Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 15:40:47 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, "David Shanes" <dshanes@personalogic.com> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Fw: Your Article "Freeware: The Heart & Soul of the Internet" Message-ID: <199804092140.PAA04541@lariat.lariat.org> In-Reply-To: <199804092124.OAA00915@dingo.cdrom.com> References: <Your message of "Thu, 09 Apr 1998 14:04:11 PDT." <025301bd63fb$0b94bc80$1d43a8c0@shanes.personalogic.com>
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At 02:24 PM 4/9/98 -0700, Mike Smith wrote: >Of course, operating systems are the foundation on which internet >software is built. And the promotional material for the "summit" made >that much pretty clear in its placement of the word "Linux". Indeed! In any event, it's good that folks are responding. As an industry and trend watcher, I have a compelling sense that the next few months will represent an "inflection point" -- that is, a period during which a major change in attitude and direction will be felt in the computer industry. Freely redistributable operating systems will suddenly acquire serious credibility and will no longer be able to be ignored by the mainstream media nor by developers. However, as the rise of Microsoft has shown, most users will fail to investigate alternatives and will adopt only those products with the largest installed base and the most press coverage. Thus, FreeBSD stands to suffer as much as to gain from the paradigm shift. If there is not an exceedingly strong effort to promote FreeBSD as superior to Linux, Linux -- which has a larger installed base -- will be catapulted to a dominant position while FreeBSD will see no noticeable increase in its user base or its popularity. FreeBSD needs to have a few "zealots" and "evangelists" -- just as Linux does -- to stubbornly insist that FreeBSD be included in every forum where Linux is discussed. It also needs some calmer proponents to take up the slack. Perhaps a new slot on the core team -- "Chief Evangelist" -- is in order. --Brett Glass To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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