From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 10 13:08:49 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F349416A4CE for ; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 13:08:48 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp11.wanadoo.fr (smtp11.wanadoo.fr [193.252.22.31]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 80B6C43D1F for ; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 13:08:48 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from atkielski.anthony@wanadoo.fr) Received: from me-wanadoo.net (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by mwinf1109.wanadoo.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id B6C3C1C000AB for ; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:08:47 +0100 (CET) Received: from pix.atkielski.com (ASt-Lambert-111-2-1-3.w81-50.abo.wanadoo.fr [81.50.80.3]) by mwinf1109.wanadoo.fr (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 8F69D1C0008F for ; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:08:47 +0100 (CET) X-ME-UUID: 20050210130847587.8F69D1C0008F@mwinf1109.wanadoo.fr Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:08:47 +0100 From: Anthony Atkielski X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Message-ID: <1636493377.20050210140847@wanadoo.fr> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: References: <108284711.20050210103325@wanadoo.fr> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Please don't change Beastie to another crap logo suchasNetBSD!!! X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 13:08:49 -0000 Ted Mittelstaedt writes: > This depends on your definition of survival. > > As long as FreeBSD runs on some hardware, and people still use it, > it's surviving. No doubt, but to some extent the enthusiasm of the volunteers that work on the OS is a function of how many people they know to be using the software. > The only real issue I see to FreeBSD's survival that requires > corporate attention is device drivers for new hardware. And this is an > issue that harms all operating systems even Windows. There are just as > many older versions of Windows being made unrunnable by new hardware > that lacks drivers for it, as BSD versions. Don't hardware manufacturers publish specs detailed enough to allow third parties to write drivers? > but beyond this, the computer industry itself is in a real growth > slump anyway. The 8080 IBM PCjr architecture is still at the core > of new PC hardware. What growth we are seeing is the increasing > commoditization of hardware. Unfortunately this is stunting the > introduction of newer and possibly better ways to build a computer, > all it does is just make the hardware cheaper and cheaper, and > less and less innovative. (not that I'm complaining about the > cheaper part, of course) I don't expect this to change. Computers are increasingly like washing machines or cars. Don't expect any huge innovations in the near future. Linux is a great case in point. What a pity that when people finally looked at something like UNIX, it turned out to not be UNIX at all, but someone cooked up in a schoolkid's garage. A perfect example of a product sold on hype alone, even though technically superior solutions already existed (but had no hype behind them). -- Anthony