Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 10:33:28 -0600 From: "jogegabsd" <jogegabsd@yahoo.com> To: "Charles Burns" <burnscharlesn@hotmail.com>, <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: Advocacy help for CS professor Message-ID: <PJEDLKMCAOJCKEBNIJNOMEBFCDAA.jogegabsd@yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <F118QCIRDE2e0ghLGRI00009136@hotmail.com>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Charles Burns > Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 12:42 AM > To: questions@freebsd.org > Subject: Advocacy help for CS professor > > > I have a CD professor who has a masters in CS and EET from a top 50 > university yet is enveloped in the Microsoft way of life. While > this isn't > necessarily a bad thing, he is indirectly advocating Windows over > Unix for > all tasks based on knowledge from the Unix of years ago. Alot has changed! > Showing him that Unix (BSD/Linux, etc) make a great server is > easy, but Unix > is now a great desktop platform as well. This is what I need help with. I > have written several advocacy messages myself, but they are typically > targeted to people setting up servers. > > I would like to make some specific arguments that will show him > that Unix is > worth giving a try, and if he doesn't like it, fine, his choice. He is > willing to read what I have to say about it and listen to me as a > peer, and > considering his position as the head of the CS department, this could > benefit FreeBSD and Unix in general (if you are interested in > that sort of > thing). > > This person has the following additude: > > - Microsoft has money, therefore can buy the best programmers, > therefore has > the best products. That's true in some way. You can have the top 100 programmers in the entire world working at your company. Does that make you the best company in the world? May be but not for sure. If all your programmers are not coordinated and well managed and focus in development things that matter you're just wasting valuable resources. > > - Microsoft is very successful, therefore has the best products > (though he > is not using the popularity alone as an argument as he does have > extensive > knowledge of logic) > Don't forget the abuse of power. Tell him not mix Marketing with reality. > - OSS programmers could not possibly be as good as Microsoft programmers, > because Microsoft sponsors such things as nat'l programming > competitions and > hires the winners/hires the best of class from top universities, > etc. I need > specific reasons and hopefully links (not to slashdot, to > reputable neutral > news sites and such). OSS has Greenman, DeRaadt, Torvalds, > Hubbard, Lehey, > and others which are certainly among the top 100 programmers on > earth. How > to prove, though? I have pointed out that academics and contest > winners are > different from people that naturally love to code, but he is in a > commercial > mindset. I have seen many great logical abstractions of this concept on > various sites, but finding them would be impossible. > > - He is using examples of MS products being superior to other Windows > products, examples in which he is right. Netscape 4.7* vs. IE4--No In windoze. you have to stick with IE like it or not. > comparison. MS Office vs everything else--for it's intended audience, it > really is the best. Media player, etc. He quoted Outlook Express, > but being > in the field he uses Eudora because of OE's jaw-dropping security > record. I > already made the Evolution comparison, but I really need more examples in > which an OSS Unux product is superior. > ----Note that I am not trying to convince him that Unix makes a better > overall desktop, or that OSS software is necessarily the best, only that > there are many great OSS apps-some of which are better than MS > counterparts, > and that he should give it a try. (he is busy and doesn't want to > waste time > on something that he is pretty sure will suck) As far as I see, you also have to advocate without mixing subjects. What I mean is for example. Desktop enviroment is one thing. Servers and services is another topic. Try to reach him with this approach and he will realize he is covering up stuff of one topic with other. The fact that Office is a "nice" piece of software, does not fit with the fact that apache is a superior webserver than IIS, and does not make M$ the best for example. just ask him, If he have to teach Operating Systems Internals, what Operating system will he choose? > > - He says Unix is fragmented, therefore cannot have a unified vision and > focus, and that this automatically makes it inferior to Windows which is > under one company with theoretically one vision and focus.(to own > everything > :-) fragmented in what? > > > I have already made some arguments and given some examples, but I would > greatly appreciate any compact and strong anecdotes, facts, quotes, > examples, theories, logical proofs, rhetorical questions, etc. > that apply. > Please don't tell me that Windows really is a better desktop > OS--whether it > is or not isn't the point. > > Thanks ahead of time. One of the main points I think is important also is fear. This people does not know anything about UNIX and so they feel scare about it. They think is some sort of weird thing. The best advice for advocacy is patience. this people have really strong paradigms about this kind of things. Don't contradict each other, and don't tell him M$ sucks and UNIX rules, this people can't deal with reality. try to reach topics smoothly and slowly and both give their points, An tell him not just to rely on some M$ ad or some brochure, go for the facts. You can not say that the chocolate ice cream around the corner is the best because it looks so delicious in the banner ad. you have to taste the icecream to have a valid an opinion. you have to try a lot of ice creams to compare and see what ice cream is the best. HTH Gerardo _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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