Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 08:04:21 -0700 From: Donald Wilde <dwilde1@thuntek.net> To: Brian Adkins <brian@lojic.com> Cc: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Support (was Re: Netscape browser ) Message-ID: <36F7AD75.1EE288FA@thuntek.net> References: <4.2.0.32.19990322181857.03eb8d90@localhost> <4.1.19990322230145.00f92480@mailbox.iwaynet.net>
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Brian Adkins wrote: > > At 06:58 PM 3/22/99 -0700, Brett Taylor wrote: > >... > >Chris Coleman and I, with others, started Daemon News. [snip] > When I was evaluating FreeBSD (just last week), one of the things that > *really* impressed me was the response time on answers to my newbie > questions. I was stuck on something at 4:00 am. EST and I fired off a > question to freebsd-questions and got several responses that solved the > problem in less than an hour! I've had technical support contracts from > IBM when I worked on mainframes and from Microsoft and I've *never* had > such timely support. In fact, even though my company was paying something > like $16,000 per year to Microsoft for support, I inevitably solved the > problem through much pain before Microsoft would get back to me with > someone that had any degree of clue. Can we use this as a 'testimonial' quote, Brian? It's actually rather normal, because there's another advocate out there named Doug White who's supported by his graduate advisor (God, it's been five years now. Are you a PhD yet, Doug?) and many others who make it their 'business' to support FreeBSD. > > I'm relatively new to open source operating systems and I've been thinking > about the factors that are relative to the success or failure of operating > systems. I've come to the preliminary conclusion that the rules of the > game are *very* different for open source OS's. With commercial endeavors > such as Windows NT or OS/2, I believe it's more of a zero-sum game. In > other words, a win for one commercial OS is a loss for another. With open > source OS's, I feel it's more a case of "all ships rise with the tide". > We agree. Linux guys and our developers routinely talk, and each borrows from the success of the other. The Linux kernel development team, for example, is discussing building a "core" team to manage the development with the same kind of release logistics. > Does the success of another free OS hurt FreeBSD? Are people concerned No, not at all. FreeBSD is growing in prominence because of Linux' publicity. Our guys are out there pushing, and it's usually now 'Linux or FreeBSD'. > with the amount of PR and momentum that Linux is getting? If marketing and > momentum made a good operating system then Microsoft's OS's would be the > best - right? ROFLVVH... sigh. I have pet metaphor that I like to trot out in tiimes like this. Microsoft and Sun and AOL are the big Dinosaurs, stomping around trying to achieve and hold Market Share. We are the small furry mammals. Some of us may get stomped on, but eventually we will pick their bones as carrion. There will ultimately be a realization among users that free software (whatever the 'brand') offers as much and much much more of what they really need: dependability and adaptability to their needs. Very few users will become kernel developers (I'm definitely not one... yet), but it will become important too them to know that there are hundreds out there all over the world snooping the code for bugs and inefficiencies. Can you think of a better test for a firewall's security than to withstand attack from crackers who have the _source_code_? > > Maybe I should ask a fundamental question. What is the goal of the > advocacy group specifically, and the FreeBSD organization in general? Is > it to attract as many ISV's as possible? Is it to run on the widest > variety of hardware? If it is, then I totally misread the philosophy of > this group and probably picked the wrong OS ;) > FreeBSD is specifically optimized for i86 hardware. There are two ports in development for others, but we leave portability to our NetBSD _friends_. We are looking for ISV's to port, of course, and we are looking for hardware suppliers, _of_course_, but the primary job of all of us is to get the word out about one of the greatest gifts mankind has ever given itself. Raising visibility is a major effort, and very few get any compensation beyond gratification (and a better OS) from adding to the user base. We are also here to help each other maximize our benefit from the software, by starting efforts that make it easier to use and better. The FreeBSD Project itself has three main goals: to keep it from coming apart and to keep improving it and to keep the user base growing. Walnut Creek CD-ROM, a major sponsor of the Project, would obviously like to sell more CD-ROMs but their support goes far beyond that. They are very close to hiring an outside consultant to promote FreeBSD as a job. One thing the Project is NOT, and I think I can speak for everyone, is a commercial effort. It is and always will be a free operating system. The BSD license is specifically designed to allow people to build Yahoo!s and even to repackage BSD and call it FUBAR if they choose. That is fine. In our view, only the rich have the free time to be philanthropists, so we are glad when somebody makes a bundle through the use of FreeBSD. One of my personal efforts is to increase the visibility of FreeBSD in the former Soviet Union and China. Having visited both places, I know how much it can help them to bootstrap themselves out of disasters caused by their governments. (not that we don't have the same need here!) My personal goal is nothing short of making payware obsolete for anything other than specialized purposes. > Brian Adkins > As Kirk McKusick says, welcome to the BSD community, Brian! -- Donald Wilde "Bringing the Internet to everyone!" Wilde Media 1380 Rio Rancho Blvd. SE #117 voice: 505-771-0709 Rio Rancho, New Mexico 87124 e-mail: dwilde1@thuntek.net To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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