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Date:      Wed, 12 Jul 2000 01:56:37 -0700
From:      "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.osd.bsdi.com>
To:        Michael Robinson <robinson@netrinsics.com>
Cc:        Gerhard.Sittig@gmx.net, stable@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: HEADS UP! Always use the 'make buildkernel' target to make yerkernels 
Message-ID:  <42468.963392197@localhost>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 12 Jul 2000 15:54:46 %2B0800." <200007120754.PAA41616@netrinsics.com> 

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> 1. The other 1199 new FreeBSD CD-ROM customers you need to get, are they more
>    likely to be CVSUPping, mailing-list tracking, make-worlding-since-2.0.1

The people who buy the CDs tend to be more "expert" in nature, it's
the newcomers who generally FTP install the system.

>    experience?  Or, to put it another way, where are you planning to grow
>    your market?

CD sales is almost something of a loss-leader in the grander scheme of
thing and won't, in and of itself, actually generate enough capital to
grow the market all that much.  Growing the market is a function of
marketing and that's generally funded by a combination of VC money and
other profit centers like hardware sales, support, custom engineering,
etc.  BSDi does all the of the latter and has obvious designs on the
former.

> 2. Pending market growth, there are limited commercial funds available for
>    discretionary expeditures.  Priorities need to be set.  Is ensuring that
>    the product documentation documents the product one of these priorities?

Yes, it's been a priority for quite some time.  Finding talented
individuals who can significantly advance the state of the art in our
documentation (e.g. they know how to write and can produce) is
somewhat more problematic.  Finding such individuals who are also
available for employment has been even more problematic.  I'm always
looking for resumes!

> 3. This particular problem does not require a high-skill, high-cost
>    developer.  If you hired a moderately intelligent and responsible
>    high-school student to clean up the handbook over summer vacation,

You significantly underestimate the size and complexity of the
challenge if you honestly think this, and I speak as someone who's
burned through more than a few high school students already. :(

I even have full-time resources deployed on this during those times
when we're looking for another vict^H^H^H^Hhigh school student to
throw into the jaws, but they have a lot of other work competing for
those 60 hours a week.

- Jordan


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