From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jun 21 17:16:54 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: advocacy@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 77E6116A41C for ; Tue, 21 Jun 2005 17:16:54 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from warren@wandrsmith.net) Received: from ms-smtp-03.rdc-kc.rr.com (ms-smtp-03.rdc-kc.rr.com [24.94.166.129]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3C61A43D55 for ; Tue, 21 Jun 2005 17:16:53 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from warren@wandrsmith.net) Received: from CPE-65-28-60-94.kc.res.rr.com (CPE-65-28-60-94.kc.res.rr.com [65.28.60.94]) by ms-smtp-03.rdc-kc.rr.com (8.12.10/8.12.7) with ESMTP id j5LHGngu007513; Tue, 21 Jun 2005 12:16:50 -0500 (CDT) Received: from www.wandrsmith.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by CPE-65-28-60-94.kc.res.rr.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 6CF235E80; Tue, 21 Jun 2005 12:16:49 -0500 (CDT) Received: from 204.167.177.68 (SquirrelMail authenticated user warren) by www.wandrsmith.net with HTTP; Tue, 21 Jun 2005 12:16:49 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <30210.204.167.177.68.1119374209.squirrel@www.wandrsmith.net> In-Reply-To: References: <20050620195539.1B3E54C35B@ws1-1.us4.outblaze.com> Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 12:16:49 -0500 (CDT) From: "Warren Smith" To: "Ted Mittelstaedt" User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 Importance: Normal X-Virus-Scanned: Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine Cc: advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Explaining FreeBSD features X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: warren@wandrsmith.net List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 17:16:54 -0000 Ted Mittelstaedt said: > FreeBSD is targeted at 2 main groups of people: > > 1) Very knowledgeable people who are using it for personal, or > in-house corporate projects. > > 2) Very knowledgeable people who are using it to construct > turnkey systems for customers who couldn't care less what is > under the hood. > > By contrast, Windows and Linux are in fact, general computer > operating system products. They are targeted at groups #1 and > #2, but they are also targeted at group #3 which are: > > 3) People who barely know how to push a button who have a problem > they need to fix with a computer operating system, and they > really don't care if they understand how the fix works as long > as it works. > > > This gives rise to a rather serious Catch-22 with FreeBSD: > > You need to really understand intimately how FreeBSD works > and how computer software that runs on it works in order to > get it to work well enough for you to learn intimately how it > works. > > Windows and Linux solved this Catch-22 by dumbing-down the > interface to their operating systems. Thus, an ignoramus > can get up and running with both of these systems, and that > person can remain fat, dumb, and happy, completely ignorant > of what he is doing, and those systems will still work enough > to get the job done. It may be a half-assed fix, but it is > better than nothing. > > FreeBSD by contrast, long ago decided not to do this. For > starters, if you dumbed-down the FreeBSD interface, then to > most people FreeBSD wouldn't be any different than Linux > or Windows, so why mess with it? But, most importantly, a > dumbed-down interface gets in the way of a knowledgeable person, > and over time becomes a tremendous liability. > I agree that these 3 groups exist and that FreeBSD is probably not appropriate for those in group #3. However, I think there is another group that is not represented here. That would be those that are not in group #3 because they DO care about understanding how things work, but are also not in groups #1 or #2 because, although they may be relatively knowledgeable about computers when compared to group #3, they have never used a non-Microsoft OS. Lets call these people group #4. I think that, although Linux aspires to group #3, it is actually from group #4 which they gain most of their "converts". The efforts that Linux has made to "dumb down" their interface make it easier for those in group #4 to understand because it is closer to what they already know. I think that projects like PCBSD are also targeting group #4 by lowering the bar for entry into the "enlightened" world of BSD. Having installed PCBSD a while back, I was impressed with the easy installation. Although I, being a somewhat experienced FreeBSD user, would prefer more control over the installation process, I feel confident in recommending PCBSD to friends in group #4. This is something I had stopped doing with FreeBSD because of the hand-holding necessary just to get it installed and configured enough to be even remotely usable by someone with their experience. > With FreeBSD, the only way that a newbie can break the Catch-22 is > old-fashioned mental elbow grease. In short, by learning a bit > at a time, expanding on that, and repeating the process. It is a > long slow way to get to know anything, but once you get there, you > really do know everything in intimate detail. > > This isn't a popular thing to tell newbies. > I agree that there is no substitute for this learning process. Perhaps the generally high level of technical knowledge of those in the FreeBSD community can be attributed more to the weeding-out process of having to break this Catch-22 than to anything else. However, I can see benefits of lowering the "cost-of-admission" a little by making the installation easier, as PCBSD has done. Making it easier for newbies to get started with this learning process will increase the number who find they have what it takes to see it through and become valuable members of the FreeBSD community. -- Warren Smith warren@wandrsmith.net