Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2001 19:55:43 -0600 From: Don Wilde <Don@Silver-Lynx.com> To: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>, freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Eric, you were right! Message-ID: <3B47BD9F.172157AE@Silver-Lynx.com> References: <3B44C80C.FF06D16C@Silver-Lynx.com> <20010705220738.J327@sydney.worldwide.lemis.com> <3B471B61.23937991@Silver-Lynx.com> <3B47B87E.78068C23@softweyr.com>
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Wes Peters wrote: > > Don Wilde wrote: > > > > Isn't it though? Wind River survives in the embedded world because their > > software is so pricey the government thinks it must be worth something, > > and therefore we Americans have the privilege of paying for it with our > > That's a little over the top. Wind River survives in the embbedded > world because they provide products and support that outshine those > of all their competitors. That may say something about the quality > of their competitors that is uncomfortable to contemplate. > Perhaps, but I will note that their products also require a lot of CPU cycles (somewhat like another 8-ton gorilla I won't mention again). They've caused a lot of VME-68K board sales into apps that didn't need that horsepower, and the difficulty of diving deep with their environment has caused several projects I am aware of to waste hundreds of extra manhours over budget. > Wind River has, I'm certain, experienced a lot of pressure from the > various embedded Linux vendors. Embedded Linux offers a lot of > functionality at a very low price point, and draws from a large > base of relatively knowlegable programmers; it has all the same > advantages I outlined for embedded BSD systems in a Daemon's Advocate > column a couple of years ago. Depending on your viewpoint, it may > or may not have a disadvantage in the licensing. > > Give WRS credit for at least seeing the value in providing embedded > BSD systems as an alternative to their customers looking for a more > functional (and less real-time) embedded system. > > If WRS, BSD/Linux Central, or anyone else are not meeting our needs, > we simply need to steer the FreeBSD Project in another direction. > Please join us in discussing how best to do that, rather than deriding > the company who is currently struggling to meet our demands for goods > and services. They're pretty new at this kind of volume, you know. ;^) > Again, Wes, I have yet to hear back about my politely-phrased complaint. If they sell a product, they better answer the phone. I don't see them bothering to struggle. As for becoming more positive, I am all for positive action. Chris Coleman asked for support, and I dinged my CC on his website for several times the amount of a subscription. I am ready and willing to support the others who I don't know personally as they put their actions on display, over and above my personal product needs. Myself, I think the 501c3 Foundation is a bright answer whose time has come. We do also need commercial support, and one reason I haven't contributed more directly to the Project has been that it _isn't_ a tax writeoff. You all know my attitude towards those ^H^H^H^H... never mind. :-D The Foundation will give us a focus point, and I believe it will open up a lot more support than has been forthcoming from those of us who can't afford to support a core-team member yet. -- Don Wilde http://www.Silver-Lynx.com Silver Lynx Embedded Microsystems Architects 2218 Southern Bl. Ste. 12 Rio Rancho, NM 87124 505-891-4175 FAX 891-4185 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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