Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2012 17:09:55 -0400 From: Allen Kenner <germaniak@outlook.com> To: "freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org" <freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org> Subject: Spreading the word Message-ID: <BAY002-W3629FCD6DAD4AAA0B7FB0FADAD0@phx.gbl>
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Hello all=2C I've been using FreeBSD on and off since 4.0. I have my FreeBSD Mouse Pad= =2C my FreeBSD Stickers that literally cover my Laptop=2C and all of my Com= puters=2C and my two FreeBSD tee shirts I wear with pride=2C and my FreeBSD= boxer Shorts as well. I also have purchased just about every Item availabl= e on the FreeBSD Mall=2C and whenever someone asks me what it is=2C I take = the time to explain to them what it is. I'm just curious if I'm the only one who gets asked a lot about it. See=2C = even though I'm a geeky person who's into the whole BSD and Computer Scienc= e thing=2C not all my friends are. I have some friends who know next to not= hing about Computers=2C and the vast majority of my Family don't know a thi= ng about Computers. My Mom=2C who works at a Hospital here in the town in w= hich I live=2C isn't a Computer person at all. She does work on them of cou= rse doing the job and all=2C but knows next to nothing about Unix other tha= n what I've told Her. Mainly because back when I still lived with Her=2C Sh= e wanted to know why it was that I had spent over 500 dollars on things tha= t said BSD on them.=20 I ended up making it easy on myself=3B I showed my Mom one of my Computers = running FreeBSD=2C and what I could do. She doesn't like Computers=2C and S= he's bored by them pretty fast=2C but She actually took some time to listen= for a change because=2C even though She doesn't like them=2C She did see t= he amazing things possible with this little CD-ROM. And of course=2C She th= ought it was great that the SUPER old POS Computer She had given me because= it wouldn't run the newest Windows stuff=2C was still being used by me bec= ause it ran FreeBSD just fine. I live in Michigan=2C and other than the fact that our economy is crap here= =2C I thought "Why not use the Economy to my advantage?" And that's when I = started to do that very thing: See=2C before this=2C I would show people who awesome it was to be a user o= f FreeBSD=2C and they all loved the idea=2C but as soon as I went over the = way you have to install patches for security and bug fixes=2C I'd literally= lose about 99.999% of the people I'd reeled in.=20 They'd ask if there was another way=2C and I'd end up having to show them L= inux. They liked that because they enjoyed the power inherint in Unix=2C bu= t with a pretty GUI and easy to use tools. But see=2C now=2C we have PC-BSD= ! FreeBSD with a very pretty paint job=2C and all those super nice easy to = use tools=2C all rolled into one. So now=2C when someone asks me about Free= BSD=2C if I lose them at the point where they ask how you install patches= =2C or security fixes=2C I just point them at PC-BSD=2C since it really is = FreeBSD with some nice shiny paint=2C and of course=2C install software=2C = patches=2C security fixes=2C and updates=2C is the same simple point and cl= ick you have on Linux! I'm actually glad I started using it too=3B I installed PC-BSD on my Laptop= =2C and it's been wonderful. I now keep a selection of things around just f= or these occasions=3B I have FreeBSD of course=2C and then I have PC-BSD=2C= because a lot of the problems I ran into were because of what it takes to = patch. Now=2C I admit=2C I too don't exactly enjoy that. I mean=2C if I want to ru= n FreeBSD on a Desktop where I don't need any Server stuff=2C and I don't w= ant to compile anything=2C my options for making sure my Ports get security= fixes=2C are very limited. I think this is something that we really could = fix up. If PC-BSD can do it=2C why not FreeBSD? Is anyone here aware of any work being done to make it so that Updating=2C = Patching=2C and so on=2C on FreeBSD=2C becomes as easy as it is on PC-BSD? = Personally I'm VERY biased towards FreeBSD=2C and I'd switch to it complete= ly and no longer even bother much with Linux if I could just get it to wher= e I could do security fixes on Ports without having to go through such a lo= ng process. How do YOU guys do it? Like just as an example=2C I'd like to know the foll= owing: Lets say you are setting up a new machine. It doesn't matter if it's a Serv= er or a Desktop system=2C but lets just say you guys all got a new Computer= =2C and are installing FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE on it=2C and you have finished w= ith the installation=2C and now you want to get some Ports installed. What = are your next steps? Like I myself for example=2C will generally then run p= ortsnap to make sure they're updated=2C but the what? What do you do if you= then ran sysinstall and installed a bunch of packages as well? What if you installed FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE=2C and then=2C you run up portsna= p=2C install a few ports=2C and then=2C you ran sysinstall=2C and you insta= lled a bunch of software from packages as well? You now start getting those= emails about how there are security patches you need to install. What do y= ou do next? =
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