Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:26:25 -0600 From: "G. Adam Stanislav" <zen@buddhist.com> To: root@isis.dynip.com, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Very Common Question Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.19990219112625.008c5290@mail.bfm.org> In-Reply-To: <199902191310.QAA44457@isis.dynip.com>
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At 16:09 19-02-1999 +0300, root@isis.dynip.com wrote: >I am hearing tooooo much now about linux. You're hearing about it because it is getting quite popular, especially among young people who tend to be more vociferous than those of us born earlier. There is nothing wrong with their talking about it. What surprised me more is that ZD Net is pushing Linux as an alternative to Windows, but they never talk about FreeBSD. Having seen one of the replies to your message suddenly made it clear as to why that is. ZD Net is run by the publishers of PC Magazine which has been known to give high ratings to their adertisers. Perhaps Red Hat advertises in PC Magazine? >I'm sick of it, now I hear that IBM is making some deal with Linux >people for installing Linux on their new machines, I am very very sad, >and very very gelous. IBM is the company that taught Bill Gates his methods (which no doubt they have regretted many times over). If IBM is making deals with Linux, that means IBM expects to make money in the process. If they expected to make money with FreeBSD, they would be "making deals" with FreeBSD. It has nothing to do with technology. Nor does it imply that IBM thinks Linux is better than FreeBSD (even if they did, who cares?). >I wan to know why every time I go to a web page on the net to hunt for >extra-portal (like extra-terresterial) software, I find the following >Menu: > > Windows 95/98 > Windows NT > OS2 > Machintosh > Linux Since most computers run Windows 95/98, most software is written for it. Part of it is economic reasons - you make more money catering to more people, part is that probably most programmers, too, have Windows 95/98 installed on their systems and simply know how to program for it. By the same token, more Unix programmers probably have Linux installed than FreeBSD, so they write software for what they have and are familiar with. If, for example, you visited my web site (or my ftp site), you would find that any Unix software available for downloads comes with full source code and precompiled binaries for FreeBSD. That's because I have FreeBSD, so naturally I compile the software on and for FreeBSD. That said, I suspect that most downloads of my Graphic Counter Language (my most downloaded software) comes from Linux users, simply because there are more of them. Does that bother me? Heck no! I just hope it compiles and links on their systems as well as it did on mine (it probably does because I have yet to receive email from someone saying it does not). Why do I suspect that? Because having mentioned it on FreeBSDRocks brought in a couple of visitors. Then I listed it on FreshMeat.net, a Linux software directory. The number of visitors quadrupled instantly. Yet, none of them complains than I only provide precompiled binaries for FreeBSD, and talk about FreeBSD on my web site, never even mentioning that Linux exists. Of course, unlike IBM, I am not expecting to make any financial profits from my software, so I chose my platform based on technological criteria, not economic ones. But guess what: I never heard of FreeBSD until I started my web site. My web host (pair Networks) uses FreeBSD to run their servers on, and, of course, they inform their customers about it. Had I chosen some other web hosting provider, I might still not even know that there is such a thing as FreeBSD. In that case I might have developed Graphic Counter Language to work under Windows, for all I know. Our choices are always limited by our knowledge. Microsoft makes sure the whole world knows about Windows. Linux users seem to have evangelization down to a science. It can work against them - I took a look at Linux about a year ago, and was turned off by a HOWTO that essentially said I'd have to treat "Mr. Tornvald" - or whatever his name is - as some kind of a deity. Proselytizing happens to be against my religion, so I tend to turn away from anything that is being proselytized, be it ActiveX or Linux. On the other hand, it seems to be working on many others: You can see ActiveX products advertized all over programmers' magazines despite it being extremely bad technology. And you see lots of people getting excited about Linux (despite it NOT being bad technology <g>). Clearly, technology has little to do with what gets people excited. Am I jealous? Absolutely not. I make my choices, and see no reason why I should not let others make theirs. Last but not least, it may all boil down to what people can afford. There are a number of fairly inexpensive books on Linux. As far as I know there is only one book about FreeBSD, and I have heard nothing but praise about it. Unfortunately, someone with my income simply cannot afford to buy it. I deal with it by asking questions where I can, and probably by not running the system to its full potential, but others may feel more comfortable just to stick with Linux (actually, come to think of it, I could probably get more out of Linux using all of its abilities than I am getting out of FreeBSD using just some of its capabilities, but I believe that in the long run I am better off with FreeBSD). I suppose what I am trying to say is that different strokes for different folks. Hey, more people drive a Chevy than a Cadillac, but I am sure that Cadillac users feel no jealousy. :-) (I drive a Chevy, by the way.) Adam --- Got a FreeBSD web site? Get GCL from http://www.whizkidtech.net/gcl/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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