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Date:      Wed, 20 Dec 2000 19:45:21 -0500
From:      Dennis <dennis@etinc.com>
To:        "Julian Stacey Jhs@jhs.muc.de" <jhs@jhs.muc.de>
Cc:        Boris <koester@x-itec.de>, Murray Stokely <murray@osd.bsdi.com>, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD vs Linux, Solaris, and NT 
Message-ID:  <5.0.0.25.0.20001220192150.01f42450@mail.etinc.com>
In-Reply-To: <200012200059.eBK0wCN02480@jhs.muc.de>
References:  <Message from Dennis <dennis@etinc.com> <5.0.0.25.0.20001219111044.020739e0@mail.etinc.com>

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At 07:58 PM 12/19/2000, Julian Stacey Jhs@jhs.muc.de wrote:
>Dennis wrote to Boris et all:
> >
> > >Device Drivers
> > >--------------
> > >I don=B4t like binary only device drivers. The code of an operating
> > >system is more complex than a driver. if a company does not want to
> > >publish the sourcecode, the should go away.
> >
> > You've lost all credibility here. Well supported device drivers should=
 not
> > require source. I'd prefer a commercial (preferably the manufacters)
> > support other than some guy in the ural mountains who fixes things IF he
> > can get a card with a problem and IF he can duplicate the problem and IF
> > hes a good enough coder to get it done.
>
> > "hacker mentality" is not mainstream. 98% of people dont have a clue=
 what
>
>`Mainstream' is a target some seek to avoid.  Micro$oft exemplifies=20
>mainstream.

Your "mentality" has caused you to alienate yourselves from the rest of the=
=20
world, which serves your ego but not the FreeBSD community. Acts such as::

1) refusing to fix the kernel Make to work properly with binary modules
2) making statements like "if i dont get source i dont want it"
3) taking every opportunity to mock those who dont provide source

indicate to corporate america that you have no interest in having them=20
develop significant products for Freebsd

A successful strategy is to encourage all developers to contribute=20
products, binary or source, and let end users decide which products to buy=
=20
or use. With such an inclusive strategy, customers have choices. with=20
binary distributions you have competition, with source everything is the=
 same.

Binary distributions are not about piracy as much as they are maintaining a=
=20
feature advantage over your competitors. If you provide source with=20
improved features, someone will port it to the cheapest hardware available=
=20
and then you end up  competing with your own technologies.on other hardware=
=20
and you lose your margins.

There is no incentive for companies to invest resources in developing=20
better software for their FreeBSD based products, because there is no=20
guarantee that people have to  buy their boards to utilize it (if they can=
=20
easily be ported to others). so, there is no corporate-driven progress. Why=
=20
should D link provide their load balancing technology to freebsd if you can=
=20
just use it on an intel or 3com card? they are in the business of selling=20
boards, not helping their competitors sell boards.

db



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