Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 12:58:48 -0700 From: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> To: Amancio Hasty <hasty@rah.star-gate.com> Cc: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Java Apps? Message-ID: <199801041958.MAA19427@mt.sri.com> In-Reply-To: <199801041945.LAA13311@rah.star-gate.com> References: <199801041812.LAA19119@mt.sri.com> <199801041945.LAA13311@rah.star-gate.com>
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> > I doubt it. But, Java could be the technology that allows applications > > to actually run under FreeBSD, irregardless of whether or not they were > > developed there or not. Plus, it allows FreeBSD folks to develop > > applications for Win32/Solaris/NC's and the like while still leveraging > > all of the knowledge and familiarity with unix/FreeBSD development. > > Curious, why do you think people don't like developing applications > for FreeBSD? There's very little money in it. I've seen too many people attempt to make commercial products in the 'free' market for too long fall on their face. The only 'big winners' in the free market have been people who sell the actual hardware we run on (PC's), and people who sell software to developers (the only example I can think of are XInside, who sell a high-performance X server and Motif.) Other than that, I don't see much of a market for any kind of application, since most of the folks who use FreeBSD either already know what they are using it for, or are developers themselves and have little use for applications. That's not to say there isn't a *very* small market, but it's not enough to make anyone rich or famous, or even allow them to 'get back' the time and effort they would spend to make something truly significant. It's just easier to give away something and get more satisfaction from doing that than to try to make a buck. So, because there isn't a whole lot of motivation for creating a 'killer app' just for FreeBSD due to the small market, it doesn't make a lot of sense to develop a product just for FreeBSD. Now, as I stated before, you can *use* FreeBSD to develop a 'killer app', but that application shouldn't be FreeBSD-centric if you want to be successful. Nate and anything you give away is going to take alot less time to develop
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