Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 00:33:42 -0500 (CDT) From: Brennan W Stehling <brennan@offwhite.net> To: Gustavo Vieira Goncalves Coelho Rios <kernel@tdnet.com.br> Cc: Salvo Bartolotta <bartequi@neomedia.it>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: low cost consultant (?) Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10005042356590.56754-100000@home.offwhite.net> In-Reply-To: <39121ABF.97757D60@tdnet.com.br>
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Well as it is now, FreeBSD is fighting to get attention from Sun for a supported JDK so FreeBSD can be taken as a serious java platform. Having a large user base will encourage Sun to fall in line. How good is a server if it cannot run java servlets with recent technology? And when I am looking for a good RAID system or some other uncommon hardware it would be nice to know that the user base of FreeBSD is so large that it is feasible for more hardware companies to produce drivers for FreeBSD. A user base for FreeBSD means a customer base for hardware companies. A good example of a weak OS is BeOS. It has amazing features and is very advanced but it's user base is so small that very little hardware is supported. So no matter how good the software is, the OS is still limited to the small pool of hardware that is supported. I wish every device that Logitech and Sony created had a FreeBSD driver, but it does not. I have to hunt for a one that is compatible and then make sure I get the exact version and that my version of FreeBSD is the one that supports that hardware. It is not easy choosing the older hardware which does not do the job all that well when you know you could install Windows 2000 which does have support for the autoloading tape drive that will do the job very well. I do not like Windows but their large user base encourages hardware vendors to write drivers. With a large user base/customer base, the hardware companies will begin to support FreeBSD directly. And ultimately that is good for the developers. And I am not saying that the FreeBSD developers need to write every driver. If Logitech can increase their sales by 5% I bet they would develop the drivers and make them available for download just as they do now for the Macintosh which makes up about 10% of the computer market. When developers make hardware configuration simpler, people who are potential developers and potential hardware customers will find FreeBSD more appealing. And that will make it more appealing to hardware vendors. Brennan Stehling - web developer and sys admin projects: www.greasydaemon.com | www.onmilwaukee.com | www.sncalumni.com fortune: Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun. On Fri, 5 May 2000, Gustavo Vieira Goncalves Coelho Rios wrote: > Brennan W Stehling wrote: > > > > Yes, I have heard the argument that FreeBSD is a developers OS and that > > sound and multimedia are only secondary concerns, but that does not mean > > users should suffer. In fact, the FreeBSD project should embrace users > > and help them in as many ways as possible in hopes that the user base will > > grow. > > Why do you think having a big user base is good ? > Better yet: Good for whom? > > > > Why does Sun officially support a JDK for Linux and not FreeBSD? It is > > pure numbers. If there were more people using FreeBSD as a user machine > > and as a development machine Sun and other companies would take notice and > > start supporting FreeBSD. It comes back to help the developers. > > *BSD is not a desktop OS (i hope the core team keep trying to get the > best possible OS for the server, not the desktop). > > The main questions is: does having dozens of user makes a OS better? I > think no. > Windows have million of user! Is it better that UNIX? I don't really > have a answer for that, but i would not enjoy seeing BSD change its > focus! > > > > It is inevitable that FreeBSD will become popular along with Linux because > > it is a solid system. It uses advanced technology to do things other > > systems cannot, but while it does great things as a server, it can also do > > the simple things like autodetect video and audio so that setup is much > > easier. > > Do you wanna do something very well? Keep your self focused in ONLY one > thing! DONT try to do everytinhg for every one. MS tries to write the > best OS for every one! It's clear impossible! Each kind of user have > different kind of needs. If your are developing a software, try not to > lose your focus (this is requirement for success: DONT try to please > every one, never). > > > > It is so easy to set up most things in FreeBSD but video and audio are > > still difficult. Installing most of the recent Linux distros allows the > > video and audio to be configured automatically. The FreeBSD project does > > not have to create userland applications beyond getting the multimedia > > systems working because projects like Gnome and KDE are doing really well > > in that regard. It would be nice if FreeBSD/BSDi just met them halfway. > > > Setting up things in *BSD is easy, really easier than linux. > When you have automatically actions perfomed, you are in the risk of > having some thing performed that's not what you want (Do you know the > PNP (Plug-And-Pray) devices? I personally dont like than). > I like BSD, cause it does not try to guess what i want to do. I have to > tell it what have to be done. It's a great thing, i am in the control, > Not the OS. > > > (It is regretful these things are becoming so commercial) > > I don't like the approach Linux is having know. I stopped using it since > think started getting too crazy. > People do not see that linux is just a kernel, that's why there is so > many different environments. > > > And if FreeBSD does not tackle these user concerns seriously, what is > > going to stop someone from using FreeBSD and go to Darwin or MacOS X which > > is based on FreeBSD 3.2 but yet will support rich multimedia? What > > happens when FreeBSD loses it's user base instead of growing it? > > > > FreeBSD needs users to stay strong. > > No, it DOES not! All it does is "knownledgeable" (sorry for this word, i > have no a good english. but i think you can see what i meant) user, > i.e., ones with experience on programming, networks, etc... > Remenber, FreeBSD employs the slogan "The Power to server" the "Where to > want to go today" or "The beautyfull GUI to smart users" or things like > that. > > > These are MHO, not necessary the truth (once i have no a GREAT > experience with Free), so please, don't take me wrong. > > []'s > > -- > "Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world." > -- Lily Tomlin > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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