Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:01:39 +0000 From: Andrew Boothman <andrew@cream.org> To: Kris Kennaway <kris@obsecurity.org> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Less messages to FreeBSD.org lists Message-ID: <40143CC3.6010709@cream.org> In-Reply-To: <20040125194721.GA28036@xor.obsecurity.org> References: <4013EA9D.6040808@cream.org> <20040125134151.M52260@mail.tacorp.net> <20040125185753.GA12995@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> <40141B3D.9070901@cream.org> <20040125194721.GA28036@xor.obsecurity.org>
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Kris Kennaway wrote: > On Sun, Jan 25, 2004 at 07:38:37PM +0000, Andrew Boothman wrote: > > >>Agreed, but it would seem surprising to me that FreeBSD's installed base >>is growing and mailing list traffic isn't. We have no method for >>estimating the number of installed FreeBSD boxes, but I would have >>thought that mailing list traffic was quite a good indicator. > > > Statistics are available and have been posted from time to time in the > past. CD sales, FTP downloads, website traffic from FreeBSD clients, > Netcraft webserver counts, etc. I don't recall any other indications > of shrinking user base (on the contrary, my memory is that they > support robust growth). I'm glad if that's the case. I don't feel that FreeBSD constantly chases market share in the same way that a certain penguin-oriented OS does, but no one would be happy to hear that we had a decreasing user base. >>Perhaps we're just so good and documenting now, that nobody needs to ask >>a question? ;) > > > Don't underestimate that possibility. A hell of a lot of work has > gone into improving the documentation, and a lot of mailing list > traffic is in the category of newbie questions that are answered in > the documentation. FreeBSD does have excellent documentation, I always kick myself when I work something out on my own and then realise a few days later that it was all laid out in the handbook for me. Perhaps this does adequately explain decreasing list traffic... Andrew
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