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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.netspace.net.au!serval.net.wsu.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!oracle.pnl.gov!osi-east2.es.net!lll-winken.llnl.gov!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!agate!violet.berkeley.edu!jkh From: jkh@violet.berkeley.edu (Jordan K. Hubbard) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: OpenBSD. PLEASE PLEASE! Date: 18 Jan 1995 01:08:18 GMT Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 54 Message-ID: <3fhpm2$chu@agate.berkeley.edu> References: <3fhc5s$atq@nntp.stanford.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: violet.berkeley.edu In article <3fhc5s$atq@nntp.stanford.edu>, Terry Lee <yoda@rescomp.Stanford.EDU> wrote: >I submit this as a plea to the wonderful developers of FreeBSD and NetBSD. >I'm a new BSD user. And I've tried Linux too. I'm sorry, Terry, but all of this is just incredibly naive. I'm somehow reminded of a wide-eyed flower child with beads in his hair saying "It's all so simple, why can't we all just love eachother and be friends and have no more war and live forever in bliss and eternal harmony?" >After reading all the posts it seems to me that at the root of both teams is >this. You both enjoy writing UNIX code. And you both want people to use >your OS. When all other considerations are gone, it seems only these two >remain. Yes, AFTER all other considerations are gone, I suppose you're right! :-) But what makes you think that the other considerations can be so easily dismissed? >But if you want people to use your code, then you have to stop thinking >like programmers for a second, and think marketing. Just for a second >mind you. Believe me. We DO think about "marketing." I am frequently taken to task by my peers for thinking too much about `marketing'. Our failure is not insufficient understanding of marketing. We know very well the deleterious effects of the non-merge situation, but we accept them because we know that life isn't quite the simplistic picture that you paint. >I've read that some BSD people don't give a hoot about Linux. I think that Then you've hardly read the opinions of any of the BSD people that matter. I think both core teams are well aware of Linux's success, and many of the things that put it there. We hardly regard Linux as insignificant. >You want to enjoy what you are doing. Without that there is no project. You >also want a solid user base. Without it there is no project. I think the Yes, yes. Do you think you're lecturing to a junior high school class here? Everything you've said has been incredibly obvious so far.. >Someone said the perhaps 3/4 of the members of both teams were in favor of You're certainly on the receiving end of a lot of bogus statistics! :-) >Please! I think more than anything else you could do for BSD, more than any >new kernel code or new device driver, a unified effort >would be by far the best thing you could do for the users and potential users. While we're being so idealistic, do you think we might do something about world hunger? Jordan