Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 20:23:46 +0200 From: Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai <asmodai@wxs.nl> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: No port of Opera? (Was: ((FreeBSD : Linux) :: (OS/2 : Windows))) Message-ID: <20000708202346.M35215@daemon.ninth-circle.org> In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20000707203753.04804100@localhost>; from brett@lariat.org on Fri, Jul 07, 2000 at 09:09:54PM -0600 References: <4.3.2.7.2.20000707003817.04760d40@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20000706225433.0475b4d0@localhost> <Your <4.3.2.7.2.20000706193313.04a8ca40@localhost> <54201.962945434@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20000706225433.0475b4d0@localhost> <20000707082704.Z35215@daemon.ninth-circle.org> <4.3.2.7.2.20000707003817.04760d40@localhost> <20000707211621.C35215@daemon.ninth-circle.org> <4.3.2.7.2.20000707203753.04804100@localhost>
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-On [20000708 20:00], Brett Glass (brett@lariat.org) wrote: >At 01:16 PM 7/7/2000, Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai wrote: > >I think you'll agree that WHATEVER it's called (call it a Frobnicator >if you'd like), the effect on the availability of natively compiled >applications is the same. No, I do not agree. >>With the help of the linuxulator we got it easier to ride the hype which >>Linux created. > >Any "riding of the hype" which has occurred has been, IMHO, utterly >independent of the existence of the Frobnicator. The people who I see >switching are using FreeBSD as an Internet server and are not, as a rule, >running desktop or commercial applications. My clients who run such things >as office suites (e.g. Corel Office) are sticking to the OSes for which >they are natively compiled so that they can get support. Brett, I seriously wonder if you even have been exposed to people using FreeBSD as desktop. Here at the ISP I work for we use FreeBSD as primary server platform, but almost all techs run it as well for their desktop and a couple of helpdeskers multiboot. And that's just our company, I know of a lot which are like this. At home I use FreeBSD only. Both for my servers as well as my desktop. Don't assume that just because YOUR clients are NOT doing it implies that NOBODY is doing that. >>Now that the hype is reaching its momentum it becomes obvious that >>FreeBSD/BSDi is being a major player in the whole ballgame as well. >>Have you looked around recently? There's more and more mention and >>support for the FreeBSD cause (and indirectly for OpenBSD and NetBSD). > >I am making an effort to generate those mentions and create that support, >and so are others. But FreeBSD is not even really at the status of >"second fiddle" yet; it's more like "third viola." Then I really have no idea who you have been spending time with lately, but I am listening to Bruch performed by a whole orchestra. >>We are here, we are demanding our portion of the marketshare, there's no >>denying us. > >You cannot "demand" market share. Rather, you must offer things of value. >And one of the most important things of value -- the thing that has >historically proven to make or break a platform -- is native application >support. Yes you can demand marketshare. I hope I really don't have to explain that all. >>We pulled this off with Oracle (IIRC) and we also amassed tons of votes >>for a native JDK and for more products, and we got them and/or are >>getting them. > >Maybe. But will they deliver? And will they support it for more than >one version? I am hoping that we can keep Applixware and Xi Graphics. >(As you may recall, a representative of Xi Graphics told me emphatically >that they were "dropping all support for BSD" about half a year ago. >It turned out that she was mistaken and they were dropping BSD/OS only, >but it this is still not a good thing -- especially as BSD/OS and >FreeBSD move closer together.) Hey, Xi's loss. Plain and simple. Applixware is already in a new FreeBSD beta stage for what I know (little imps tend to tell me these things). A colleague of mine, and some friends have been having some good talks with Oracle and it all looks promising on that front. >Bottom line: the Linuxulator/Frobnicator/Prognosticator/Whatever is >hurting the platform. I've proposed a strategy to counter this. Shall >we take action? You go ahead, have this spare soapbox, I am going to do much more interesting things instead. -- Jeroen Ruigrok vd Werven/Asmodai asmodai@[wxs.nl|bart.nl|freebsd.org] Documentation nutter/C-rated Coder BSD: Technical excellence at its best The BSD Programmer's Documentation Project <http://home.wxs.nl/~asmodai>; The only thing we have to fear is Fear itself... To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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