From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Apr 21 23:47:24 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E480516A40D for ; Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:47:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from register@snowcentral.org) Received: from dfw-smtpout4.email.verio.net (dfw-smtpout4.email.verio.net [129.250.36.44]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 30E9D43D46 for ; Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:47:16 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from register@snowcentral.org) Received: from [129.250.36.63] (helo=dfw-mmp3.email.verio.net) by dfw-smtpout4.email.verio.net with esmtp id 1FX5LH-00065b-Hp for freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org; Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:47:15 +0000 Received: from fw.oremut02.us.wh.verio.net ([198.65.168.24] helo=[127.0.0.1]) by dfw-mmp3.email.verio.net with esmtp id 1FX5LH-0000Yv-9q for freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org; Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:47:15 +0000 Message-ID: <44496EFF.5090006@snowcentral.org> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 17:47:11 -0600 From: register User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Windows/20041206) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: concerns about linux X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:47:25 -0000 Hi there, The hosting company I work has been using FreeBSD for our hosting platform for about ten years. Honestly, we love it. We are currently in the process of migrating to version 6. Recently we have invested some development into the same product, but on linux. My dilemma concerns how this will affect our FreeBSD product. I have the impression that once we have both products side by side our new customers will tend to choose linux, due to name recognition. This is especially true for our Japanese customers. Our existing customers will likely stick with FreeBSD because they are used to it and like it. In the end I expect that our revenue for hosting on linux will grow quickly and on FreeBSD will stagnate. When development costs are considered by management the justification for two products, with their separate development costs, will not hold up well. The result will be a complete migration to the linux product within the next couple years. Frankly I think FreeBSD is much better than linux. Our developers agree emphatically. We feel like our customers would be better served by having FreeBSD. However, the revenue benefits of a move to linux seem to be insurmountable. I am looking for valid justifications of maintaining our FreeBSD development team and FreeBSD product in light of the anticipated changes in revenue streams. These justifications must relate to the business side of things. Any insight into this problem will go a long way to helping us keep FreeBSD in our portfolio, which is what we really want. Thanks -eric