Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 08:41:51 +1200 From: "Dan Langille" <junkmale@xtra.co.nz> To: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: brian@Awfulhak.org, davidg@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: I'm leaving the FreeBSD scene. Message-ID: <199807242041.IAA02248@cyclops.xtra.co.nz> In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19980724064754.00818e60@mx.serv.net>
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Well, I'm a newbie. Previously I've seen comments similar to your but pertaining to other products and under different circumstances and on products with which I am much more familiar. I have about 20 years of experience in software engineering. About 6 weeks of that is with UNIX. I also have no idea who Tim is. Never heard of him before. Please keep the above in mind when reading the below. On 24 Jul 98, at 6:47, Tim Gerchmez wrote: > FreeBSD is not following > proven modern software testing methodologies in releasing new versions of > their OS, and this is hazardous, to say the least (at the very least, it > will have the effect of "putting off" newbies trying the OS for the first > time, and slow the growth of FreeBSD). It hasn't stopped me. As far as I've seen and heard, FreeBSD uses open software techniques. Bugs are there in any software. You just have to search often enough. > Perhaps I have it all wrong, and this is the way it's always been done in > the "free software world." I don't care - I don't want any part of it > anymore. I'll be dedicating all 4 gigabytes of my main machine to Windows > 95 (and soon Win98), giving it plenty of room to "spread out." At least > Microsoft has a software testing department. I use all of the software you just mentioned. Just because there is a department dedicated to testing doesn't mean a thing. The quality does not come because of a fancy title. It comes from the dedication and hard work of the coders. From looking at the uptimes of various machines, it is clear that Windows is not a leader in this area. As someone said last night, "I'm as unimpressed with an uptime of 10 days on a Windows machine as I am with an uptime of 1 year on a UNIX box". > I've enjoyed my participation especially on the FreeBSD-related Usenet > newsgroups, and will be sorry to be leaving, but I just couldn't stand to > watch all the bumbling and fumbling around as 2.2.7 was "released," and > the 20+ hours of time wasted downloading 2.2.7, which I don't trust my > data to one iota. My personal opinion is that this release will be > unsuccessful anyway; Many people will look on it as a minor bug fix > upgrade due to the version numbering scheme (2.2.6 -> 2.2.7) and not > bother to download it or purchase a CD-ROM. This paragraph makes me think you're just pissed off at your time wastage. Upgrading to any software is risky let alone software which has been recently released. Live and learn. Perhaps next time you'll wait for feedback before downloading. FWIW, I'm still on 2.2.5 because that's the CDs I was given. I read the recent posting of Jordan K. Hubbard (never heard of him before either) with regards to the problems he had with the release. My interpretation of the situation certainly wasn't negative. I thought he acted professionally. Mistakes happen. Bummer. Shit happens. And I'm sure it won't happen again (to Jordan). > Anyway, thanks for an "interesting" and at times enjoyable (also at times > highly disappointing) learning experience. Perhaps a commercial Unix > would be more suited for my purposes (which consist mainly of learning > Unix right now), and there's still a slight chance I may give Linux a > shot. This is strange. I don't see how you will get away from the problem with Linux. What I've heard is that they have more frequent upgrades, but they are not as stable as the FreeBSD upgrades. Again, I have no direct experience of this, just what I've been told (granted, by a FreeBSD, but one whom I've known professionally long before I used FreeBSD). I welcome comment on the above. I'm a newbie and may not know what I'm talking about. But I remain confident in what I've said until I get taught otherwise. cheers. -- Dan Langille DVL Software Limited http://www.dvl-software.com/freebsd : my [mis]adventures To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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