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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!rill.news.pipex.net!pipex!swrinde!news.uh.edu!cowmooputer From: wjin@cs.uh.edu (Woody Jin) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.openbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: Stronghold and other binaries for OpenBSD 2.0 Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 02:20:33 GMT Organization: University of Houston Lines: 54 Message-ID: <5hn7g6$5gh@Masala.CC.UH.EDU> References: <5hbjqi$20j@ocean.silcom.com> <3339D4C9.167EB0E7@FreeBSD.org> <5hkl95$kaj@Masala.CC.UH.EDU> <333EE9E9.2F1CF0FB@FreeBSD.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: sip-16739.public-dialups.uh.edu X-Newsreader: News Xpress 2.01 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.openbsd.misc:41 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:38105 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2913 In article <333EE9E9.2F1CF0FB@FreeBSD.org>, "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@FreeBSD.org> wrote: >Woody Jin wrote: >> I think that this is what many developers of free software >> should realize in these fast-pace days. It is the "time, effort", and >> "compatibilty" that matters, not the price. > >So how would you propose that the free software people have their >products evaluated? Commercial software is evaluated in various magazines and users depend on their evaluations when they purchase software. Much free software (esp Winsock related software) is evaluated on the net and I simply use the evaluation to install, and I never bother to install all of them, evaluate them by myself and choose them. I simply don't have such time. I don't know anyone around me who has such time. >You rightly identify a problem but give no practical solutions for a >part of the community which cannot afford full-page color advertisements >in BYTE or television spots during the superbowl which show people >throwing hammers at things in the name of improved user interface. *All >we can do* is get users to pass the news by word of mouth, and for them >to do that they have to have at least tried the software and liked it >enough to get evangelical about it. Yes, exactly. And that is what the new users need. Unfortunately, they often don't find such experienced users around them and ask on the net. I fully understand comparing X, Y, and Z arguments tend to lead to flame wars. But if you are in the situation of having to choose one of them (but don't have enough knowledge of any of them), that information of comparison is exactly what you need. There will be always new users. And the number is growing. The number of users who are far from system administrator and would like to install FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, or Linux will be growing (IMHO). Would you tell them to install all the OSs and compare them by themselves and choose the one they like ? Or would you leave them to choose by some prejudices or uninformed rumors ? I am not suggesting any good solution, because I know that I am not the qualified person to do so. But many other smart people on the net will probably post good ideas. >Again, if we're not allowed to ask people to make objective comparisons, >what then would you suggest we do? What I meant was that at least the novice users who would ask, "There are so many things around, could you tell me which one I should use ?", will not probably be the ones who can make objective comparisons, or have time to do so, -- Woody Jin