Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:18:47 -0400 From: Mehmet Erol Sanliturk <m.e.sanliturk@gmail.com> To: Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu> Cc: Wojciech Puchar <wojtek@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl>, Andy Young <ayoung@mosaicarchive.com>, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Ways to promote FreeBSD? Message-ID: <CAOgwaMv_9c_W4fek-kGhQV3B5bKv4RnEFn_6ixn2LS7qDPma6Q@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20120427203117.GA2055@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> References: <CAHMRaQf=M0ULOH=KnqzOXvczSM0Lb6apCoQkJegqyU3e8%2BgShA@mail.gmail.com> <alpine.BSF.2.00.1204272025080.5846@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> <20120427203117.GA2055@gizmo.acns.msu.edu>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu> wrote: > On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 08:27:07PM +0200, Wojciech Puchar wrote: > > > >After using Linux for almost 15 years, I only recently started using > > >FreeBSD. I own an internet startup and was looking for a solution for > > > > Those who need FreeBSD already use it. no need to promote. Or maybe need > > to promote bigger donations to FreeBSD community from big users. > > > > Those who actually need high performers and have servers that are loaded > > and are working not toying around - use FreeBSD. > > Not really true and kind of a poor attitude. > Yes. many people needing high performance already use FreeBSD, but > there are lots of services that could benefit from FreeBSD who are > not very aware of it. They may have heard the name, and even know > that it is an OS, but have heard it passed off as a non-entity in > the field and do not know better than that. > > Sure, if people take the time and come to the web site and then > download and use it and learn it, they know and don't need to > be told much. But, most others are not yet in that situation. > They might appreciate the help. Of course, some may be too > lazy or prejudiced to go through that, but many just need some > more information and encouragement I would guess. > > ////jerry > > > My opinion is that most important obstacle in front of FreeBSD is its installation structure : It is NOT possible to install and use a FreeBSD distribution directly as it is . In Linux distributions , when a distribution is installed , the user , NOT root , can use its facilities WITHOUT setting a ( large ) number of parameters which it is approximately ZERO . Contrary to this , when a FreeBSD is installed , an ordinary user can NOT use USB , CD/DVD , etc. , and even key board / mouse in X without setting MANY parameters in MANY files ( loder.conf , rc.conf , etc. ) . This point is a very important difficulty for the beginners and a really very tiring for experienced users . The first thing for FreeBSD to promote its use is to be done is to remedy this obstacle . All over the years , this fact is ignored , and left as it is , with a counter argument that FreeBSD is for servers . If we stick into this idea indefinitely , FreeBSD user base will not exceed a few with respect to number of desktop users because number of servers with respect to number of desktop users may be considered very small . Such a small user base is not sufficient supply a "breath" to FreeBSD to make it live . An important example is www.wikipedia.org which I mentioned many times . In yearly campaigns , they are collecting more than 15 MILLION US dollars as donations where average donations being around 5 US dollars per donation . Contrary to this , www.freebsdfoundation.org has a yearly budget less than HALF a MILLION US dollars . If the news I read is correct , Mozilla Foundation is getting 300 MILLION US dollars from Google for specifying its name in its search bar . Failure point for the FreeBSD is its usage difficulty and a small number of user base . Another point is that server installers are highly educated with respect to desktop installers and their numbers are small with respect to desktop users . For them , it is very easy to "harden" FreeBSD after installation if ever it is needed , because during installation , it is a simple question to ask : Will this be used as a Server ? With respect to answer to this question , even during installation a "hardened" FreeBSD may be installed . Another , for me , irrespective , idea is to mention PC-BSD in place of FreeBSD . With a more than FORTY years of computing experience , my idea about PC-BSD is that it is "complete failure" and mentioning it in front of FreeBSD is only to create another obstacle for it . Trouble for PC-BSD is that , for me , it is an untested ( as even as a simple installation on a bare hardware ) distribution . Thank you very much . Mehmet Erol Sanliturk
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?CAOgwaMv_9c_W4fek-kGhQV3B5bKv4RnEFn_6ixn2LS7qDPma6Q>