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From: michael@okjunc.junction.net (Michael Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin,alt.os.linux,alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions,comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc
Subject: a monthly FreeBSD magazine (and other *BSD's too)
Date: 15 Dec 1995 10:09:22 GMT
Organization: Okanagan Internet Junction, Vernon B.C., Canada
Lines: 48
Message-ID: <4arhgi$f0c@felix.junction.net>
References: <4ajc07$sb7@unix2.glink.net.hk> <4al9tu$f33@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com> <4alnqo$1hi@clarknet.clark.net> <4am5uq$r24@agate.berkeley.edu>
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Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.admin:36025 alt.os.linux:6413 alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions:5111 comp.os.linux.advocacy:30387 comp.os.linux.misc:75731 comp.os.linux.setup:32424 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:10497 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:1550
In article <4am5uq$r24@agate.berkeley.edu>,
Jordan K. Hubbard <jkh@violet.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>In article <4alnqo$1hi@clarknet.clark.net>,
>David Clausen <clau@clark.net> wrote:
>>I had to make this decision about 2 months ago when it came time for me
>>to build an Internet firewalling gateway. I was won over by Linux
>>because of the fact that it supports kernel-level packet filtering;
>>which is analogous to what firewalling (packet-filtering) routers do
>>(but they cost lots of $$$$)!
>
>Then you made your decision on wholly erroneous grounds, I'm afraid.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Not true.
There are no books on FreeBSD which tell people that IP
firewalling exists and how to use it, therefore it does NOT exist.
>FreeBSD also supports kernel packet filtering and accounting. We've
>implemented several firewalls with it, including the one here. Type
>`man ipfw' on any post-2.0 FreeBSD machine.
Irrelevant. man pages are for gurus, not people who are trying to decide
which OS will serve their needs.
Marketing is all about appearances. Without marketing (other than a
couple pages in Walnut Creek CD-ROM's catalog http://www.cdrom.com) there
just isn't much marketing materials available for FreeBSD. But for Linux
there is stuff like the Linux Bible, Linux Sysadmin guide,
http://www.linux.org.uk and so on.
How many FreeBSD users are there? Twenty thousand? If you can find 20,000
subscribers you can make a go of a monthly magazine. If you can get 6
regular columnists then you can probably get enough material to fill a
magazine every month.
I don't want to see FreeBSD take a backseat to Linux. That would be bad
for FreeBSD, bad for Linux and bad for free software in general. The
20,000 subscribers figure above is a serious number based on some
research. Does anybody have any ideas for how to determine whether or not
a monthly FreeBSD magazine (with regular coverage of NetBSD and OpenBSD
and Lites) could get 20,000 subscribers. Because if these numbers can be
shown to be reasonable, this magazine really can happen.
--
Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-546-8022
Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-542-4130
http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com