Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 15:42:41 +0300 From: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@freebsd.org> To: Erich Dollansky <oceanare@pacific.net.sg>, Achilleus Mantzios <achill@matrix.gatewaynet.com> Cc: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to improve FreeBSD Message-ID: <20050705124241.GA769@beatrix.daedalusnetworks.priv> In-Reply-To: <42C9EBBE.3030404@pacific.net.sg> References: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0507041110410.16223-100000@matrix.gatewaynet.com> <20050704111446.GA7402@beatrix.daedalusnetworks.priv> <42C9EBBE.3030404@pacific.net.sg>
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On 2005-07-05 10:09, Erich Dollansky <oceanare@pacific.net.sg> wrote: >Giorgos Keramidas wrote: >> On 2005-07-04 11:11, >> Achilleus Mantzios <achill@matrix.gatewaynet.com> wrote: >> >> If some of you want to help us improve FreeBSD, then stop arguing >> about religious and spiritual things and prove you can do something >> with a "real" impact on the current stateof FreeBSD, such as: >> >> - Submit a fix for one of the existing bugs >> - Improve an existing feature >> - Add new features >> - etc. > > Isn't he talking about the feature 'add new users to the user base of > FreeBSD'? Perhaps. My main point was that instead of "talking about adding new users to FreeBSD", we should focus on "acting". The particular items of action that have the potential, as forms of "advocacy", to enlarge the FreeBSD userbase have been listed in older posts. I just reacted to the tendency I've seen the past few months to drive the greatest percentage of discussions around a change of the logo of FreeBSD, as if it was just the logo that keeps users from coming. Well, I assure you, it's not. This is not a statement from my part that there can never be people who refuse to use FreeBSD because they feel the daemon challenges or even insults their religious beliefs. There are, however, a great number of reasons why people do not use FreeBSD that have nothing to do with the logo: 1. Missing features that exist in other UNIX systems This is where one may list things such as "my favorite UNIX system is Foo(TM), because if supports Bar(R)". 2. Lack of "hype" in popular press For example, the marketting and press efforts of a certain Redmond-based company are a typical example of what we cannot match right now. The press coverage of Linux is also something that may lose us some users who would be perfectly happy with FreeBSD. 3. Minimal or completely non-existent support by some hardware or software vendors No support by ATI and very limited support by NVIDIA is a very sore point that we need to do something about. Before we embark on yet another flame about the daemon or its relative religious significane to a certain percentage of the potential FreeBSD users, we need to think as members of the advocacy list and as users or contributors to FreeBSD what have WE done to actively promote FreeBSD lately? What have WE done to make it more known to the masses? Have we really solved ALL other problems and feel that our efforts are severely limited by the daemon logo, in a way that needs immediate action to discuss or change it? That's all. That's why I'm in favor of direct and immediate action and my alarms go off whenever I see yet another (mostly pointless) discussion about what should be done. Don't talk anymore. Go out there and do. - Send an article about FreeBSD to your favorite online or print publication. - Write the code for a new FreeBSD feature. - Fix an existing bug. Just do :)
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