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Date:      Sat, 18 Dec 1999 01:19:38 -0800
From:      Brent Kearney <brent@kearneys.ca>
To:        Konrad Heuer <kheuer@gwdu60.gwdg.de>
Cc:        FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Observations from Germany
Message-ID:  <19991218011938.A5150@kearneys.ca>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9912162114590.21150-100000@gwdu60.gwdg.de>; from kheuer@gwdu60.gwdg.de on Thu, Dec 16, 1999 at 09:34:44PM %2B0100
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.05.9912162114590.21150-100000@gwdu60.gwdg.de>

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On Thu, Dec 16, 1999 at 09:34:44PM +0100, Konrad Heuer wrote:
> 
> I see that SuSE does a good job in Germany. SuSE Linux is nowadays offered
> by large purchasers and mail-order-houses like Comtech (a large
><snip> 
> seemed to move exclusively to the Windows systems. On the other hand, I
> would much more like to see FreeBSD in that context than SuSE Linux

The primary reason why SuSE, RedHat, etc, enjoy commercial success is because
they are commercial enterprises with those goals in mind.  Riding the wave of
Linux hysteria, these companies produce significantly different Operating 
Systems, although because they all use the Linux kernel, tag "Linux" on the
end of their corporate identities, and reap the efforts of the open source
community to produce the products that they market.

How can FreeBSD maximize the benefit from the Linux hysteria?   The approach
so far seems to be largely "grassroots" campaigning.  With more and more techies
discovering the benefits of FreeBSD, it squeaks into the scaffolding of the
Internet.  

I think the latest media blips about FreeBSD, "Even better than Linux?", 
etc., are exactly what the FreeBSD community needs.  The media loves mystery 
and hype.  Were a company to evangelize FreeBSD the way that SuSE and RedHat do
for Linux, this hype might reach similar proportions, and the OS could gain
similar popularity.

This is all, of course, purely speculative.  I know nothing about gaining the
support of hardware vendors.  Just a little armchair philosophy =)

-Brent




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