Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 21:36:09 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.org> To: Paul "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Richards=F2?=" <paul@originative.co.uk> Cc: Jordan Hubbard <jkh@osd.bsdi.com>, asmodai@wxs.nl, phk@critter.freebsd.dk, grog@lemis.com, imp@harmony.village.org, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Core's function (was: The Project and onward [was: Re: cvscommit: src/sys/netinet ip_output.c]) Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1010313213211.68787F-100000@fledge.watson.org> In-Reply-To: <3AAEA353.B31800B5@originative.co.uk>
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On Tue, 13 Mar 2001, Paul Richards=F2=0F wrote: > I think, from my perspective, that the problem is how to make University > or other research departments use FreeBSD for their reference platform > in the first place, so that their work is done through or at least in > close collaboration with the project. The increasingly anarchic > structure of the lists and project planning in general does not make it > easy for serious research to be based on FreeBSD or for the researchers > themselves to participate in the project. If we're serious about > maintaining FreeBSD as a leading OS then we should be careful not to > lose the close associations it once had with leading research.=20 Actually, at the Large Scale Networking Workshop this afternoon (follow-on to NGI), I overhead a number of rather distressing "We switched from FreeBSD to Linux for our cutting edge research and development" -- many of them doing so not based on sound technical reasons (in fact, often in recognition of technical problems in doing so, such as loss of access to ALTQ), but rather on the perception that what the world wants is Linux, and that FreeBSD is failing to generate name recognition and continued academic involvement. I don't think I have a grasp of exactly where the breakdown is occurring, and therefore what the problem/remedy are, but there is a problem here. We need continued academic involvement to bring us these kinds of features, and cannot afford to lose it. One way we might approach the problem is to be more aggressive in courting users of FreeBSD and helping them get the features integrated, and supporting their needs. Other aspects problably include PR. I'm going to follow up some tomorrow and try to find out why people perceive a benefit in switching to Linux. Robert N M Watson FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Project robert@fledge.watson.org NAI Labs, Safeport Network Services To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message
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