Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 08:45:11 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com>, Zippy <seth@freebie.dp.ny.frb.org> Cc: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Netscape browser Message-ID: <4.1.19990319083523.03f7c470@localhost> In-Reply-To: <20561.921834857@zippy.cdrom.com> References: <Your message of "Fri, 19 Mar 1999 00:08:41 EST." <Pine.BSF.4.10.9903182359220.23743-100000@freebie.dp.ny.frb.org>
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At 01:14 AM 3/19/99 -0800, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: >I think it's kind of strange to envision a world where ISVs were >suddenly persuaded to jump on the FreeBSD bandwagon just because Linux >could now emulate its binaries. In real life I'd more expect to hear >"FreeBSD already emulates Linux binaries, so why wouldn't we just >build for the platform with the greatest numbers and let FreeBSD run >that? It runs Linux stuff, right? Why would anybody want to do the >opposite?" This is why Linux emulation has, if anything, hurt FreeBSD's ability to attract native ports. The answer is not to try to bring the mountain to Mohammad (mountains are big and hard to move) but to bring Mohammad to the mountain where he can preach to the masses and win some converts. This is why I believe that FreeBSD emulation for Linux is the correct move. >In any case, the PR value of having working native ports is certainly >substantial Jordan, it's ESSENTIAL. Companies determine the amount they'll invest in a platform by looking at NATIVE app sales for that platform. As has been said elsewhere in this now-bifurcated thread, a sale of a Linux binary for a FreeBSD box counts as a Linux install. Having been heavily involved with OS/2 Warp, I can state this unequivocally: emulating a more popular platform forecloses opportunities to get native apps. FreeBSD, though, has a golden opportunity that OS/2 didn't have. You couldn't get Windows to emulate OS/2 (it simply didn't have the architecture), but you CAN get Linux to emulate FreeBSD. Making FreeBSD a "universal API" would also be very palatable to companies like Sun and SCO, which are now grudgingly working on supporting Linux as a binary format and don't really want to. They'd jump at a chance to use an API that ISN'T part of a movement whose stated purpose is to wipe them out. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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