Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 20:15:06 +0100 From: "Johnathan Meehan" <jmeehan@easynet.co.uk> To: <hackers@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Is FreeBSD dead ? Message-ID: <012e01bf8ac4$f7ea1700$030000ac@scully> References: <Pine.BSF.3.96.1000310105527.20209A-100000@omnix.net> <200003101849.NAA12916@etinc.com>
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Hi y'all, > "People perceive that BSD/OS > and FreeBSD are substantially similar in functionalty, and freebsd is free. > The source is only important to a tiny, tiny portion of the market. The > hackers list is not the market...corporate america is the market." (Dennis) Some of us live outside America, Dennis - you may have noticed that great hulking mass on the other side of the planet. We like to call it "Europe". ;-) *runs for cover* There's a good market here too, you know. Interest in *BSD over here is actually quite strong. The reason that Linux is so popular (especially in Germany) is actually because of SUSE, and not RedHat. Sorry, but I wanted to make the point because, basically, RedHat suck. Further, most of the market is actually domestic (Quake, although it runs better under Windoze), although I accept the intonation toward business. > Ever read Animal Farm? Remember that BSD/OS started out as "cheap with > source" and grew into "just another OS company". Good ideas can turn bad > very quickly. (Dennis) Yeah. As I wrote earlier, I will wait until I get my grubby mitts on some more information before I decide where exactly I stand, but I am still struggling to see how BSD, Inc. are going to benefit from all of this. You see, earlier, Sheldon said: "However, if BSD Inc. were to use FreeBSD as the base platform and sell extra toys and service along with it, they'd benefit directly from the volunteer energy of the project." OK, fair enough. Service - fine. Still two products sharing a common source tree, but if you pay money you get service. Cool. That actually sounds rather good to me, and removes one of the main barriers for many corporate suits steering away from FreeBSD. The best of both worlds, as it were. But it is the toys thing that is confusing me. Before you tell me to go off and read things, I've read lots of things. "They" aren't really saying that much, to be honest. Which is a surprise, because normally "they" never shut up. Could somebody clear this up for me? If FreeBSD is still going to go along doing what it does, then what happens if I write a device driver for WhizzoNewProduct(TM), that the commercial side is developing as an "added value feature"? Say, for example, I beat them to the punch. As pointed to earlier, it seems to be felt that BSD, Inc are coming along for the ride, because they cannot keep up with worldwide development. So, how has that suddenly changed? Can we conclude that it is just a marketing gimmick? I am concerned about a more cancerous turn of events. As I said earlier, I think we have to see what happens in RL before we berate people in the theoretical ring. The simple fact of the matter, boys, is that those of you quick to jump to the defence of events have no idea what is really going to happen. If you do, then could you tell who is going to win the 5:30 at Kempston tomorrow? Thanks, Johnathan Meehan To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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