Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 12:05:38 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG, advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Device Drivers for Linux and Intel's annoucement Message-ID: <199809301806.MAA17844@lariat.lariat.org> In-Reply-To: <23307.907176696@time.cdrom.com> References: <Your message of "Wed, 30 Sep 1998 11:19:02 MDT." <199809301731.LAA17481@lariat.lariat.org>
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Jordan: With all due respect, I think you are being too conciliatory. FreeBSD *is* falling behind. (Where's the CAM support for all those SCSI host adapters? Where's a production-level version of SMP?) Worse still, Walnut Creek seems to be doing just about ZIP to promote FreeBSD, in the face of a groundswell of publicity for Linux. It had the chance to be Red Hat before Red Hat existed, and blew it. This neglect at a crucial time could reduce FreeBSD to a weakly supported, largely ignored, niche OS without anywhere near critical mass. My gut feeling -- and my gut has a pretty darn good track record when it comes to industry trends -- is that it's a do-or-die situation RIGHT NOW. FreeBSD needs some serious leadership, advocacy, and investment ASAP. The ball is rolling around aimlessly on the field; who's gonna pick up the fumble and run for the goal line? --Brett At 10:31 AM 9/30/98 -0700, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: >[Redirected just to -chat; for the last time, cross posting is not desired!] > >> Oh-oh. Guys, it looks as if Intel is throwing its hat in the >> Linux arena and is guaranteeing help with the development of >> device drivers. But there's no mention of it doing the same >> for any of the *BSDs. Will this consign them to permanent >> second-class status? > >No. And what's with all the chicken-little stuff going around these >days, guys? It's really self-defeating and rather unnecessary to >boot. If nobody is embracing free software, we cry and moan. If >people are embracing free software, but just not our particular flavor >of the moment, we cry and moan some more. Conveniently forgotten in >all of this is the fact that this is all new territory for the likes >of Intel and OF COURSE they're going to go courting the Linux folks as >an obvious first choice because they are, well, the obvious first >choice. > >Being the first and obvious choice comes from having millions of users >and lots of magazine coverage and LOTS and LOTS of BOOKS in the >bookstores and all the other indicators which people with suits on are >bound to look at before jumping into any new fad (and let's face it, >that's what we're looking at right now). People aren't going to start >knocking down our doors with movie deals and autograph books just >because we all really really want that to happen or because we know >FreeBSD Is The Right Solution or any of that stuff, it'll happen when >a certain critical mass has been achieved and the time for that to >happen has been reached. > >Personally, I think people need to get busy in the book department if >they want to see FreeBSD start going places faster (or they need to be >content with it getting there not quite as fast). All this kvetching >in mailing lists that Opinion Leaders(tm) don't even read doesn't get >us anywhere. > >- Jordan > >To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org >with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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