Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 03:06:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Tim Vanderhoek <ac199@hwcn.org> To: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com> Cc: Anatoly Vorobey <mellon@pobox.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Open Source Products Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980414024130.227B-100000@localhost> In-Reply-To: <19980414015920.30944@snark.thyrsus.com>
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On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> None of the above. What I expect will happen (not `want', but `expect')
> is that the BSDs will run out of development energy because the people
> who would otherwise join them will decide it makes more sense to be where
> the crowds (and the attention, and the money) are, over in Linuxland.
I think, ultimately, that we are trying to predict the future,
and history has been notoriously hard on people doing this.
Look, perhaps three years from now FreeBSD will be gone, but in
the meantime, there will be people coming from The Other Side for
whom, for whatever reason, Linux is simply not attractive. Maybe
the perceived chaos is too big a jump. Maybe the SysV nature.
Maybe the damn penguin, who knows! For some of these people,
FreeBSD can provide an easier introduction to Our Side, a
stepping-stone, if you will, until they too join the great big
blob of Linux. By providing choice, we are helping the general
cause.
What I'm saying here is that it's ok to believe that the *BSDs
will be gone in three years, but please do _not_ try to prod us
onto our death. Systematic manipulation with the intent to harm
the *BSDs in Linux's favour has been going on. Even when you, in
a much less malicious fashion, ignore or downplay the *BSDs in
your comments, that is hurting us, and hurting The Cause in
general. If, for a new convert, one of the *BSDs is the right
choice, then you should reccomend or at least mention it, instead
of simply saying "Use Linux; Linux is the future!". A happy
convert is a better convert, and if a *BSD makes them happier,
then . . .
> OK, you can come back at me with "If that's the way it works, why hasn't
> Windows won?" But the cases aren't parallel. There's a lot of stuff you
> just can't do in Windows. Moving to Linux, OTOH, doesn't lose developers
> a lot and lets them respect themselves in the morning. ;-)
Suffice it to say, I disagree strongly and have no personal doubt
that FreeBSD will survive past the millenium. However, I don't
think this matters. You should refrain, and encourage others to
refrain, from campaigns against the *BSDs because, regardless of
the future, that is the best thing for Our Side. Those converted
to the *BSDs will have time to move to Linux when Linux is ready
for them, but until then, if a *BSD suits them better, they
should use it.
> I'm sorry but I just don't find unified userland much of a draw. The
> flip side of unified userland is that you throw away Linux's potential
> to be all things to all people. Similarly, the idea that I can make
Bah! I don't buy it.
> BTW, I understand I actually have code in the FreeBSD kernel. Somebody
> told me you guys use a variant of the PC speaker driver I wrote for SysV way
> back when. If this is still true, it's very amusing considering where I
> spend most of my hacking time these days. I don't have code in the
> *Linux* kernel... :-)
We try to accomodate all developers. ;-)
--
tIM...HOEk
OPTIMIZATION: the process of using many one-letter variables names
hoping that the resultant code will run faster.
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