Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.mel.connect.com.au!news.mira.net.au!vic.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!weld.news.pipex.net!pipex!hole.news.pipex.net!pipex!oleane!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uchinews!cbgw2.att.com!netnews.worldnet.att.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.net.uk!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!awful
hak.demon.co.uk!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail
From: brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk (Brian Somers)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Look, this is depressing! I'm outta here, folks!
Date: 20 Jun 1996 06:21:06 +0100
Organization: Coverform Ltd.
Lines: 95
Message-ID: <4qan42$g3@anorak.coverform.lan>
References: <31C6A7A0.7DE14518@FreeBSD.org>
X-NNTP-Posting-Host: awfulhak.demon.co.uk
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Jordan K. Hubbard (jkh@FreeBSD.org) wrote:
: I'm going to stop reading USENET again, I think. It does bad things for
: my blood pressure. Sorry, folks..
: It seems like there are a lot of people out there who are just
: constitutionally incapable of grasping the concept of "free software"
: and what volunteers are really here to do. I think they expect a lot of
: the world in general, perhaps, and see free lunches as a constitutional
: right.
: These same people also labor under the false impression that they can
: buy a CD for anywhere from $18.00 (street price) to $39.95 and be
: entitled to eternal unpaid, unthanked technical support for that kind of
: money. Heck, Walnut Creek CDROM *will* do their level best to help you
: if you call their tech support hotline or send them email, and they
: won't even ask you where you bought the CD (you could be an entire
: school sharing a single copy, for all they know) - a better deal is
: pretty hard to find. But even with that, people expect more. They
: expect every volunteer project member to dedicate the same level of
: "drop everything and help me now!" support and they expect to get that
: support whether they've ask for it with a smile or a snarl.
: Anyway, there's been a lot of that kind of whining going on here lately
: and it doesn't do good things for my love of humanity to read it, so I'm
: going to pull the ejection handle now and sign off of USENET for a month
: or six. It's either this or start flaming people to crisps as my
: circuit breakers go, and I don't think that'd be very constructive.
: --
: - Jordan Hubbard
: President, FreeBSD Project
I appreciate your situation, and agree with your statements to an extent.
However, I don't think the picture can be painted in quite such a black
and white manner.
As you know, there are lots of people out here that don't fall into
the above categories, so before anyone gets offended, I may not be
talking about them.
You guys at FreeBSD have done a commendable job so far - it's impressed
the shit out of me anyway, and it has also impressed many others - look
at the number of people posting to the FreeBSD groups these days. The
problem is that I suspect that many of these people come from a
commercial background. Commercial backgrounds teach people the following
when running their business.
1. Decide on your business requirement.
2. Specify how you're going to achive this.
3. Decide what hardware/software can implement this requirement.
This is where the PC/FreeBSD combo gets involved. This is because
people like me run around telling people how good it is without
bothering to make sure that they understand where free software
comes from.
4. Buy the hardware/software along with a solid support contract.
In the PC/FreeBSD case, this is usually about #1000/$1500 - and
_DOESN'T_ include support - only good will.
5. Operate the resulting hardware/software using relatively untrained
staff, and hope that you've got a small staff turnover.
If and when something goes wrong, you go to your support staff. Most of
these people have just joined the company and say "I don't know, I only
work here". The ones that have been there slightly longer are lumbered
with the problem.
"Hmmm, we got FreeBSD for free - usenet is my support desk"
Suddenly, they introduce themselves to freebsd.misc:
Yo guys, how do I do this ? Your documentation is crap, there's a
bug here. I can't get my disk to work. Why did I choose FreeBSD -
I would have been better going with SCO/Linux/NetBSD (grass is greener
syndrome).
The FreeBSD usenet "answerers" are far too generous. I am beginning
to believe that a lot of people should be answered with one-liners
that point to a man page or a bit of the FAQ/Handbook. They should
not be answered when they have obviously gone straight to usenet
without trying to figure it out for themselves. Besides wasting
time - time that could have been spent improving FreeBSD, they
probably won't retain the knowledge. The answer that's remembered
is "ask Jordan/J"org/Terry/etc." - things degrade from here.
What I'm saying is, people are used to the commercial "pass the buck"
mindset, the mindset that just pisses off people that do things for
free. These "do things for free" people will eventually back off and
think "f**k them, what's the point". IMO, this isn't good - it may
even be a part of what scared the Jolitz's off originally. Maybe a
brief philosophy FAQ should be posted regularily to the announce
group, and the core team should be more abrupt - ultimately saying
"read the philosophy FAQ. You don't get anything for free - the price
is to use your head".
Please, don't stop reading.... rise above the crap.
--
Brian <brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk>
Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour....