Date: Sun, 03 May 1998 23:27:54 -0400 From: "Kriston J. Rehberg" <kriston@ibm.net> To: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Andreessen: Linux use growing Message-ID: <354D35BA.CE963812@ibm.net> References: <XFMail.980503135211.freelist@webweaver.net>
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I am very impressed with FreeBSD. So impressed, that after installing
it from the FTP site, I ran out and bought the book (even though 2.2.6
was just published, it wasn't to be in stores for quite a while so 2.2.5
was the only edition to be had). After cutting my teeth on Slackware
Linux a few years ago, and recently hacking through an installation of
NetBSD, I can say that FreeBSD has come along way.
Having said that, I have been using all kinds of Unix systems for many
years -- from old Xenix machines in dental offices, to SunOS in academia
to all the latest proprietary architectures in very large production
environments. From a professional standpoint, FreeBSD's only major
drawback is its name. In the real world, names are important. We don't
like running heavily-used, production servers on something called
Free-anything. It's a stigma that is unbecoming of a quality server
product. I don't rent cars in far-off cities from Rent-a-Wreck, no
matter how many times that John R. guy tells me "don't let the name fool
you" in the commercials. I rent from Enterprise.
While the FreeBSD project's goals are noble and the product is of great
quality, the name really takes away alot of the product's credibility.
Ironically, it grew out of a product called "BSD-Lite" that nobody took
seriously when it was first released by CSRG. A large organization can
probably get away with it, but a smaller outfit that is trying to build
a good reputation in the field, the name stigmatizes the group, too.
In a very large production environment, saying that you run FreeBSD is
like saying that you use "cheap-OS" or "OS-without-quality" to the
regular customer. Sure, cdrom.com runs FreeBSD, but they don't cater to
the regular customer -- the masses of people with computers, having
little technical knowledge but spending massive amounts of aggregated
real money for a service. Just ask AOL, or even IBM.
Now, I have to say that nobody reading this message would agree with
me. But the people buying the services are most definitely not reading
this list. They know next to nothing about FreeBSD's merits and good
quality; however, hearing the name "FreeBSD" they immediatly get the
impression that their production web site is running on "cheapo-OS,"
"not-good-enough-to-pay-for-OS" or, worst of all, "OS-without-support."
Not that any of these things are necessarily true, but first impressions
are important.
Nicole's company is correct in using systems that are well-known, or at
least "sound" well-known. An OS called Solaris, NetBSD, OpenBSD, or
Linux surely holds more brand equity and trust than something called,
simply, "FreeBSD."
Enjoy,
Kris Rehberg
--
Kriston J. Rehberg
http://kriston.net/
endeavor to persevere
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