Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 16:26:23 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com>, Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> Cc: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: O'Reilly article: Whence the Source: Untangling the Open Source/Free Software Debate Message-ID: <4.1.19990312161356.00cb39c0@localhost> In-Reply-To: <24351.921273950@zippy.cdrom.com> References: <Your message of "Fri, 12 Mar 1999 19:40:41 GMT." <199903121940.MAA23571@usr01.primenet.com>
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At 01:25 PM 3/12/99 -0800, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: >Where Mr. Kawasaki is referring to being "fanatical", I don't think >he's talking about Rottweiler fanaticism where any exposed flesh gets >a pair of fangs sunk into it, Neither do I, Jordan! You seem to be misinterpreting what I have in mind, possibly because you've seen some of my somewhat strident messages about the GPL. The threat posed by the GPL is a different issue from that of advocacy for FreeBSD (though there is naturally a connection between the two in that FreeBSD has the better license). >I think he's talking about hyping the product in a highly >enthusiastic way. And so am I. >This is further born out by the kinds of press events I remember him >being involved with back in the 80's. He didn't have people marching >up and down in front of Microsoft going "Windows sucks! Bill is the >anti-christ! Eat the rich! Long live Fidel Castro!" - Funny, but that's exactly the approach that Richard Stallman uses. And he got several standing ovations at LinuxWorld immediately after making such remarks. >that might >have attracted a lot of press, but I don't think it was as effective >as the people he had marching up and down extolling the VIRTUES of the >Macintosh platform and how much easier it was to use. That's the >point here - we're not Howard Stern and we're not going to make our >mark by attack-advertising or telling people they're misguided, wrong >and stupid for using the GPL. The degree to which one can point out the disadvantages of the competition seems to depend on who the competition is. No one said that the Linux zealots were out of line even though they went as far as bashing Microsoft at their "Windows Refund Day" event. I think that pointing out the competition's weaknesses CAN be done under the right circumstances, though I agree with your exhortations to "accentuate the positive." >I guess I have to repeat this like a broken record since people just >don't get it, it seems, but you win converts by explaining why you >chose the BSD license and BSD technology, not by calling the other >side a bunch of morons for making the choices they did. Who says I "don't get it?" Again, I think you're reading something different than what I intended into what I'm saying. (I happen to agree that calling people morons does little good.) >Perhaps Brett >has never actually used the world "moron" in his various diatribes, >but judging by the "audience reaction" that's certainly what people >read between the lines Only a few vociferous zealots have done so. And to some extent, I think they're overreacting on purpose. >and why I choose to take a much different >tack. It's not anywhere near as easy to shoot down someone's arguments >or dismiss him as a crank if he's just telling you what's good about >his product vs what's bad about yours. True. However, in order to compare and contrast the products, one still must mention the competition's weaknesses. I think it's a matter of approach. This is why I'm proposing that people who are good at taking different approaches be organized into teams which are then coordinated to assure the most positive results. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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