Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 15:38:04 -0500 From: "G. Adam Stanislav" <adam@whizkidtech.net> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD and memetics Message-ID: <19990422153804.B2321@whizkidtech.net> In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.32.19990421150131.04614650@localhost>; from Brett Glass on Wed, Apr 21, 1999 at 03:17:43PM -0600 References: <4.2.0.32.19990420204456.00b25160@localhost> <4.2.0.32.19990420075641.00b1a5f0@localhost> <199904201841.NAA05137@whizkidtech.net> <4.2.0.32.19990420204456.00b25160@localhost> <19990421102449.B224@whizkidtech.net> <4.2.0.32.19990421150131.04614650@localhost>
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On Wed, Apr 21, 1999 at 03:17:43PM -0600, Brett Glass wrote:
> Not so. People need to KNOW and BELIEVE that a product serves their needs,
> or it is immaterial whether it does or does not do so; it will not become
> popular nor will it be given the opportunity to do them good.
I have never gotten the impression that FreeBSD was trying to win a popularity
contest. :-) Some people appear to be evn worried about it becoming too
watered down if it became too popular. Nevertheless, I never got the impression
that Jordan was one of them. On the contrary, he is most helpful in answering
people's questions, be they seasonsed hackers, or newbies.
> If you believe that, then you would not approve of the strategy embraced
> by Jordan.
It is not mine to approve or disapprove. I am quite happy with FreeBSD
running on my computer. And when I see something I need is missing, I write
it. I needed tools to convert text files from various types of encoding
(such as iso-8859-1, iso-8859-2, the windows nonstandard) to the UTF-8
encoding of Unicode. So, I wrote a library of conversion routines for my own
use and posted it on a page of my web site. Much to my surprise, that page
instantly became more popular than the rest of my web site combined. So, I
submitted the library to the ports collection. Then I wrote four conversion
programs that use the library, and submitted those, too.
FreeBSD is a good and solid platform, that is all I care about. It is
attracting developers such as myself because of its technical superiority.
I also compiled the same tools under windows, and they do not work 100%
right despite being in ANSI C. They work without a hitch under FreeBSD, and
much faster, too. So guess which system all of my development efforts are
targetted to? And it has nothing to do with PR. MS sends me regular email
updates about all the "great" things they do. They even sent me NT 4 for free.
It is sitting on the top of a pile of CD's. As a programmer I have enough
technical knowledge to decide on my platform no matter what the PR people are
saying. Other programmers have the exact same ability, and generally the same
kind of attitude as I do. (Disclaimer: I do not know every programmer in the
world, but those I do know tend to have a similar attitude.)
> Jordan is attempting to position FreeBSD exclusively as
> a server operating system, and is actively steering developers toward
> another platform: Linux. These are losing and damaging strategies.
Are they? Is he? Yes, he does emphasize the server end of the OS, but I do
not have the impression he is doing it to the point of exclusivity. He is
pointing out the strengths of FreeBSD. No other OS is as good for servers as
FreeBSD. Why should he not bring it out?
> The engineer, who has assumed the role of captain without the experience
> or worldview required for this very different position, is aiming the
> ship right for the rocks. Many previous ships have crashed on those rocks
> before.
Yes, NeXT comes to mind. The big difference was that NeXT was marketted as a
commercial system. The average person could not afford it. Perhaps many of
those who could afford it could not justify spending so much money on
technology way beyond their perceived need.
OS/2 was commercial as well. And it came from IBM, the company that already
had its 15 minutes of fame.
FreeBSD is free. The developers of free software have a totally different
attitude than commercial software companies. Jordan just summed it up in his
message to Licia: He writes software for himself, and you're welcome to use it
if you want, but if you don't want to, that's fine.
I have the same attitude towards my software. I created Graphic Counter
Language because I could not find counter software that satisfied my needs.
I made it available to anyone who wants it. But at the end of its FAQ I list
a web site where people can find other counters if they want them. GCL may be
too powerful for some people. All I care about is that people can run counters
on their web sites. It makes no difference to me whose counter they use.
It makes perfect sense to me that Jordan offers people a choice. He is not
motivated by financial gain, but the desire to find a solution to different
problems. The most important quality of a good programmer is the ability to
solve problems, not the desire to have everyone use his software.
Besides, there is an important subtlety in Jordan's method: People do try
Linux, then decide FreeBSD is the way to go. Give the man some credit, he is
shrewder than it appears.
> This might be an interesting project. However, it will be in vain unless
> FreeBSD acquires what is needed for its survival.
In my humble opinion (not meaning to start any wars), FreeBSD needs easy to
follow docs for its survival. Docs written by writers, not programmers.
> OS/2 was a good OS,
> also, and had some very good books written about it by authors I know.
> I wrote quite a few magazine articles about it -- good ones, I thought.
> It died (yes, I know that a very few people still do use it) nonetheless
> because of (among other things) poor marketing to end users, developers, and
> hardware vendors -- maladaptive memes.
Yes, but OS/2 was commercial. It's a different ball game.
> I have no interest in being in a "Hall of Fame." I would like to obtain, and
> be able to use, a robust, technically sound, VERY POPULAR operating system
> which is not encumbered by the GPL or doomed by the factors mentioned above.
Then help it become popular. Don't look the gift horse in the mouth unless
you are an equine dentist offering his services. Jordan et alii have given
us freely. We cannot make demands on them. But we sure can join them.
Incidentally, I believe that *commercial* developers will be willing to
support free software only under the GPL. They will be willing to release
source code only if their competition cannot use it for their own gain.
Only the developers with the attitude discussed above ("I wrote it for myself,
but if you want it you can have it") will use BSD-style licence. Of course,
this is the type of developers who give us the best software. :-) The
enlightened developers. The unselfish developers. The no-nonsense developers.
The developers who are not control freaks. The non-restricting developers.
The live-and-let-live developers. The I-do-my-thing-and-you-do-yours
developers.
Adam
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