“Perfection” and “software” are two words that rarely appear on
the same cosmic plane, much less the same sentence.”
“Still, when it comes to OpenBSD, the open-source operating
system that for the last three years has built up a near-perfect
track record for software security, it shouldn’t be too surprising
that project leader Theo de Raadt espouses a similarly reductionist
design philosophy….”
“In a year that has seen software security jump from the
back room to the front page, OpenBSD is getting a lot of
attention. Although open-source advocates have long held up
the community development model as superior to the “security by
obscurity” approach, recent episodes such as the Red Hat (RHAT)
“back door” controversy (see “French law would increase code
accessibility”) have demonstrated that time-to-market pressures can
still produce slip-ups, even in the world of open-source
development.”
“To remedy this situation, a growing number of
security-conscious software vendors and consumers are turning to
projects such as OpenBSD, projects that home in on security with a
craftsman’s zeal, disregarding the market as much as possible.”