Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 18:16:32 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: What Linus said about FreeBSD Message-ID: <4.2.2.20000207163850.00cf03c0@localhost>
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A number of people have stated that Linus disparaged FreeBSD at LinuxWorld. Here, for the purpose of discussion, iswhat he actually said. At 41:59 in the video at http://www.technetcast.com/tnc_play.ram?stream_id=207&stream_type=2&play_htt p=1&play_Real5=1, Linux has the following exchange with an audience member who has walked up to the mike to ask a question. Audience member: When I first heard of Linux, I thought it was, well, "This is just another FreeBSD." But obviously, Linux has far overshadowed FreeBSD, and FreeBSD had, like, a lot of really good people working on it. What have you guys learned from FreeBSD? Why have you guys done so much better? Linus: I think that the one thing you should always remember is that it's not just all about technology. Technology is important; what's equally important is -- is just the kind of community you build up around it. And it happened -- probably mostly by mistake, certainly by luck, not by planning -- that the Linux community was just so much more vibrant, so much friendlier, so much more open than the BSD communities used to be. And that, I think, was the deciding factor. It was timing; there was luck; I think what happened was that there was a real need for SOMETHING like Linux. And people didn't necessarily want it to be Linux. They just wanted an alternative. Something that was stable, freely available, and that was good.... And Linux just had all the right attributes at the right time. The BSD projects are certainly ongoing, still, but it's also clear they're still limited to thinking that it's JUST about technology. They don't want to, kind of, build up more of a community and user-friendly issues at all. Thoughts? --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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