From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Apr 2 16:47:39 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 3A1BCC2C; Wed, 2 Apr 2014 16:47:39 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-pa0-x22e.google.com (mail-pa0-x22e.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:400e:c03::22e]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 02359A3B; Wed, 2 Apr 2014 16:47:38 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-pa0-f46.google.com with SMTP id kx10so447359pab.33 for ; Wed, 02 Apr 2014 09:47:38 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:reply-to:sender:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id :subject:from:to:cc:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=iEXziXUEZMKsPv/XzNeULF+VrT1Zyqffc6u6rTniTXA=; b=DDBF5bnh2213xNAjeGdRnzfpjMbFO/hEWIUI8cjmRvHvf31R/jhjLC++WF9miYD95x biFF7wu6kHhDN+gk7cdAEu1F961FCAUz3Eux0rBCJemcUvp3InDVXxT5DmqZfuxJQoUi 7ljgpegCz6rodAoW7Jop9I0dmZN+bNwJH1Pbh9WfTG8zdf4WSLP6FFtN7KUw35h9KAqB iPbyTzw9/8NRZEMNkQoTrzUBj2D2TNH7jlNjV1RMGoVt+lVMfs9VOkPoU5/+/sVvLIcB hnsPD+CC+bR/qaCdk1rdxeW5CV3yp/Qdi6fW2Crmgub3+Rsez8YJ2Teqr5VQcbHO/Lt6 hpeg== MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Received: by 10.66.150.69 with SMTP id ug5mr1165840pab.55.1396457258612; Wed, 02 Apr 2014 09:47:38 -0700 (PDT) Sender: mattjeet@gmail.com Received: by 10.70.132.228 with HTTP; Wed, 2 Apr 2014 09:47:38 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <7217E584-D21A-4C50-96EB-ED280575BFFD@ixsystems.com> References: <7217E584-D21A-4C50-96EB-ED280575BFFD@ixsystems.com> Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 09:47:38 -0700 X-Google-Sender-Auth: YS_SUJZF2V3aenikv2KvjcRXAIo Message-ID: Subject: Re: Leaving the Desktop Market From: Matt Olander To: Jordan Hubbard Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Cc: Eitan Adler , hackers@freebsd.org, current@freebsd.org, freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.17 Precedence: list Reply-To: matt@ixsystems.com List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 16:47:39 -0000 On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 5:24 AM, Jordan Hubbard wrote: > > On Apr 1, 2014, at 10:11 PM, Matt Olander wrote: > >> This is like trying to predict automobile technology and dominant >> car-makers by 1905. There's always room for competition. Take a look >> at what's happening right now in the auto-industry. Tesla came out of >> nowhere 125 years after the invention of the automobile and is doing >> pretty well. > > I think you're kind of making my point for me, Matt. :-) > > Tesla benefitted entirely from deep pockets on the part of its investors.= Over $160M went into starting the company, of which $70M came from the pe= rsonal checking account of Elon Musk, the current visionary and CEO, and to= quote the wikipedia page: "Tesla Motors is a public company that trades o= n the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol TSLA.[5] In the first quarter = of 2013, Tesla posted profits for the first time in its ten year history." > > Yep, in other words, Tesla has been losing money for over 10 years and on= ly just started turning a profit, after raising a "mere" $187M in investmen= t and $485M in loans from the US DOE. Your tax dollars at work! On top o= f all that Tesla has only managed to make money at all by focusing exclusiv= ely the highest end of the luxury car market, where profit margins are also= the highest (the first car, the roadster, would set you back $110,000). > > Getting back to computer operating systems, it would make most readers of= these lists choke on their Doritos to know how much Apple had to invest in= Mac OS X before it became a viable desktop operating system and of course = you've already seen folks screaming about how Apple gear is too expensive a= nd they'll never buy it. > > You just don't get a consumer-grade desktop Unix OS, or a practical all-e= lectric sedan, without serious monetary investment and a luxury marquee to = match, assuming you'd like to actually make any of that money *back*. > > So, back to BSD on the desktop. Anyone got a spare $200M they'd like to= just throw away? That's what it's going to take! :) > > Don't believe me? Go ask someone who knows first-hand then. Ask Mark Sh= uttleworth: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/08/why-ubun= tus-creator-still-invests-his-fortune-in-an-unprofitable-company/ > Yeah, no doubt it will cost a bit of money to compete on that level. However, have you ever heard the phrase pioneers suffer where settlers prosper? Meaning it may (or may not!) take significantly less to compete once a lot of the harder problems are solved. If we take the fact that PCs are on the decline but device adoption is on the rise, perhaps we could focus on an Android competitor (*cough* Cyb0rg *cough). Wouldn't it be possible to run Android apps on *BSD via a java vm? I will get you an Ubuntu phone for Christmas and we can try it :P -matt P.S., I do not have 200 million but I'm good for 10k :P