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Date:      Fri, 23 Aug 2002 07:54:11 -0500
From:      Eric Anderson <anderson@centtech.com>
To:        Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org>
Cc:        freebsd-doc@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Improved searching for FreeBSD.org web site
Message-ID:  <3D663073.40604@centtech.com>
References:  <4.3.2.7.2.20020822220010.00ab2540@pop.atomz.com> <20020823073410.B39333@blackhelicopters.org>

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Actually, I guess I'm a little bitter by this.  I spent a lot of time in the 
recent past working on a search engine replacement for FreeBSD.org, and even 
asked for comments and suggestions on this list (http://www.sprawler.com for 
beta testing).  I also repeatedly asked how I can get it in a "test mode" kind 
of set up to see how well people enjoy it, with NO RESPONSES.

Now, some corporate web searching company decides to throw this in "as a nice 
gesture", and everyone wants to flock toward it.  The results looked less 
relevant to me on the few searches I tried, and I don't like the interface as 
much (of course, I'm biased).

Heck, I'm offering to babysit the thing and keep it up to date (more than can be 
said about the currently pathetic search engine on the site), and this company 
is looking for a free advertising angle.

Eric


Michael Lucas wrote:

> [[cc trimmed for some hint of "internal" doc discussion]]
> 
> <mwlucas puts on Donations Liason Office hat>
> 
> Guys,
> 
> What is the current consensus on our existing Web searching functions?
> 
> I would like to at least give these folks some sort of answer, to
> encourage future contributions from corporations.
> 
> If the consensus is that our web site is adequately indexed, we should
> tell them so.  If the consensus is that our searching blows, we might
> want to take them up on it.
> 
> My gut reaction is that we should offer this sort of service as an
> add-on to our existing search engine, and see how well it's accepted
> or appreciated by the user base.
> 
> Comments?  Criticisms?  Other issues?
> 
> To me, the important thing is that we give them an answer, one way or
> another, preferably from a senior doc person.
> 
> ==ml
> 
> </DLO hat>
> 
> On Thu, Aug 22, 2002 at 10:19:22PM -0700, Mike Thompson wrote:
> 
>>Hello,
>>
>>I don't know you have heard of us, but Atomz is one of the leading 
>>providers of hosted web-native search and content management applications 
>>delivered over the Internet.  Since our founding in 1998, our services have 
>>been powered by FreeBSD and we now have over 55,000 web sites using Atomz 
>>hosted services.  Companies that use Atomz hosted services include 
>>Macromedia, Palm, Handspring, Maxtor, CBS News, Sony Playstation, Princess 
>>Cruises, Kohler, U.S. Customs Department, Johnson & Johnson Lifescan, Red 
>>Herring Magazine, and the list goes on and on.
>>
>>I wanted to offer the use of the Atomz search service for the FreeBSD.org 
>>web site for free.  I believe that this could improve the overall quality 
>>of the FreeBSD.org web site and make it easier for people to find 
>>information out about our favorite operating system -- FreeBSD.  I put 
>>together a quick example of Atomz Search for the FreeBSD.org web site at 
>>the following URL:
>>
>>http://mike.demo.atomz.com/freebsd/
>>
>>This example is searching about 2600 documents on the FreeBSD.org web 
>>site.  With a little more work we could search the entire email archives in 
>>the same manner and the foreign language sections of the site.
>>
>>Because of the value at Atomz we have found in FreeBSD, I would make our 
>>services available to the FreeBSD.org web site for free.  We normally sell 
>>our search service for $15,000 to $100,000 depending on the customer 
>>requirements so I hope that you can see that this is a very powerful 
>>service.  I would also offer technical assistance from our company to 
>>assist with making sure FreeBSD.org is getting a top quality implementation 
>>of our web service.  I would also be willing to offer our content 
>>management system, Atomz Publish, as well if you think that would be useful 
>>to the FreeBSD organization.
>>
>>In any case, I hope that this offer seems attractive.  If you have 
>>questions or would like to discuss this further, please contact me at 
>>mike@atomz.com or by phone at 650-244-5602.
>>
>>Thank you for helping to support the creation of a wonderful operating system.
>>
>>Mike Thompson
>>CTO/Co-Founder Atomz
>>mike@atomz.com
>>
>>
>>To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
>>with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
>>
> 


-- 
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Eric Anderson	   Systems Administrator      Centaur Technology
The moon may be smaller than Earth, but it's further away.
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