Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:14:09 -0700 From: David Southwell <david@vizion2000.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, support@kinetix.gr Cc: Latitude <robertjx@ix.netcom.com> Subject: Re: Convince me, please! Message-ID: <200708150314.09987.david@vizion2000.net> In-Reply-To: <46BAB22C.1060700@kinetix.gr> References: <46BA9682.7020203@ix.netcom.com> <46BAB22C.1060700@kinetix.gr>
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On Wednesday 08 August 2007 23:20:28 Goltsios Theodore wrote: > Well sorry if I'm getting annoying but I think you face the Unix > world in the wrong manner. Well you expect to find something you are > used to, or something like MS Win you only know. I advise that you > should be more open minded, willing to read and spare time to get > familiar to the Unix OSes that are around. But the advantages are and > the power that these kind of systems offer, which is probably unlimited > compared with the Windowz strict and limited way of operating. If you > really don't want that kind of power (thus doing what you must faster, > better and in a more efficient way) then you are in the wrong place. A > good way to start solving all questions concerning the FreeBSD is its > handbook or the perhaps the FAQ. > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ > > PS Try some googling or the freebsd official site for more resources. > I'm sure all your questions will be satisfied. > > Theodoros Goltsios > Kinetix Tele.com Support Center > email: tgol@kinetix.gr, support@kinetix.gr > Tel. & Fax: +30 2310556134 > WWW: http://www.kinetix.gr/ > > Latitude wrote: > > I'm interested in changing over to FreeBSD from Windows, but I'll have > > to say, you guys don't really present a forceful argument to Windows > > users of how easy the switch may be. I get knee-deep in FreeBSD jargon > > the second I get to your webpage. I need to see an overwhelming argument > > that FreeBSD is a perfectly acceptable alternative for home desktop > > users who have previously known only Windows. > > > > For instance, if I download and install FreeBSD, will I instantly have a > > desktop windowing environment that I can navigate in while I figure out > > what's going on? Will I have a browser and way to setup an internet > > connection right off the bat? How will I migrate files from other > > operating systems? > > > > I understand you guys have been around for a while, but you don't seem > > to understand the monumental "fear" involved in switching operating > > systems. You need to address those concerns head on from the start. I > > need to see several screenshots of apps that I can use as alternatives > > to what I have. > > > > Help me (and yourselves) out. I see where both sides in this argument are coming from.. basically a lack of understanding of the others point of view. As a user of multiple operating systems..Freebsd, Windows 98, 2000, XP and XP 64, Linux and apple I thought i might throw in a remark or two which is intended to help a newcomer to a freebsd world. First lets think of the MS windows user. As a newcomer to a unix OS, such as freebsd, you are faced with two very large sets of challenges or, as I would like you to think of it, educational opportunities. Because the vendor of the operating system is also the vendor of major applications, including its most commonly used browser, office applicatiions and compiler systems non-technically minded users do not easily have a clear grasp of the distinction between the roles of an OS and the role of applications. To use any Unix system effectively a clear and reasonably detailed understanding of the way applications interact with the operating system is essential. For its own commercial reasons Microssssoft are keen to blur that distinction in the minds of its users to maintain a false notion that only MS windows can fulfill its user's needs. Secondly because MS windows operates in a commercial environment it fosters a dependency culture in which you pay for your OS, you pay for your applications and in return you EXPECT a level of support and therefore users are not encouraged to extend their capabilities beyond understanding the applications they use. In the freebsd world most applications and utilities are there for installing without charge. The users include people who develop and everyone partakes in a foem of voluntary mutual support. It is a world in which expectation of support is anathema and in which a combination of striving for greater personal comeptency and voluntary sharing of knowledge and responsibility is the dominant ethos. So if you plan a move to the unix be ready to learn to build a greater understanding of how the operating system works, how applications are installed and maintained and above all to realize your basic needs will not be fulfilled in the same way as they are fulfilled in MS windows and that that you will need to put in a lot of effort to understand how to benefit from the much greater opportunities provided by OS's such as Freebsd. So your first first set of educational opportunities are to learn how reconstruct your expectations and to construct a set of relationships that will work for you in a unix world. The second set of educational opportunities are to study the practicalities. You need to decide the basic things you need to get on board freebsd. You need a browser.. that is no problem there are many to choose from .. you need office tools well there is a complete office suite. Whatever you need there will be a tool for you and the choices are a rich but usually free!!. The draw back is being faced with the challenge of learning how to choose. That is daunting challenge and those of us who are familiar with unix system, and accustomed to communicating with other freebsd users, are often guilty of failing to understand that people who come from an MS Windows find the terse ways in which we tend to communicate to be abrasive. My suggestion to you would be to proceed without risk. Dabble with freebsd alongside your MSWindows system until you reach the point at which you are ready or not (as the case may be) to change over completely. You do not need the latest hardware to get started. Freebsd is much less bloated and, in that respect, more efficient than MS windows. Follow the instructions and play with the system and see where you want to go with it. Like countries all IT systems and applications have their own language. MS windows has its own language !! Every territory has a language needed to discuss its inhabitants understandings. If you use the pejorative term jargon to describe a language you will need to learn you will never learn to adjust. I recomend you treat this adjustment process is an educational opportunity. If you are not willing to learn the words that describe how a world that is new to you functions then, like a immigrant in a foreign land, you will not feel you understand either the practical systems or the cultiure of your environment. You will not find anyone here wanting to sell you the system!! The unix world does not work like that. Those of us who have used unix since before MSDos was developed do not easily realize just how difficult the adjustment can be for those whose experience is limited to MS windows. Forgive us if we seem terse or harsh at times. Our tendency is to indicate resources and trust that others will put in the effort to use those resources to solve their problems. That is because we have learned that way ourselves and trust the process. The adjustment to this way of thinking is not an easy path for newcomers. Good luck David
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