Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 09:37:32 -0600 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> Cc: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG, FreeBSD advocacy list <FreeBSD-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Book chapter on BSD published in Salon Message-ID: <39240E3C.2BB55534@softweyr.com> References: <4.3.1.2.20000516212344.0461bab0@localhost> <20000517163941.J22008@freebie.lemis.com> <39224C59.AE4BD2F1@softweyr.com> <4.3.1.2.20000517120734.045f0770@localhost> <20000518020859.B16497@physics.iisc.ernet.in> <392381F4.B39DE5CB@softweyr.com> <20000518143536.A5288@physics.iisc.ernet.in>
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Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
>
> Wes Peters said on May 17, 2000 at 23:39:00:
> > Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> > >
> > > > >In fact, there seems to be much discussion on whether Linux is better in
> > > > >any way, or even usable for that matter.
> > > >
> > > > Actually, some of the other chapters get into that more. The author has
> > > > a strong pro-Linux bias, and characterizes the BSDers as academics who
> > > > could develop software and coordinate their own projects but could not
> > > > evangelize, promote, or market.
> > >
> > > Which may even be true. But he is in no way unfair to the BSD's, and
> > > he is widely read among linux people and I think this is an excellent
> > > "awareness" article for that audience. If more people get interested,
> > > more people start using it. I don't see what you're complaining about.
> >
> > Uh, yeah. I'd say that pretty much sums it up. The Linuxers seem to think
> > of that as an advantage, where we think of it as being pure marketing bull-
> > shit, the same thing they accuse Microsoft of. It's a funny philosophy;
> > you suck if you're better at something than us (code for BSD, marketing
> > for Microsoft) and yet conversely you suck if you're worse at something
> > than us (code for Microsoft, marketing for BSD). I guess the philosophy
> > is just that you suck if you're not Linux, and reasons and justifications
> > don't matter.
>
> Well, I don't think that article justifies that sort of outburst (it
> nowhere says or implies that BSD sucks, quite the contrary in fact)
> and I see a lot of BSD coverage on the linux websites these days,
> nearly all of it positive.
No, the article was much better written than that. I'm speaking more
of the average drooling Slashdot anonymous loser.
> Besides your best chance of converting
> linux users is to say "here's another free OS, with various
> similarities and differences from linux, and it has these cool
> features, so you may want to try it out" -- which is pretty much what
> Leonard's article does. You can't convert anyone by saying "ooh,
> linux is so crummy, how can Mr Leonard even think of saying something
> nice about it, he's obviously heavily biased and a Stallman stooge..."
I found the chapter on Salon delightful, and plan to buy the book when
it is published. It might do more than anything so far to increase
the (small) flood of Linux users moving to BSD.
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
wes@softweyr.com http://softweyr.com/
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