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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!newsfeed.direct.ca!portc01.blue.aol.com!news-peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!news.stealth.net!newsfeed.uk.ibm.net!news-m01.ny.us.ibm.net!news-s01.ca.us.ibm.net!not-for-mail From: reyes01@ibm.net Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: The only way to keep FreeBSD viable in competition with linux Date: 27 Dec 1996 01:14:46 GMT Lines: 82 Message-ID: <59v7u6$a8s$1@news-s01.ca.us.ibm.net> References: <sehari.851369526@eng3.iastate.edu> Reply-To: reyes01@ibm.net NNTP-Posting-Host: slip166-72-219-135.ny.us.ibm.net X-Newsreader: IBM NewsReader/2 v1.2.5 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:33111 In <sehari.851369526@eng3.iastate.edu>, sehari@iastate.edu (Babak $ehari) writes: >--- >True, FreeBSD has some advantages over Linux. However, not always the >best product survive in the market place. VHS/Beta, Mac/IBM are just few >examples of these. Agree. > - Creation of specialized task forces, as follows: > - Porting Task Force: I am no Unix guru and just use FreeBSD on my spare time to learn, but it seems that the number of applications is not too bad. It could be better, but considering that FreeBSD has been (intentionaly or not) been targetted mostly as a server (this of course is just my opinion) the applications availabel suit the target market rather well. > - Driver Task Force: I agree on this. For instance I think that we should work on having drivers for Compaq computers. I keep hearing that they are crappy, but they are the number one seller of PCs in the US. We should at least target the large PC companies to make sure FreeBSD works in them. If we need the machines we could do fund raisers to buy one computer of those or to try to get companies to donate them. > - Publicity Task Force: Badly needed. You mentioned in another post you mentioned you may want to get involved in this. I recommend you take one and only one thing (for now of course) and try to do it right! There is much to do, but we need to do it right. One of the things I like about FreeBSD is that the people involved in the project have a good quality standard. > - Help Task Force: I find the questions mailing list to be pretty good (have you tried?) The people who answer, whether from the FreeBSD project or just fellow users, really try to help and many times go out of their way to make sure you get a problem solved. > - Fund raising Task Force: Agree 100%, but you need to be carefull with this type of things so the new users don't get a wrong impression. For instance you could do fund raisers to buy new equipment. We could try go approach corporations too to get equipment donated. We can also try to sell ad space to companies that sell FreeBSD hardware/software. The ads don't have to cost an exorbitant amount, but it surely won't hurt. It will also benefit the FreeBSD market in the long run to have this companies keep their support for FreeBSD. As nice as it may be to have ALL free software it is just possible. There will always be some programs which can't be obtained for free. For instance anything which requires to pay a fee to someone for a trademark can not be free even if someone would volunteer to code it. >With out the above measures, FreeBSD, fade away in the Linux world, as >did Beta, or Mac. I would not be as pessimistic. I think FreeBSD has a better chance than OS/2 to survive. :-) There a few other things you did not mention that I would like to add. -Usability. Once someone learns the basics Unix is not so hard; it is just the basics that get the people frustrated. I would say that installation is a big priority followed by revising the man pages (or even moving to something better). -Helping those who want to help. I find it that there has not been enough attention paid to including sections in the handbook telling people what they can do to help. We should have bi-monthly projects which are are targetted to attracting new volunteers. In order to do this we need to give this volunteers all the information they could possibly need to accomplish what we want them to do. For instance how can we spect people who have no clue of not even what SGML is to help with the documentation. I think that the best people to write documentation for beginners are people who have just learned the part which needs to be documented. This is because those who have used something for a long time are too biased to understand the complexities something may have.