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Date:      Wed, 23 Jan 2002 08:32:18 +0100
From:      Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net>
To:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: A question from a convert from Windows to FreeBSD
Message-ID:  <20020123073218.GB4008@raggedclown.net>
In-Reply-To: <00c801c1a3d8$438a8720$0100a8c0@pegasus>
References:  <007b01c1a381$93765900$328dfea9@pegasus> <2807.198.151.239.42.1011756241.squirrel@y3k.shacknet.nu> <00c801c1a3d8$438a8720$0100a8c0@pegasus>

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On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 12:36:16AM -0600, Bob Giesen wrote:
> 
<SNIP>

> > Seriously, though, your input as a fresh convert from windows is very
> useful. If you can let people know specifically what parts of the
> installation were troublesome, they will improve them in future versions.
> 
>    Actually, I'd love to even help, someday, but I'm afraid that will be
> some considerable time into the future...
> 
Yes, and there lies the problem you see.
Many things can be improved, but with FreeBSD it's changes and
improvements come from it's users, or from just a few of them.
Someone may well have the motivation, skill and general courage
to program drivers for FreeBSD and will do so, maybe because they
enjoy it, they care about the project, or they have a device that
doesn't work yet. That same person may not really have any motivation
to improve "sysinstall". However someone who feels strongly about this
and who thinks FreeBSD's acceptance is being hindered by the lack of
friendlier tools is the very person who can change it, or if they
are not a programmer can at least document what there is, or suggest
a design for such a thing.

I don't participate anymore in any discussions involving comparisons
of Windows and FreeBSD, because they go nowhere, and are of little
practical value. This list is about a particular Operating System,
maintained and developed and nurtured by people who enjoy it, use
it in all sorts of practical and/or recreational situations, use
it in business situations such as ISP's and a few lucky ones may 
even earn a living from knowing about it. It is not a toy system,
it is a mature O/S based on the original brilliance of a few people
at Bell Labs a long time ago and since developed by a lot of other
clever people. 

On this list you get advice from people that does not cost $35
a go, you get access to the whole of the O/S under the most open
licensing system imaginable. You are using a Unix system, a system
that was and remains still a landmark in Computer Systems.

I realise you may not have the time to contribute much, I mean I
hardly contribute that much myself (well I just submitted a 3 line
change to a kernel module...hardly going to get me the contributor
of the year award I guess ..). But it really would be much better
if people stopped taking Windows as some kind of model to which
FreeBSD should aspire. That really is missing the point, and missing
the chance to have that very nice feeling you get when you use something
and can say "Hey, I contributed to this". 

Hey you want to have the flowers in the garden, then you need to
plant a few seeds..as well. 

-- 
Yours poetically
Cliff



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