Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 22:22:48 -0800 From: "Duke Normandin" <01031149@3web.net> To: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: "easy installation"!!!!! yeah right Message-ID: <000f01bf2431$d68808a0$6c9ac5d1@01031149>
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I'm a 52yr old newbie --- worse I don't know jack-shit about FreeBSD or any *nix for that matter. So please take my following observations in that context. It is NOT my intention to disparage anyone. I have never been an IT professional but did start dinking with computers in the days of CPM and the Apple 2E. So I have done my fair share of tinkering. When GUI Macs appeared and then Windoze (say around 1986?) I made the statement then to a friend of mine that Unix ought to get the lead out, come out of the inner sanctum and *show* itself for what it can be for the masses. Of course hardware appropriate for Unix was prohibitive for the masses. Now it isn't, and IMHO *nix (except for the Penguin) in still cloistered in it's inner sanctum. I have wanted to learn Unix all this time. But guys, to launch myself in this new caper, "I simply want to know the time, NOT how to make a watch" -- if you get my meaning. Personally, being a tinkerer, I'll definitely want to know "how to make that watch" -- but later, when I'm comfortable "telling time". When you guys first started driving cars, where you all in a position to set the valve timing, the ignition timing, etc. Can you guys NOW overhaul your fuel injectors and tune your high-tech engines. Do you want to know how? Do you care? I'm amazed at the brain-power, and level of knowledge and competence on this list. I also read the PHP language list, and am equally amazed at the level of expertise of *those* C programmers, especially Rasmus Lerdorf -- PHP's creator. I can't for the life of me believe that you folks can't present FreeBSD to the world in a simple, no-brainer version to get us wnnabee dummies in the drivers seat. You know what, once were *in* that drivers seat and marvelling and drueling at FBSD's capabilities, you have then gone a long way into making the next generation of FBSD gurus. However, if all we newbies can do is lurch forward like someone learning to drive a standard transmission, and never get moving or are so limited by the complexities, then FBSD *may* remain a novelty only to be enjoyed by a few gifted folks. I'm not suggesting to compromise the open-endedness of *nix, but simply to put together a useful, single-user, beginner's package that is a no-brainer to get going. Once they're behind the FBSD wheel, you've got them for life. *Then* we can start doing our homework for the more complicated network stuff etc. Unfortunately, it's ALL a question of marketing and PR. The proof is staring us all in the face --- a marginal product (windoze vis-a-vis FBSD) has made it huge worlwide. Linux is making huge headway. What do these two products have in common -- marketing & PR *and* ease of installation (although Linux still has a ways to go, I think). FBSD will *never* evangelise and convert the masses unless it does likewise -- but better. Here's a golden opportunity to take the wind out of both Windoze and Linux's sails. I just can't accept that people as *sharp* as you can't do it!! Or maybe it's that you don't want to.....In the meantime, I'll continue lurking, reading and learning FBSD. with respect.....duke To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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