From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jun 22 19:46:52 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C84FC16A41C for ; Wed, 22 Jun 2005 19:46:52 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from iaccounts@ibctech.ca) Received: from pearl.ibctech.ca (dev.eagle.ca [209.167.58.10]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2A38643D49 for ; Wed, 22 Jun 2005 19:46:51 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from iaccounts@ibctech.ca) Received: (qmail 58258 invoked by uid 1002); 22 Jun 2005 19:46:50 -0000 Received: from iaccounts@ibctech.ca by pearl.ibctech.ca by uid 89 with qmail-scanner-1.22 (clamscan: 0.73. spamassassin: 2.64. Clear:RC:1(209.167.16.15):. Processed in 1.42247 secs); 22 Jun 2005 19:46:50 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO fuze) (209.167.16.15) by dev.eagle.ca with SMTP; 22 Jun 2005 19:46:48 -0000 From: "Steve Bertrand" To: "'Ted Mittelstaedt'" Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:48:51 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 thread-index: AcV2OBajU3NkcrR0Q4SXGQ8cGCFLBABKyVCw In-Reply-To: X-Qmail-Scanner-Message-ID: <111946960867558252@pearl.ibctech.ca> Message-Id: <20050622194651.2A38643D49@mx1.FreeBSD.org> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Explaining FreeBSD features X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 19:46:53 -0000 > > Fafa, I've seen these kinds of efforts before and they are > all generally doomed to failure. > > You see, the problem is that FreeBSD is not a general > computer operating system product. It is a very specific > product in fact. > > Now, the USES that FreeBSD can be put to are VERY general. > BUT, do NOT make the mistake of confusing the fact that just > because FreeBSD can be put to general use, that somehow it is > a general product. It is not. > > FreeBSD is targeted at 2 main groups of people: > > 1) Very knowledgeable people who are using it for personal, > or in-house corporate projects. > > 2) Very knowledgeable people who are using it to construct > turnkey systems for customers who couldn't care less what is > under the hood. > > By contrast, Windows and Linux are in fact, general computer > operating system products. They are targeted at groups #1 > and #2, but they are also targeted at group #3 which are: > > 3) People who barely know how to push a button who have a > problem they need to fix with a computer operating system, > and they really don't care if they understand how the fix > works as long as it works. > > > This gives rise to a rather serious Catch-22 with FreeBSD: > > You need to really understand intimately how FreeBSD works > and how computer software that runs on it works in order to > get it to work well enough for you to learn intimately how it works. > > Windows and Linux solved this Catch-22 by dumbing-down the > interface to their operating systems. Thus, an ignoramus can > get up and running with both of these systems, and that > person can remain fat, dumb, and happy, completely ignorant > of what he is doing, and those systems will still work enough > to get the job done. It may be a half-assed fix, but it is > better than nothing. > > FreeBSD by contrast, long ago decided not to do this. For > starters, if you dumbed-down the FreeBSD interface, then to > most people FreeBSD wouldn't be any different than Linux or > Windows, so why mess with it? But, most importantly, a > dumbed-down interface gets in the way of a knowledgeable > person, and over time becomes a tremendous liability. > > With FreeBSD, the only way that a newbie can break the > Catch-22 is old-fashioned mental elbow grease. In short, by > learning a bit at a time, expanding on that, and repeating > the process. It is a long slow way to get to know anything, > but once you get there, you really do know everything in > intimate detail. > > This isn't a popular thing to tell newbies. Just going through this list as I do every few days and came across this thread. I just want to say thank you Ted, your comments made for a very decent, informative and realistic read ;) Steve > > Ted > > >Thanks. > > > >-- > > > >Fafa Hafiz Krantz > > Research Designer @ http://www.home.no/barbershop > > Enlightened @ http://www.home.no/barbershop/smart/sharon.pdf > > > > > > > >-- > >___________________________________________________________ > >Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com > >http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm > > > >_______________________________________________ > >freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > >http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > >To unsubscribe, send any mail to > >"freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to > "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >