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Date:      Fri, 23 Apr 1999 11:30:57 +1200
From:      "Craig Harding" <crh@outpost.co.nz>
To:        Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
Cc:        chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD and memetics
Message-ID:  <199904222345.LAA12064@fep1-orange.clear.net.nz>
In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.32.19990422144951.00c60f00@localhost>
References:  <19990422153804.B2321@whizkidtech.net>

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Brett Glass wrote:

> >> 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? 
> 
> If you have not seen this, then you may not have taken the time to
> become adequately informed about the marketing and positioning of
> FreeBSD (what little is currently done). The slogan "The Power To
> Serve" appears on the FreeBSD Web site and on many of the
> proomotional materials. Representatives of the FreeBSD project and
> of Walnut Creek CD-ROM actively steer desktop users and software
> developers (ALL software developers, even if they develop server
> software) to Linux.

Brett, this paragraph, in a nutshell, is why people find you 
incredibly irritating at times. Your long message that started this 
thread was remarkably well written and insightful, but your continued 
attacks on Jordan (and the core team collectively) are probably 
singularly responsible for encouraging people to disregard everything 
you say without really listening. Even when you say something 
interesting or useful, people are already not listening and so never 
get to hear it.

In this specific case, only a week ago Jordan posted the following to 
FreeBSD Chat:

      JKH> For example, I'm widely quoted as saying that I actively 
      JKH> discourage native FreeBSD ports when what I originally 
      JKH> said was (and pay close attention) "For those companies 
      JKH> who are contemplating ONLY a single port, or are just 
      JKH> getting back into the Unix market and only have the 
      JKH> initial resources for one port, I encourage them to port 
      JKH> to Linux and get the widest possible user base."  I didn't 
      JKH> say I didn't want any FreeBSD ports at all, I said that if 
      JKH> you're only going to do one, you might as well make it 
      JKH> Linux and not, say, SCO or Solaris because our chances of 
      JKH> running either binary are frankly much smaller.  This is 
      JKH> just common sense, especially when you figure that any 
      JKH> company which does re-enter the Unix market and gets 
      JKH> burned is not going to be a vendor which is easy to 
      JKH> convince to try again.

> Do not assume that what worked on you -- a sample of one -- is
> necessarily shrewd or the correct way to go. MILLIONS of people
> choose Linux over FreeBSD and stick with it.

This is a superb example of creative writing with statistics.
Actually I think you'll find that "MILLIONS" of peple choose Linux
because they've never seen FreeBSD.

I'm sure you'll now reply with a long tirade about how yes, that's 
exactly the problem, and it's all Jordan, the Core team, and Walnut 
Creek's fault for not doing marketing & PR well enough for those 
Linux novices to encounter FreeBSD.....

Several things:

1. That argument is bullshit.

2. It's got nothing to do with FreeBSD's marketing or lack of. As
many people have pointed out, Linux is bigger because it's bigger.
It got going first. The more people use it, the more new people
encounter it. Linux had a two year head start.

3. Newspaper (real or virtual) column inches are not reality. You, of 
all people, should know this. According to the people who are in a 
position to know (eg I think a recent message from David Greenman) 
FreeBSD usage continues to increase at an increasing rate.

4. In case you haven't already noticed, the guaranteed least
successful way to have something done
(changed/implemented/added/fixed) in FreeBSD is to point at it and
scream loudly at some random assortment of developers "This is
broken. Fix it!". Going into long detailed explanations about why
specifically it's broken and how urgently it needs to be fixed
doesn't change that. This applies as much to marketing as it
does to NFS. 

> >The big difference was that NeXT was marketted as a
> >commercial system. 
> 
> Not so. NeXT was targeted at academia. On the day of the
> announcement, Jobs proclaimed that educational institutions were a
> huge market and he intended to capture it. The fact was, the market
> was already saturated and there was little demand there for his
> product.

Actually, you're both wrong. NeXT failed because they had the 
butt-ugliest logo known to mankind.

						-- C.
-- 
Craig Harding         Head of Postproduction, Outpost Digital Media Ltd
     "I don't know about God, I just think we're handmade" - Polly


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