Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 03:40:21 +0100 From: Anthony Atkielski <atkielski.anthony@wanadoo.fr> To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Assuming We Want FreeBSD to Grow: Who Is It For? Message-ID: <1728728975.20050216034021@wanadoo.fr> In-Reply-To: <42129CCB.5030203@makeworld.com> References: <42125E71.30804@tbc.net> <200502151655.43509.krinklyfig@spymac.com> <42129CCB.5030203@makeworld.com>
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Chris writes: > To me? They are users that are: > > 1. Fed up with the MS upgrades > 2. Fed up with paying too much for software (apps and OS) > 3. Looking for a viable alternative to the MS empire > 4. NOT your average Windows user. All the wrong people, generally. FreeBSD is not a solution for people who hate Microsoft. It is not a viable alternative to MS desktop software by any stretch of the imagination, except for a handful of geeks. About the only group above that might be in the market for FreeBSD would be the "non-average" Windows user ... provided that "non-average" means "computer geek." If you aim at these markets, FreeBSD will never go anywhere. Even Linux is unlikely to ever make a dent in Windows, and it won't be for lack of trying. You can't be successful with a slogan like "anything's better than Microsoft." Most computer users don't love or hate Microsoft; they don't care about Microsoft at all. Trying to market to people who hate Microsoft is thus a waste of time. And even of those with an irrational hatred for the company, only a fraction have the technical knowledge required to try an alternate desktop OS like UNIX. > As a desktop environment, we would need to ensure that the average > Windows user is aware that it's an OS NOT for him/her. Not a problem currently, since even sysadmins who could be installing and benefitting from FreeBSD on the server side don't know about the OS. > Do we really want to develop FreeBSD to be used by these groups of users > (No offense intended)? No. But neither do we wish to target Microsoft-haters, either. Trying to get someone to adopt an OS just because it's not from a certain much-hated vendor is a very, very poor way to market the software. Hatred is not synonymous with technical competence, and many people who hate Microsoft (particularly some of the most rabid MS-bashers) don't know enough to use any other OS, whereas many people who are very computer-literate and could profit from FreeBSD do not harbor any irrational hatred of MS. > I think not - for when you start to create an OS for the masses, you > are doing nothing more then creating a Windows Clone... Yes. -- Anthony
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