Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 09:56:13 -0400 From: "Jud" <judmarc@fastmail.fm> To: "Bob Walker" <rww@safllc.com>, "freebsd-questions" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: Newbie Experience #2 Message-ID: <1157982973.13127.270627049@webmail.messagingengine.com> In-Reply-To: <004001c6d5a0$43ab6ef0$0c01a8c0@DELL8400> References: <004001c6d5a0$43ab6ef0$0c01a8c0@DELL8400>
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On Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:46:13 -0400, "Bob Walker" <rww@safllc.com> said: > Thanks to *all* who responded to my whining -- you've been great, and I > am > going to give FreeBSD another try. Apologies to all if I sounded like a > twit... I was just eager to try something new as I have had it with MS > products. Regards, > > Bob Walker > Surveys & Forecasts, LLC > 2323 North Street > Fairfield, CT 06824-1738 > T +1.203.255.0505 > F +1.203.549.0635 > M +1.203.685.8860 > www.safllc.com Heh, no, you didn't sound like a twit. You're quite correct - everyone who uses FreeBSD knows that a "better" (meaning, at least to many folks, more simplified and graphical) installer would be nice. But as someone said in response to your original post, the people who currently contribute most heavily to the project are more interested in other areas. Some information about FreeBSD and this mailing list (at least IMHO - I can't and don't speak for the project, nor am I the most informed person on this list by a long shot): - It's a volunteer project. The whole OS and all the little pieces are built (with few exceptions) for love, not money, by people who earn a living working on something else. Given that, the people who do build the OS have put together something of remarkable quality over an extended period. One reason for the state of the installer is that it is considered "good enough," and people with limited time would rather spend that time making sure the system almost never breaks, particularly not in mission-critical situations. - World domination is much less on the FreeBSD Project's radar screen than it is for other OSs with monetary (see Microsoft, Apple, etc.) or "religious" (see Linux, Free Software Foundation, GPL, Richard Stillman, etc.) motivations. So there are only 3 ways to get FreeBSD folks working on a problem that interests you: (1) pay them; (2) learn about programming and do it yourself (at a high enough standard to have your code accepted for inclusion in the OS); or (3) learn enough to be able to show at least one person with relevant programming expertise what an interesting problem this really is. - Many of us remember our own newbie experiences, and if you demonstrate some interest and a willingness to learn, there are plenty of folks on this list who can and will meet you more than halfway. - There's a fair amount of UNIX/*BSD blood flowing in OS X's innards, so if the do-it-yourself aspect gets tiring and you don't mind spending money on an OS, you may want to look at Macs. Interoperability with Windows office apps might be a bit easier to attain going that road. Jud -- "I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams
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