Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 08:48:40 -0500 From: Eric Anderson <anderson@centtech.com> To: absinthe@pobox.com Cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Improved searching for FreeBSD.org web site Message-ID: <3D663D38.8040402@centtech.com> References: <4.3.2.7.2.20020822220010.00ab2540@pop.atomz.com> <20020823073410.B39333@blackhelicopters.org> <3D663073.40604@centtech.com> <200208230937.56852.absinthe@pobox.com>
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Dylan Carlson wrote: > On Friday 23 August 2002 08:54am, Eric Anderson wrote: > >>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. >> >> > > I can understand if you are frustrated by not getting a response before... > however, I think it would be false to make any assumptions what Atomz's > motivations are until they are clearly stated to us. > > IMO, both engines look nice. > > I'm assuming your search engine is an OSS project. > Pros: > - We can contribute to it, improve it over time > - There is no possibility we'd ever have to pay for it > - There is the aspect of eating ones own dog food. > Cons: > - You are a single point of failure (currently). > > Atomz Search. > Pros: > - Clearly has more bells and whistles (AFAIK) > - Is in use in many commercial environments > - Fully hosted (does not require us to install/maintain anything) > - Atomz runs FreeBSD to host their service > Cons: > - Long term viability (will it always be there?) > - Cost (free today, cost tomorrow)? > > This relationship should be clarified, but on the surface I like it so far. > In the event Atomz folds or changes the terms of the relationship later, I > don't believe it would be a colossal effort to get htDig or some other engine > in place quickly. > > In the event that Atomz uses FreeBSD as a promotional piece -- realize it can > work both ways: we can also say that their platform succeeds in part by > using FreeBSD. > > I think it was nice of Atomz to offer, and open a dialogue with us. I'd like > to know more about what they can do for us. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice search engine. However, allow me to make a few points. First, the search engine I am writing is definitely open source. As far as a single point of failure goes, I'm not sure we are on the same page. I have written the engine to use no particular database system - only tools that come with a full FreeBSD install - nothing else. It was built to run on a FreeBSD web server, and have the ability to be mirrored to the other sites as well. I CAN host the FreeBSD search engine - but I don't think that is the "right way". Bells and whistles are nice - and sometimes needed. I'm interested to hear what users want, so I can implement those. I'm offering to do all the install/maintainence on the search engine for FreeBSD.org, whichever way that happens to be. Like I said - I'll babysit it, tweak, modify, etc, to keep it right. Oh - keep in mind that the engine you use on sprawler.com is my test bed - it could break or act funny any time while I "tweak". If it is going to be used in production, I'll set up another box. :D Eric -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Anderson Systems Administrator Centaur Technology The moon may be smaller than Earth, but it's further away. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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