Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 00:53:12 -0800 From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> To: "Michael Lucas" <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org>, "Chris Coleman" <chrisc@vmunix.com> Cc: "Wes Peters" <wes@softweyr.com>, <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Maxtor picks Windows, dumps open source Message-ID: <004c01c0a6e4$0a3e8e40$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> In-Reply-To: <20010306153122.A69160@blackhelicopters.org>
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>-----Original Message----- >From: Michael Lucas [mailto:mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org] >Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 12:31 PM >To: Chris Coleman >Cc: Wes Peters; Ted Mittelstaedt; Wes Peters; >freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG >Subject: Re: Maxtor picks Windows, dumps open source > > >Daemonnews would be lovely, yes. > >But if we can get this in some "mainstream" media (I use the term >loosely), that would be better. After all, the story we're reacting >to appeared on cnet. Bit of an uneven battle there. :) > >Actually, thinking about it, there's two separate articles here. One >is the mainstream "media spin"; the other is a daemonnews "how to >react to this" BSD advocacy piece. > Let me reword that to say that the first article is a mainstream media spin piece that's a reaction to THIS particular story. I'd say that the other is a daemonnews "How to effectively react as a FreeBSD advocate to these sorts of news stories" >Interested in either, Ted? Or should I just get typing? ;) > I'm intersted in doing an article on #2, but my concern on a "react to the media spin" #1 article is that I frankly view the original article as an attempt to stir up controversy, not an attempt to convey a newsworthy item. As such I think that it can be safely ignored. Any attempt to respond with another mainstream media piece is simply going to play into the hands of the original reporter. Remember, I write a monthly column too, I know how it is. The folks that write these kinds of stories are in a difficult position. If they pass themselves off as pure columnists, then what they write is purely opinion, and nobody reads it. That obviously is what this article is - note that it's only direct quotes from Maxtor's spokesman, and no quotes from anyone in the FreeBSD project. But, the writer can't really play at being a real reporter either - because a real reporter checks his facts and backs up everything that he says, and lets both sides speak their piece on his articles, and those stories have no place on a "news website" like Cnet. These news websites are just like the evening news on the TV set - they aren't really news, they are just entertainment. What your seeing here is basically the output of an opinion columnist who is passing himself off as a reporter. There's nothing wrong with this as long as the readership knows what he is. Unfortunately most of the readers don't. This kind of thing really illustrates why I feel that it was a serious mistake to get rid, or let drop, the position of the FreeBSD Presidency that Jordan used to take. This is really the entire point of having a President anyway - not to direct FreeBSD development, but to handle PR. One of the reasons that Linux is so much more visible in the media is that every technical reporter in the world now knows that if they want a comment from "The Linux Camp" on something, that they ring up Linus Torvalis, even though he actually has little participation in direct Linux development these days. Richard Stallman serves a similar function for The GNU Project, although I would guess that the project members would be happy enough to find someone else. What I think is kind of frustrating for people like Cnet is that on one hand, they have Microsoft indirectly taking potshots at FreeBSD. But, in the other hand, there's no single individual in The FreeBSD Project that really speaks for the project. So, when some fool VP at Microsoft issues a few comments, they can't go running to someone at FreeBSD to get a response. If I were to be asked by a reporter to make an "official" response, I'd have to say something along the lines of this: "We have seen the comments that were alleged to have been made by Maxtor's spokesperson, Mr. X, as to the reasons that Maxtor decided to drop FreeBSD. We feel these comments are unjustified and unwarranted. (follow with a list of the specific deficiencies and a rebuttal to each) We note that Maxtor continues to use FreeBSD in their (follow with a list of their products that use FreeBSD) We appreciate the contribution that they have made in the past to the FreeBSD project in the areas of (follow with a list of anything that Maxtor has kicked back to FreeBSD) We look forward to future contributions from Maxtor to FreeBSD." But, if I was asked by a reporter to make an anonymous response, I'd say flat out that this is a new product of Maxtor's. Thus, it's obvious that this switch didn't occur as a response to customer demand, instead it just shows how desperate they are to get advertising attention for this product line. I'd also say that Maxtor is jepoardizing the product viability to make a switch from a proven and stable platform (FreeBSD) that they have been already using, to a brand-new operating system that has no background yet, and that this does not engender trust among customers. Ted Mittelstaedt tedm@toybox.placo.com Author of: The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide Book website: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com >On Tue, Mar 06, 2001 at 02:53:49PM -0500, Chris Coleman wrote: >> I am sure I can find a place to publish it. :-) >> >> Chris Coleman >> Daemon News >> http://www.daemonnews.org >> Bringing BSD together >> >> On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, Michael Lucas wrote: >> >> > On Tue, Mar 06, 2001 at 11:35:43AM -0700, Wes Peters wrote: >> > > Yes, quite an interesting spin. Would you like to write an article >> > > on this? You're quite a good writer, you know. ;^) >> > >> > If Ted won't, I volunteer. I presume the general audience of >> > -advocacy would be willing to review it for me. :) >> > >> > ==ml >> > >> > -- >> > Michael Lucas >> > mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org >> > http://www.blackhelicopters.org/~mwlucas/ >> > Big Scary Daemons: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/q/Big_Scary_Daemons >> > >> > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org >> > with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message >> > > >-- >Michael Lucas >mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org >http://www.blackhelicopters.org/~mwlucas/ >Big Scary Daemons: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/q/Big_Scary_Daemons > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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