirmed that Theo was mad.

    good lord -- this can't help but hurt.

  3. By Anonymous Coward () on

    Is it just me or did this "article" make anyone else cringe the whole time they were reading it?

    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      Agreed. It was like shades of Salon.com, but worse. Trendy lefty 'intellectuals' writing tech stories. Gag.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        At least better then trendy righty 'intellectual' propaganda from CNN.

    2. By Anonymous Coward () on

      it's you

    3. By krh () on

      Not just you. Oh man, was that awful.

  4. By Adjaxpy () on

    What was the mystery? I didn't see it. Where is theo's mystery? Finally he is a celebrity.

  5. By submicron () submicron@NOSPAMNESS.inherently-evil.net on http://www.inherently-evil.net

    Aside from being an entertaining read, this wasn't exactly the most helpful op piece of OpenBSD. I guess the downside to everyone having a printing press is that they use them. . .

    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      It wasn't about OpenBSD, specifically. It was an op-ed piece on the types of personalities that governments hate to work with, but may have to if they are serious about computer security.

      The article wasn't meant to be an in-depth discussion of OpenBSD and it's project goals. There was enough in there for interested parties to do their own homework.

      AlterNet articles are not written for children or managers.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        It also apparently isn't written by actual journalists. You know, those people who can write to a coherent topic and stay on it. Stream-of-consciousness writing is tedious to read.

        Comments
        1. By Anonymous Coward () on

          As are most comments to online article snippets.

          This article is not much different from me wearing a "Chix Dig OpenBSD" t-shirt to the store to buy milk.

          The fact is that Theo is a very charismatic (I'm trying to stay neutral here; I've seen some of his email replies) leader of a very particular software project. Both he and the project get noticed for a variety of things, particularly by laypeople.

          I mean, there is evidence that the US Government didn't like his personality. This is not exactly the best way to choose someone to help you with a set of software problems.

  6. By Anonymous Coward () on

    When push comes to shove and terrorists learn to do more than use Hotmail, is the U.S. government going to get caught with its pants down because security experts like Theo say mean things about President George W. Bush? Even the uptight British secret service worked with openly queer Alan Turing during World War II because Turing knew how to build machines that broke codes. When is the DOD going to wise up and start putting its money into projects that work, like OpenBSD, instead of things that are ridiculous but right-wing friendly, like John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness proposal?


    Ok I have to disagree here on technical accuracy. First off, Allan Turing was not openly gay. He was quite about his orientation, and nobody was certain of his sexuality until after the ww2. Secondly, Alan Turing didn't build computers, its a myth. A british postal inspector designed the computer that Alan Turing used to breack codes. Alan Turing was more into pure math, and algorythm design. So to be fair, Turring was a reserved man, where theo is a napalm throwing flame-warrior.

    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      Ok I have to disagree here on technical accuracy. First off, Allan Turing was not openly gay. He was quite about his orientation, and nobody was certain of his sexuality until after the ww2. Secondly, Alan Turing didn't build computers, its a myth. A british postal inspector designed the computer that Alan Turing used to breack codes. Alan Turing was more into pure math, and algorythm design. So to be fair, Turring was a reserved man, where theo is a napalm throwing flame-warrior.


      So are you saying that Theo is gay?

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        So are you saying that Theo is gay?

        -1, Flamebait

    2. By Anonymous Coward () on

      Alan Turing built computers, or, at least tried to build computers. He was actually very interested in building things and not just doing theory.
      Read 'Alan Turing - the Enigma' by Andrew Hodges, an amazing biography.

      Comments
      1. By Yuri () on

        Does it openly say that it was Prof Rayewsky who broke the Enigma? After our German friends finally reclaimed their historic lands from the Barbarians to the Ost, he fled to UK with the first code-breaking algorythm. Alas, you may be queer, but if you are not an Anglo you don't qualify. The same with a few fellas Edison stole work from. Where does the Flemish Boer de Raadt stand there, I wonder? He better be both gay and protestant, it's like bing 2/3 qualified nowadays.

  7. Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      Wow, that was a lot of speculations from a person who claims not even to have met the person he's speculating about. It would be real interesting to hear Theo’s comment on this piece.

      People don't need role models; they need ideologies to king to.

  8. By Wo0t () r0xor@bumble*squeek.com on mailto:r0xor@bumble*squeek.com

    I don't know who Annalee Newitz really is, but the way she claims to be a "surly media nerd," and by way of the decidedly leftist word choice, she seems to be using Theo/OBSD as a wedge in her own political statement.

    Theo has his beliefs. OBSD has its strengths. I could not care less about Theo's beliefs, because while his beliefs are motivation for him to work on OBSD, he's managed to keep the distro politically neutral.

    The entire article smacks of poor journalism. How many openly gay people would prefer to be called "openly queer." I thought "queer" was a pejorative. The entire basis for the article is in the last paragraph:

    "Propaganda won't protect us when we're under attack. If our national leaders really want us to be secure, they're going to have to learn to work with Theo. "

    My answer: Now isn't that quaint. A TechnoGranolaGirl who thinks that the Gub'ment will bow down to Theo in order to use his OS. Whatever. They'll use what they want, because it's free, remember?! Take my OS out of your political statements.

    Cracka ass


    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      I could not care less about Theo's beliefs, because while his beliefs are motivation for him to work on OBSD, he's managed to keep the distro politically neutral.

      OpenBSD's early offering of strong encryption, and making sure it was available to people outside USA is a political statement.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        melon twisting propaganda vortex

        mmm i think you might find that restricting encryption to within the united states is a political statement whereas making it available to all is not

      2. By Cracka ass () fo0@j0o4reafoo.com on mailto:fo0@j0o4reafoo.com

        Only peripherally. I'm sure there are a lot of things about the US that Theo doesn't like, and therefore lives in Canada. Teh Intarweb.net (tm) made the crypto export laws rather moot, did they not? Simply write software outside the US boarders and freely give it to the whole world, even back to the US citizens. Now. Isn't that exactly what happened? It wasn't a political statement. It was one of those things that was guaranteed to happen. If it hadn't been Theo, it would have been someone else with the same "Well, there's an *easy* solution to this..." kind of attitude.

        Hey, I'm *thankful* Theo works on open source crypto outside of the US. If I happened to see him at some crypto con and said "Thanks for OpenBSD," and he was like "You're not even deep enough to understand the angst I have against the US, you fo0lxor," I'd still use his OS.

        Hey. You remember Calvin and Hobbes? You 'member when Calvin and Hobbes are doin' the dance with the sunglasses and stuff. I'm doin' that on your keyboard, man.

    2. By Anonymous Coward () on

      "the decidedly leftist word choice" Uh, cheif, you do realize what site it;s on, right?

    3. By krh () on

      I have heard that some gays have been using "queer" since the fifties. I think it's gaining in popularity again among outspoken and activist gays, however, not being gay, I don't follow these things.

    4. By Anonymous Coward () on

      > The entire article smacks of poor journalism.

      It was an *editorial* you bonehead! Generally editorials are where people spout off their opinions.

      What you must be thinking of is Fox News where opinion obliterates day-today journalism.

    5. By Anonymous Coward () on

      "leftist"

      Don't generalize.

    6. By straycheck () on

      'queer' is not pejorative. It is often used as a canopy term for all sexual minorities: gay, lesbian, bi, transexual, and others. And yes, I don't mind being called queer. More importantly, with regard to that article, Turing was not openly gay, and, in fact, was convicted of sodomy (or some such crime) by the government he helped to save, once they found out.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        It's quite interesting to see how a mathematical theory, which at that time must have appeared as very abstract, has gained such a recognition today. We can just speculate what would happened if he could use today patent laws and having a litigations nature.

    7. By Anonymous Coward () on

      "Queer" is a term co-opted by the gay community to describe themselves. Like "nigger", it is a term that is perjorative in certain contexts, usually by "outsiders".

  9. By Anonymous Coward () on

    Personally, I thought the article was funny. I think some of the previous posters need to lighten up a bit -- not everything needs to be politically correct. Especially when it's glaringly obvious that it isn't intended to be...

    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      (It's a COLUMN. Obvious some people don't know what that means)

      Yeah i agee. I enjoyed it as well.

      Also the mention from Theo about the war i have respected, nice it get's a mention. No ass licking, but honesty.

      Anyways, someone mentioned critic about 'media nerd'. 'Media nerd' doesn't say much about his/her interests. Media is more then just computers. Have you ever worked on a radio station, a tv station, a paper? Small, big? Commercial, non-profit, free radio? Lot's of differences can be there, and OpenBSD can be used in these environments for various targets, ofcourse. I don't see the problem with that choice of words, unless you're arrogant and look down on her, her column, het choice of words...

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        (It's a COLUMN. Obvious some people don't know what that means)

        Yup, some people think that Fox News gives news, and never read any news paper except for the sports pages.

  10. By Anonymous Coward () on

    if the us government wants to secure their networks, they can start with 'man afterboot' just like i did. pfft.

    Comments
    1. By Sacha () on

      Yet I doubt "man afterboot" would work on NT/2000/2003.

  11. By Mike Ray () mray@sfsu.edu on mailto:mray@sfsu.edu


    Her columns suck ass. I wish she would shut up. This is just another in a long long of pseudo-tech columns that I have read that really say nothing.

    She has a Ph.d in English, and no real tech credentials that I can see. Has she ever even
    done phone support?

    http://www.techsploitation.com/resume/

    I cringe every time I am bored enough to read her
    Techsploitation column in the SFBG.

    She mentions that OBSD guards he home network, but I am curious if she is the one who set it up?
    From her columns I get the impression she is a super-groupie who soft peddles tech-coolness to the even-less-adept masses.





    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      She has a Ph.d in English, ...

      Oh my God! A person that is able to make coherent sentences, and a woman on top of that. Never give her CVS write access to HOWTOS and MAN pages!

      ... and no real tech credentials that I can see. Has she ever even done phone support?

      Sitting behind a help desk reading out a FAQ demands real tech credentials.

    2. By Anonymous Coward () on

      Point is, you only post about her her about what you have found about her. I don't read one constructive sentence about why *the article* sucks, only why *she* sucks.

      That beeing said, i don't see it as a tech article either. Duh! It's a c-o-l-u-m-n. Therefore mandatory.

      Besides that, what you state about tech credentials is untrue. It's not mandatory, just depends on various aspects.

  12. By vx () on

    From what i read on mail lists his site and other media i think Theo is cool. He has balls to say and do what he thinks is right. Even if that costs big $$$. Most important is that you don't sell your soul. He and other people in team are doing a good job.

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