Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 21:28:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Spike <spork@narcissus.net> To: =?ISO-9550?B?o8C359TCv82jwA==?= <fengyue@bluerose.windmoon.nu> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Kernel config script Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9905302036400.368-100000@pigstuy.penguinpowered.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9905301716200.10030-100000@bluerose.windmoon.nu>
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On Sun, 30 May 1999, [ISO-9550] =A3=C0=B7=E7=D4=C2=BF=CD=A3=C0 wrote: >=20 > On Sun, 30 May 1999, Mike Smith wrote: > > > I think its useful if it gets linux people less afraid of FreeBSD. > >=20 > > I'm not sure we want those sort of people. But there's already a=20 >=20 > Oh man! So, what kind of people do 'we' want then? > Who are we? Are you speaking of FreeBSD community? I hope NOT! >=20 > FreeBSD is getting far less attention as it should. Now, I'm getting > to know the reason. =09The reason isn't a lack of impetus towards catering to newbie users with minor OS features, the reason is that operating systems like Linux have many vocal fanatics on their side. If FreeBSD had RMS, ESR, and Linus shouting from the rooftops we would have seven odd million users too.=20 =09I think FreeBSD needs a stronger user base. This need isn't =20 immediately imperative, but it's there. Linux has the strongest user base of any OS I know of. There are a thousand web sites run by Linux fanatics= =20 for Linux fanatics, and each is getting a couple hundred thousand hits per day. When a new FreeBSD release gets put up on cdrom.com, they don't break the world record for amount of data transferred in one day by a public FTP server. Yes, it is a triumph for FreeBSD to hold that record, but all those people were downloading Linux. =20 =09The only way we are going to get the users, press, and acceptance Linux is getting and will continue to get is if we attract it. Right now, we don't. Linux was started as an underdog, and is still viewed that as the messianic OS given to the internet to fight the evils of Microsoft and all things stodgy or restrictive. It is seen as a core aspect of open source, and it seems this way not only the the press but also to the potential new Unix user. Linux is seen as the one true path. FreeBSD is viewed as a peripheral aspect of the GNU/Linux open source movement.=20 =09I think that in ten years, Linux will be going strong and FreeBSD will have whithered. I don't think this is because FreeBSD is technically flawed, or that the core team and developers aren't doing a good enough job. I think this because in the end FreeBSD is going to lose to Linux if only from the sheer momentum of twenty million rabid Linux fanatics. And realistically, we aren't doing a damn thing about it.= =20 >=20 >=20 >=20 > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message >=20 >=20 =09-Spike Gronim =09 sporkl@ix.netcom.com=09 =09 Finger gronimw@shell.stuy.edu for PGP public key. =09=09The majority only rules those who let them.=20 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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