Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 10:11:06 +0200 (IST) From: Nadav Eiron <nadav@cs.Technion.AC.IL> To: Alex <ak@freenet.co.uk> Cc: matysiak@excite.com, freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org, Alexandr Gribenko <aeg@iname.com> Subject: Re: FreeBSD presence in Israel? Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95-heb-2.07.991228100214.15098B-100000@csd> In-Reply-To: <3867CAF8.809BCCA6@freenet.co.uk>
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On Mon, 27 Dec 1999, Alex wrote: > Nadav Eiron wrote: > > > > Well, I can only speak for myself, but FreeBSD here is not is too good a > > shape. The mailing list was practicaly silent, except for spam, for a > >pretty long time, so I guess whoever was responsible for it had shut it > > down. I myself am happy with FreeBSD, and also use it for a public service > > that's not unknown in the right circles > > (http://libagent.cs.technion.ac.il.), but Linux rules highhere at the > > Technion, at least among the students. As for the department's official > > policies, I tried to introduce FreeBSD formally here, but didn't have much > > luck. They're pretty much stuck with what they have, and the only new > > thing they'reready to hear about is Linux or NT. > > > Well if people use Linux, it's probably not as bad as it sounds. Does > it have anything to do with the lack of support for Hebrew characters in > FreeBSD? Last time I looked, Linux had some sort of a Hebrew-HOWTO. Not sure. On my never shrinking to-do list I have items such as package up the Hebrew LaTeX support packages in a FreeBSD port, and also try and configure Mule with RtL support (did anyone else try that)? There's also the Hebrew pine from HUJI I thought of making a port of. The only problem is time. > > A bit of press coverage wouldn't hurt either - a lot of people use Linux > because they know very little about the alternatives. Can you think of > any web sites in Israel that might be willing to publish an article on > FreeBSD? If not, the Universities would be a good place to start. > You're at the Technion, but what is the situation like at BGU, the > Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan, the Weizmann Institute? Well, again, I can only speak for myself, but: Israelis (especially students) seem to be very heavily influenced by hype. Even for faculty here, Linux hype seems to have a large impact, even when all indications are that Linux is _wrong_ for the job (look no further than MOSIX at HUJI for an example). The Open University has at least one sysadmin who is FreeBSD friendly (ftp.openu.ac.il is a FreeBSD machine, and its manager used to hang around on bsd-il in the short time this list was actually viable). Weizmann used to have a FreeBSD mirror, but I never had any personal contacts there. The student union here at the Technion pushes Linux hard. The student union here runs differently than in other universities, and is amazingly efficient at what they do. They have a network of Linux machines at the dorms, run by volunteers, and they have installathons at the beginning of every term. They also advertise this _very_ heavily on bulletin boards through the campus (these belong to the student union). On the other hand, the computer science department takes no formal stand in the matter. While using Linux in some projects, there is no single platform students are supposed to have running at home. For instance, in the course I'm teaching (Introduction to System Programming) all home assignments must be submitted on a SPARC/Solaris machine, and students must use gcc to compile their programs. Basic courses uses Borland C++ on PCs, others use HP/UX, etc. > > Israel has an ample pool of technical talent, and it would be a shame to > see them yield to Microsoft. They're now busy yielding to the Penguin :-) It is amazing how strong the herd phenomenon is here. > > Alex > > P.S. I'm in the UK right now but will be in Tel-Aviv next month. > Perhaps we could get together and think of something? > Sure. Drop a note when you're here/have any operational ideas. Nadav To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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