From owner-freebsd-advocacy Fri Mar 19 14:40:31 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from xylan.com (postal.xylan.com [208.8.0.248]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D422915810 for ; Fri, 19 Mar 1999 14:40:22 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Received: from mailhub.xylan.com by xylan.com (8.8.7/SMI-SVR4 (xylan-mgw 2.2 [OUT])) id OAA13914; Fri, 19 Mar 1999 14:39:24 -0800 (PST) Received: from utah.XYLAN.COM by mailhub.xylan.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4 (mailhub 2.1 [HUB])) id OAA20413; Fri, 19 Mar 1999 14:39:23 -0800 Received: from softweyr.com by utah.XYLAN.COM (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4 (xylan utah [SPOOL])) id PAA16019; Fri, 19 Mar 1999 15:39:13 -0700 Message-ID: <36F2D20C.5813EB8A@softweyr.com> Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 15:39:08 -0700 From: Wes Peters Organization: Softweyr LLC X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (X11; U; FreeBSD 3.1-RELEASE i386) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" Cc: Steve Price , advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Linux emulation != FreeBSD sale (was Re: Netscape browser) References: <52250.921876798@zippy.cdrom.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG "Jordan K. Hubbard" wrote: > > > Try as I might I can't get Netscape to record anywhere that > > I'm downloading a copy of the Linux version only to run it on > > a FreeBSD box. This is very bad! I download the Linux version. > > I'm afraid that this is something of a red-herring argument, albeit > probably unintentionally. To explain why, let's examine the process > which goes on behind the scenes in producing something like the > Netscape directory server product and how you, the user, fit into all > of this: > > [...] > > It's sadly not at all inconceivable to imagine that we could well end > up doing this AGAIN to some other ISV if we just blindly demanded > FreeBSD native versions in knee-jerk fashion without actually checking > to see if there's a *market* for them, and it's not enough to say that > this is the ISV's problem and not ours since we're the ones trying to > establish some credibility for ourselves - it IS our problem if the > ISV goes away again in disgust. > > That, in a mere 5000 words, is why I'm now a pragmatist. :-) It's important to establish a relationship with a vendor before attempting to yank them around also. That's the compelling part of sending them a brand if their product already works; they don't have to do the work. Once that has happened, we can wedge our foot further and further into the door. Here's an ideal sequence: 1) We tell vendor that their Linux product works on FreeBSD. We've created a package that will install it, and we'd like them to stick our little logo and a link to the package file on their web site. They say "sure" and do it. 2) The app, whatever it is, achieves a level of satisfaction among FreeBSD users. It's becoming apparent that people are using it on FreeBSD, so we ask them to track how many FreeBSD vs. Linux downloads they're getting. They say "sure" and do it. 3) The app starts getting popular, FreeBSD people are clicking for it in droves. The advocacy group has cautioned people not to share it, but to download from the vendor so they get an accurate view of how many FreeBSD users they're getting. Now, there are just these few little bugs we see in FreeBSD, or this nice feature. If they'd just add some code to check to see if this is a FreeBSD machine, and if so, add this little extra function... They say "sure" and it comes out in the next release. 4) The app gets wildly popular. FreeBSD downloads are (nearly) outstripping Linux downloads. The vendor calls Jordan and says "can you recommend a good FreeBSD-savvy programmer who wants to work from home and get paid boatloads of money to make a FreeBSD-native version of our app?" Jordan gives them my name, and we *all* live happily ever after, but me especially. See what a great plan this is? 'Sbeautiful, man! ;^) -- Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket? Wes Peters +1.801.915.2061 Softweyr LLC wes@softweyr.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message