Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 19:08:53 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Device Drivers for Linux and Intel's annoucement Message-ID: <4.1.19981002185944.040ed850@mail.lariat.org> In-Reply-To: <23753.907180614@time.cdrom.com> References: <Your message of "Wed, 30 Sep 1998 12:05:38 MDT." <199809301806.MAA17844@lariat.lariat.org>
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At 11:36 AM 9/30/98 -0700, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: >[ Brett, how can I say this. Knock it off with the bloody cross-posts > already! I keep saying it and you keep ignoring it and it's annoying > since there's *no need* for both -chat and -advocacy.... The reason why I cross-posted is that advocacy is very undersubscribed, so posting such messages to it alone doesn't reach everyone who might be interested in the topic. >Um, waitaminute here. I feel like the conversation has suddenly >veered in an unexpected direction, like a sugar-charged 4 year old >left imprudently unwatched. I don't think so. Every announcement of Linux advocacy and support by a major vendor leaves FreeBSD increasingly in the dust. >I dunno, but it really looks from my angle like you're trying >extremely hard to see defeat where demonstrable progress exists >and I find that hard to fathom. Every time a major vendor supports Linux without also supporting FreeBSD, it's a defeat. A major one. And the rate of those defeats is accelerating daily. >> Worse still, Walnut Creek seems to be doing just about ZIP to promote >> FreeBSD, in the face of a groundswell of publicity for Linux. It >> had the chance to be Red Hat before Red Hat existed, and blew it > >Not only is this patently untrue, and you'll see some of the more >visible results of Walnut Creek's continuing investments in FreeBSD >over the next few months (many of their investments being far less >visible but no less important), but saying that they had a chance to >be "Red Hat" honestly simplifies the actual course of events beyond >all reason. We can argue over how much it "simplifies" things, but it's nonetheless so. I don't see FreeBSD getting 1/100th the advertising, advocacy, and other vital market support from Walnut Creek that Linux gets from Red Hat alone (forgetting Caldera, Corel, and others for the moment). >Nice rhetoric - I especially like the football analogy at the end >there. Rah rah. Go team. It's also surprisingly apt since I find >this kind of advocacy about as useful as a football cheer from the >stands - it conveys a certain degree of concern for the outcome of the >play, agreed, but it also suggests nothing more specific than the fact >that winning would probably be a really popular move on my part. I've made a specific suggestion: Pick up the fumble. Denying that there has BEEN a fumble does no good when the ball is rolling loose on the ground. >That one dirty little word we haven't mentioned yet, however, and the >one I think you've conveniently overlooked in all of your brum and >bluster is: "Logistics." Start coming up with some decent plans for >growing new structures within the project without killing it in the >process and you'll have a lot more of my attention than you're getting >with this kind of fiery pulpit-pounding. Well, I'm afraid that right now the initiative lies with your employer, Walnut Creek. The only other option besides promotion, advocacy, and support from that company is to create a split in the market by introducing another vendor. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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