Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2000 19:14:14 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Chris Lynch <lynch@cityisp.net>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Opera, Linux Emulation, and the nasties... Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000708190001.04daef00@localhost> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10007081800550.28697-100000@thebomb.city-gui de.com>
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At 04:09 PM 7/8/2000, Chris Lynch wrote: > I run FreeBSD as my Desktop at home. I run FreeBSD only on Servers at >work. >I am stuck with NT until my new box comes in, my FreeBSD box was >cannabalised >during a corporate split( NT admins REALLY are A$$holes, no Joke...unlike >overly stressed Unix Admins, hehe) My sympathies. I have a number of acquaintances who have had similar experiences at work. > I always try the FreeBSD native port when I want something. I also will >try >the Linux port, dropping the developers a friendly reminder that their >particular product would run better on FreeBSD. I usually end the email >with >"it's Ok, everyone confuses Linux with FreeBSD." > FreeBSD runs better, has a better file system ... we already covered >this, so everyone agrees. > I also like Linux emulation. I want Real Player 7 to run on my box at >home. >Remember 5.0? that worked great. I want *native* Real Player 7 and Real Player 8. I think that we could get them, too, if we could appeal to Rob Glaser's dislike of (and battle with) Microsoft. But again, Linux emulation makes it harder to get the port. > FreeBSD has been geared towards servers, and obviously it's nice desktop >capabilities are usually not conidered , which I think is the reason you >don't have native ports for lots of regularly updated apps. Walnut Creek has tried to target it at servers with the slogan "The Power to Serve." Unfortunately, users want to run the same OS -- though perhaps tuned and configured differently -- on client and server, and say so repeatedly. When they see that a platform is targeted solely at one or the other, they become less interested in adopting it. One of the strengths of Linux, from this perspective, is that it is gunning for both. >Hell, half of the linux programs I actually have run better on my FreeBSD >box than on my Linux one. Linux eats my memory and my swap space quicker >than I can yawn thru this thread. : -) Sorry if the thread has been becoming tiresome. Some of the postings addressed to me have made it clear that the posters haven't read what I've already written (or maybe I haven't been clear enough), so I've had to reiterate some points. > If you want to push FreeBSD as a an all around Server/Desktop, then by >all >means start. I've been successfully running it as a desktop for 2 years >and >, have noticed that each release it gets easier to setup which ever major >desktop you wish to try. ( such as during install... I haven't tried it, >I >still copy xinit over to my home directory and edit it) I DO want to push FreeBSD as an all-around OS. Right now, the biggest impediment to doing this is that Jordan Hubbard (still de facto leader of the project) opposes it strongly. And many follow. > So, they want opera and I want real player and media player. If I could >write it , I would. But, I can't. I'm not going to jump ship and give up >on >FreeBSD just because >company X can care less what happens to my favorite OS. Hell, I like >FreeBSD so much, it steared my towards actually wanting to be a sysdamin. >I went out and found a job that centers around it. My bosses also agree >that they wouldn't dream of replacing our FreeBSD servers with Linux or >Solaris boxes. FreeBSD is a f---ing work-horse. The only bad thing is it >is still in it's infancy, in which I mean that not alot of people have >heard of it. Other than that, I doubt anyone will defect. If they run from >FreeBSD because they can't play games, so what. It'll hurt *us*, because (again) we won't get the ports. We need 'em, and I have been suggesting a multi-pronged strategy to get them. Alas, too many people have been responding by denying the need for ports rather than helping to formulate strategies that might help us obtain them. I think that many of them also underestimate the damage that emulation can do to support for a platform. I was intimately involved with trying to get vendors to support OS/2 for many years, so I understand the full impact. And it's pretty devastating. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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