Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 22:25:11 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: grog@lemis.com (Greg Lehey) Cc: dpilgrim@uswest.net, dwilde1@thuntek.net, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The FreeBSD Installation Guide Project [Was: Re: FreeBSD Adovcacy] Message-ID: <199904032225.PAA13716@usr04.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <19990403191536.G2142@lemis.com> from "Greg Lehey" at Apr 3, 99 07:15:36 pm
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> Hmm. I've just finished sending you a message on the discussion in
> -newbies. I could almost use the same text again. The ideas are
> good, but they don't fit into the existing framework. Nobody's
> complaining about your willingness to help, but the best way to help
> is to join in in the ongoing efforts, not reinventing the wheel.
This reminds me of a statement an engineering VP made in a former
company that:
"We need everybody rowing in the same direction".
Of course, with engineers in the room, somone (not me) piped up:
"Yeah, but it's the _wrong_ direction".
Just an anecdote.
> > Maybe this is a rant and maybe it's the result of not knowing all
> > that I should. But this *is* what I see and this *is* what I
> > believe.
>
> You're relatively new in the FreeBSD fold. That doesn't mean that
> you're not welcome, or that your ideas are not. But remember that we
> have a number of structures in place. They're not all good, and with
> good reason we will change them. But we need a good reason. What I
> said was that I don't see a good reason. And don't overestimate my
> importance, either. People can (and often do) shoot me down as well.
> My statement was intended to be understood as "why not do it this
> way?".
I think relative newness is a job requirement for what he proposes
to do.
I also think that it doesn't undermine the work you've done (not
that I seriously believe that you believe that, BTW), or the
handbook.
Finally, it can't hurt to have a lot of resources pop up when you
ask a searh engine about FreeBSD. As long as the information is
accurate, the more the better.
People learn by metaphor. They are inherently visual, tactile,
audiory, or spatial.
I think until there are installation guides in each of these
metaphors ("look at this", "listen to this", "type this", "think
of this"), there's room for more installation guides. And if it
turns out that we need 30 of them to cover the four bases, then
we should look at this as an application of a genetic algorithm
in the real world.
> Consider what happens if you do it your own way, rather than putting
> it in the handbook: we'll end up with two different installation
> guides (well, three if you include mine, but that one costs money :-),
> one undoubtedly better than the other, with contradictions in them
> which will just confuse people.
Put the best one at the top of the "links" list for the "installing
FreeBSD" section of the FreeBSD web site. 8-).
Better is relative, of course. See above. People will use whichever
one "grabs" them.
> If instead you take it upon yourself
> (with help, possibly) to rewrite (or replace) the installation guide
> in the handbook, you'll be doing everybody a service. The difference
> between the two approaches is in small details: do you write it as a
> standalone document, or as one which will fit in the handbook? Of
> course, if you write it so it will work either way, so much the
> better.
Fitting it into the handbook has plusses and minuses. The big minus is
that, with "The One True Bible" approach, you cover the topic only a
single way, when multiple ways might really be a requirement.
Terry Lambert
terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.
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