Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 18:52:26 +1100 (EST) From: michael butler <imb@scgt.oz.au> To: jkh@time.cdrom.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Cc: hackers@freebsd.oorg Subject: Re: Commerical applications (was: Development and validation Message-ID: <199701200759.SAA26424@asstdc.scgt.oz.au> In-Reply-To: <17107.853740593@time.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at "Jan 19, 97 10:09:53 pm"
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I'll only bite at one .. moving slightly back to the original thread .. Jordan K. Hubbard writes: > > QUESTION: Why has the interest been missing in the FreeBSD > camp, but not missing in other camps? > "Good question. Anyone in the audience?" A lot of hype, near hysteria sometimes, resulting in factional outbursts of near violent proportions (cf. "Linux or FreeBSD" in several newsgroups). The resultant multitudes of "worker ants" all running in different directions do, in fact, achieve an enormous amount - much to their credit. However, the cost of this business model is such that I would not and could not base my own business on it .. potentially, a longer term instability of the code base yielding longer time-frames to "essential" functional and operational (esp. security) fixes in mission-critical machinery. Whilst it is appropriate to express a degree of impatience in order to raise discussion to a level sufficient to cause priority reassessment (we all need a "kick" occasionally), moving to a business model more like that of the (apparently) disorganised ants is not where I (we?) want to be - no matter how big an ant-hill they've been able to build through good luck, design or a tenuous mix of both. Admittedly, my (personal and business) goals are different .. I _need_ stability over all else - that's what my customers pay me for. FreeBSD has, to date, delivered this. It is for this reason that I see FreeBSD as more appropriate to traditionally conservative markets .. yes, commercial .. and ones which move more slowly. I see it as a viable and usable alternative to "name" products which have long stagnated in their corporate bureacracy (ISC, SCO). This is not to say that I've now got blinkers on and follow FreeBSD single-mindedly. There are certainly attributes of some other systems which I'd like to see in FreeBSD but I'm happy to stay where I am for the present. Another aspect which people don't seem to realise is that most organisations don't often yell which flavour of server they're using from the roof-tops. There are many possible reasons for this .. in my experience, however it's mostly because they simply don't care so long as the box does what it was put there to do. By way of example, I know of these (local) organisations using FreeBSD: Telstra - our equivalent to MCI or Sprint NSW Legal Aid Commission Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust Sydney International Aquatic Centre Sydney International Athletic Centre All above are govt, semi-govt or govt-funded organisations with which I've had varying degrees of involvement. Shortly, I'll have a FreeBSD web-server prominently wearing the IBM logo for one of their special projects (niche market - more commonwealth govt stuff). These guys don't have any motivation to jump up and down to say what they're using. It wouldn't serve any purpose .. the majority (with the possible exception of that last) neither sell nor support that kind of technology. The perception that people aren't using it because they're not spouting how good it is in the paper, magazines or newsgroups isn't because it isn't any good but simply because they don't care so long as it works for them. The only thing that needs fixing (from the PR side) is for for somone to sit down and write to a magazine how and why FreeBSD does work in these people. Then, maybe, funding will follow, michael
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