*BSD News Article 35956


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From: mcura@ee.pdx.edu (Melissa L. Cura)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: DooM for NetBSD, will it become a reality?
Date: 18 Sep 1994 23:23:04 -0700
Organization: Portland State University, Portland, OR
Lines: 58
Message-ID: <35jao8$5ae@jetsam.ee.pdx.edu>
References: <3595ak$l2i@jetsam.ee.pdx.edu> <MICHAELV.94Sep15214739@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> <35hgjs$t2n@fw.novatel.ca> <MICHAELV.94Sep18152042@MindBender.HeadCandy.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: jetsam.ee.pdx.edu

Michael L. VanLoon <michaelv@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> wrote:

>Thanks for pointing out that I've already had "my chance".  But, I
>don't think that sending him a 286 with an EGA wonder and a monochrome
>monitor would do him much good.  Since that's the only excess
>equipment I own, and everything else I have I need for daily work, and
>I have invested heavily in what little I own to make that possible, I
>don't think I missed anything.

Ditto.  I, being a home user and not affiliated with any type of business
have no possibility of sending any type of hardware.  The average person at
home doesn't have spare 486DX266's to loan anyone!   

>While the NetBSD/FreeBSD market won't make a large dent on their
>bottom line, I'm sure a commercial software house has to have at least
>enough resource to temporarily devote ONE PC to a quick port to the
>free BSD's.  The fact that they played favoritism to the Linux
>whiners, simply because there are so much more of them, and they had
>the resources to donate a PC to a commercial company, leaves a very
>bad taste in my mouth.  If they believe in free unix, they should

I have to agree here as well, which is why I said in my original posting:
"why do the *BSD'ers get the short end of the stick in almost everything?"
Sure we don't have as much of a user base, but that doesn't mean there isn't
a significant number of people out there who want it!  Just because we don't
scream and bitch as much as "the other side".   

Heck, all it takes is one spare PC.  Why didn't they just take the Linux PC,
take about a couple of hours to install Net/FreeBSD, compile the code, and
walla!  It's not like they have to get some expensive workstation to do it on!

>So, I guess what I'm saying is: it would be great if someone could
>donate a NetBSD/FreeBSD computer to them for a port.  But it shouldn't
>be *expected* that a computer need be donated to every commercial
>company simply to get a port of whatever software is in question, done
>for our OS.  After all, isn't the sole reason we pay money to these
>people so that they can use *their* resources to develop software that
>works for us?

I have to agree once again.  Especially with the rate of cash flow that ID
is getting, I can't see why they just can't donate THEMSELVES a cheap PC to 
do their development work on.  Since most of their market for software (if
not all of it) is targeted toward PC's, they should have MANY to do their work
on.  Sure, donating an SGI, or a Sun, or an HP, which are all worth probably
$5000 to $10000 dollars each, yeah, that could be a reasonable donation to ask
for.  But a regular old PC?!?  Come on!  

If anything, the whole thing boils down to one thing:  favoritism and bias.

>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>   Michael L. VanLoon     michaelv@HeadCandy.com     michaelv@iastate.edu
>  Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x for PC/Mac/Amiga/etc.
>     Working NetBSD ports: 386+PC, Mac, Amiga, HP300, Sun3, Sun4c, PC532
>               In progress: DEC pmax (MIPS R2k/3k), VAX, Sun4m
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Melissa L. Cura
mcura@ee.pdx.edu