Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 11:30:57 +1200 From: "Craig Harding" <crh@outpost.co.nz> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD and memetics Message-ID: <199904222345.LAA12064@fep1-orange.clear.net.nz> In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.32.19990422144951.00c60f00@localhost> References: <19990422153804.B2321@whizkidtech.net>
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Brett Glass wrote:
> >> Jordan is attempting to position FreeBSD exclusively as
> >> a server operating system, and is actively steering developers
> >> toward another platform: Linux. These are losing and damaging
> >> strategies.
> >
> >Are they? Is he?
>
> If you have not seen this, then you may not have taken the time to
> become adequately informed about the marketing and positioning of
> FreeBSD (what little is currently done). The slogan "The Power To
> Serve" appears on the FreeBSD Web site and on many of the
> proomotional materials. Representatives of the FreeBSD project and
> of Walnut Creek CD-ROM actively steer desktop users and software
> developers (ALL software developers, even if they develop server
> software) to Linux.
Brett, this paragraph, in a nutshell, is why people find you
incredibly irritating at times. Your long message that started this
thread was remarkably well written and insightful, but your continued
attacks on Jordan (and the core team collectively) are probably
singularly responsible for encouraging people to disregard everything
you say without really listening. Even when you say something
interesting or useful, people are already not listening and so never
get to hear it.
In this specific case, only a week ago Jordan posted the following to
FreeBSD Chat:
JKH> For example, I'm widely quoted as saying that I actively
JKH> discourage native FreeBSD ports when what I originally
JKH> said was (and pay close attention) "For those companies
JKH> who are contemplating ONLY a single port, or are just
JKH> getting back into the Unix market and only have the
JKH> initial resources for one port, I encourage them to port
JKH> to Linux and get the widest possible user base." I didn't
JKH> say I didn't want any FreeBSD ports at all, I said that if
JKH> you're only going to do one, you might as well make it
JKH> Linux and not, say, SCO or Solaris because our chances of
JKH> running either binary are frankly much smaller. This is
JKH> just common sense, especially when you figure that any
JKH> company which does re-enter the Unix market and gets
JKH> burned is not going to be a vendor which is easy to
JKH> convince to try again.
> Do not assume that what worked on you -- a sample of one -- is
> necessarily shrewd or the correct way to go. MILLIONS of people
> choose Linux over FreeBSD and stick with it.
This is a superb example of creative writing with statistics.
Actually I think you'll find that "MILLIONS" of peple choose Linux
because they've never seen FreeBSD.
I'm sure you'll now reply with a long tirade about how yes, that's
exactly the problem, and it's all Jordan, the Core team, and Walnut
Creek's fault for not doing marketing & PR well enough for those
Linux novices to encounter FreeBSD.....
Several things:
1. That argument is bullshit.
2. It's got nothing to do with FreeBSD's marketing or lack of. As
many people have pointed out, Linux is bigger because it's bigger.
It got going first. The more people use it, the more new people
encounter it. Linux had a two year head start.
3. Newspaper (real or virtual) column inches are not reality. You, of
all people, should know this. According to the people who are in a
position to know (eg I think a recent message from David Greenman)
FreeBSD usage continues to increase at an increasing rate.
4. In case you haven't already noticed, the guaranteed least
successful way to have something done
(changed/implemented/added/fixed) in FreeBSD is to point at it and
scream loudly at some random assortment of developers "This is
broken. Fix it!". Going into long detailed explanations about why
specifically it's broken and how urgently it needs to be fixed
doesn't change that. This applies as much to marketing as it
does to NFS.
> >The big difference was that NeXT was marketted as a
> >commercial system.
>
> Not so. NeXT was targeted at academia. On the day of the
> announcement, Jobs proclaimed that educational institutions were a
> huge market and he intended to capture it. The fact was, the market
> was already saturated and there was little demand there for his
> product.
Actually, you're both wrong. NeXT failed because they had the
butt-ugliest logo known to mankind.
-- C.
--
Craig Harding Head of Postproduction, Outpost Digital Media Ltd
"I don't know about God, I just think we're handmade" - Polly
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