Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 20:49:55 +0200 (CEST) From: Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai <asmodai@wxs.nl> To: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: jkh@zippy.cdrom.com, chat@FreeBSD.ORG, paul@originative.co.uk, kuehl@lgk.de Subject: RE: More of my totally ineffective PR efforts in action. :-) Message-ID: <XFMail.990414204955.asmodai@wxs.nl> In-Reply-To: <XFMail.990414190544.kuehl@lgk.de>
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On 14-Apr-99 kuehl@lgk.de wrote:
>
> On 14-Apr-99 paul@originative.co.uk wrote:
>> I don't think we should pigeon-hole ourselves as a server only OS. With
>> the performance of hardware these days the distinction is not very
>> distinct.
>>
>> One of the reasons NT gets chosen in companies is familiarity with the
>> environment from the desktop.
And afterwards they still wonder how on earth they could live with that
crap... Truely, I cannot imagine people using NT for it being a stable
product... And for those wondering, I administered NT, 9x, NetWare,
FreeBSD, Linux, AIX, and a few other weird variants...
>> Inside the project it's fair enough to focus the direction on producing
>> the best server platform we can but since that drives the quality of the
>> OS up it makes it a good desktop box as well. Publically I think we
>> should make more universal claims as to what FreeBSD is useful for.
>
> No. It is a splendid marketting goal, because
>
> 1. it defines a clear direction.
Indeed, cut the crap about desktops (well not really, but lets get the
attention better out towards server side) and get working on snazzy server
stuff...
> 2. there are many people out who'd be very keen on
> having a real Server OS on their desktop boxes.
True, but then we must offer a system that provides a great level of
modularity from within /stand/sysinstall / the install utilities in order
to reach that point of which we can say that it doesn't matter where one
installs FreeBSD and for what goal since it will install only that which
the user wants (this _includes_ sendmail).
And yes, I have looked at this, and no I have no patches since my time is
being devoted into other projects which I place on a slightly higher level.
>> We don't genuinely believe that Linux or NT are better desktop boxes do
>> we?
>
> We do genuinely believe that FreeBSD is a better Server OS than
> Linux and NT are, don't we?
Believe? Facts proof this. Period.
The points on which we unfortunately cannot do much is providing system
support in the form of drivers due to the limits of the projects
availability of hardware and other resources. Mayhaps in a few months I
might be able to donate a server towards the Project or at least write the
drivers for it. This is something _I_ aspire to and will try to figure out
how to do...
I think that a lot of people I have met in the last few months have done
great work for the total professional representation, e.g.:
Jordan himself, although I don't always agree with him I can understand
where he's coming from and going to...
Dan Langille, Jim Mock, Robert Garrett, for being a stimulating force
behind helping new users with FreeBSD with their efforts such as the
FreeBSD Diary and the FreeBSD 'zine...
Also Robert Garrett and Adrian Chadd for helping me out with the
Programmer's Documentation Project. And offcourse Eivind Eklund, Mike
Smith, David O'Brien, JKH, and a number of other developers for voicing
their advise...
Nik Clayton for the Handbook and his help with my schreds into the DocBook
universe...
Now I ask you (the reader in general): are we doing under for Linux, NT or
any other OS out there? I think not... We have maintained a level of
professional quality (with exception of interim release 3.0 offcourse)
which is continuous in the entire project and which will only keep growing
stabler and more professional...
For this to succeed we need a core, else we get a chaos system of
development like Linus has, and which is not beneficial for the Project.
Therefore I ask the core team to be more of a team (again) and try to focus
with that team on some future directions for FreeBSD in order to maintain
(and even expand) the position of our beloved OS on the server market...
I know I am interested in seeing some viewpoints in that area...
Sorry for this lengthy mail, but I think it's time we stopped bickering and
focused on the road which is ahead of us... We still have a long way to go
and internal grudges do not work well... People are who they are, respect
them for that... They try to do the best they can in their own way, but
words alone don't cover it (that's the main thing I learned in the last
months)...
---
Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven asmodai(at)wxs.nl
The FreeBSD Programmer's Documentation Project
Network/Security Specialist <http://home.wxs.nl/~asmodai>;
*BSD: Powered by Knowledge & Know-how <http://www.freebsd.org>;
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