Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:38:17 +0000 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: why BSDs got no love Message-ID: <4B31D6F9.6040608@infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <20091223032410.GA25393@comcast.net> References: <541b7a870912150733m4bc34148j98790a6142d4521c@mail.gmail.com> <20091223032410.GA25393@comcast.net>
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This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enig2CAA93472E216E91E48C3665 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Charlie Kester wrote: > On Tue 15 Dec 2009 at 07:33:49 PST Jan Husar wrote: >> http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=3D1123&tag=3Dnl.e011 >=20 > Others have pointed out that PC-BSD meets the need expressed in this > article. >=20 > As for FreeBSD itself, the question must be asked: do we WANT to get > more love from people who judge an OS by whether or not it has a > graphical installer? Heh. It's almost worth implementing a graphical installer just to shut up the constant moaning. While I agree that it is a very basic error to judge by form and appearance rather than by substance, unfortunately much= of the rest of the world appears not to agree. As a project, by not having this sort of layer of gloss on what is likely= to be the very first thing a new user sees we run the risk of putting off= complete neophytes who have no other basis on which to judge the OS, and who could otherwise develop into the next generation of capable users. =20 At the risk of being challenged to produce code (Which, alas, I don't hav= e sufficient skill to do. Or sufficient time.) I'd design an installer as= a CLI program that reads in a fairly simple fixed script or language to do = the=20 installation work, and have separate Curses and/or X based programs to al= low users to create the installation script interactively. I think that woul= d fulfil just about everybodies' requirements, from the people that want a *shiny* graphical interface to people wanting to do automatic unattended installs over serial lines. Of course, this sort of project has been attempted before, and been a complete failure. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard Flat 3 PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW --------------enig2CAA93472E216E91E48C3665 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.13 (FreeBSD) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEAREIAAYFAksx1v8ACgkQ8Mjk52CukIy9PwCgjls18IMLxP2m1RWX9mkP3biP daQAnR31UfctJ+mZPkwPNjEYGaxnACDu =Si7f -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enig2CAA93472E216E91E48C3665--
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