From owner-freebsd-hackers Fri Mar 10 4:27:33 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from axl.ops.uunet.co.za (axl.ops.uunet.co.za [196.31.1.175]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 301B537BA30 for ; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 04:27:26 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from sheldonh@axl.ops.uunet.co.za) Received: from sheldonh (helo=axl.ops.uunet.co.za) by axl.ops.uunet.co.za with local-esmtp (Exim 3.13 #1) id 12TOVa-0001Ks-00; Fri, 10 Mar 2000 14:27:10 +0200 From: Sheldon Hearn To: Johnathan Meehan Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Is FreeBSD dead? Well, not in theory... In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 10 Mar 2000 13:00:20 +0100." <005501bf8a88$35905520$030000ac@scully> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 14:27:10 +0200 Message-ID: <5137.952691230@axl.ops.uunet.co.za> Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Fri, 10 Mar 2000 13:00:20 +0100, Johnathan Meehan wrote: > That is not fair, Sheldon. Didier has some concerns, and I cannot > blame him. I guess what I wrote makes for a very harsh comment in isolation from the grin I had on my face while I was typing. :-) > I find it difficult to believe that a group of people who have worked so > hard for so long to produce a superior product will walk away from it, or > see it corrupted. What are their alternatives? Think about how the world is waking up to Open Source. Think about how companies are realizing that a small group of paid engineers simply can't keep up with a world-wide organization of contributors. What would you do if you didn't feel you could keep up? If BSD Inc. were to "buy out" FreeBSD with the sole purpose of reducing competition, they'd be a bunch of idiots. The volunteers that make FreeBSD great now would move on to something else and _that_ would soon become the new threat. However, if BSD Inc. were to use FreeBSD as the base platform and sell extra toys and service along with it, they'd benefit directly from the volunteer energy of the project. I think that there is only cause for concern if the folks at BSD Inc. are a bunch of idiots. Thus, I'm not concerned. ;-) > I'm sure you chaps know what you are doing, but some of us believe > that Eris is great friends with Murphy. I only contribute to FreeBSD because it's an Open Source project and because FreeBSD has the most impotus in the BSD family. If FreeBSD stops being free, I'd reconsider my willingness to contribute. I think BSD Inc. have acknowledged the impotus the FreeBSD Porject has and are looking to jump on the bandwagon. Looks like a really good thing for both BSD Inc. and the FreeBSD project. :-) Ciao, Sheldon. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message