Where is FreeBSD going?

[Munden, Randall J]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brett Glass [mailto:brett at lariat.org] 
> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 9:16 PM
> To: Munden, Randall J; chris at randomcamel.net; 
> freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org
> Cc: freebsd-chat at freebsd.org
> Subject: RE: Where is FreeBSD going?
> 
> 
> At 04:00 PM 1/5/2004, Munden, Randall J wrote:
> 
> >I think this is what is on my mind these days.  I'm 
> preparing to load 
> >up some machines for production soon (I've already put it 
> off for too 
> >long waiting for 5-STABLE) and I don't like what I'm seeing -- with 
> >both the mud slinging here and the performance in the lab (mostly 
> >anecdotal).
> 
> I don't think that *this* conversation is mud slinging. 
> What's happening on Slashdot, on the other hand, is.

Right, I typed that wrong.  This conversation certainly isn't mud
slinging -- open, honest discussion can do nothing but good [no 
matter the outcome].

Honestly, I picked up the troll thread because I'm curious as to 
why someone would commit so much time in effort to trolling 
these lists.  In my experience it's a good idea to explore the 
reasoning behind that type of dedication (faulty or not) for no
other reason that discovery.  On-the-other-hand some people 
accuse me of being obsessive about information.  /me shrugs

All I can do now is apologize for 'feeding the troll' or rather, 
sorry for calling attention to a subject that may be painful, 
cliché or overused to others.

> 
> >> 
> >> FreeBSD also keeps falling farther and farther behind Linux
> >> in the area of advocacy (and, hence, corporate adoption). 
> >> Again, this is a governance 
> >> issue. Many of the developers actually have an antipathy 
> >> toward advocacy, 
> >> since they dislike answering newbie FAQs and don't want too 
> >> many people to adopt the OS for fear that it'll overcrowd 
> >> their "sandbox." So, some of the criticism is actually valid.
> >
> >I noticed it too but I just chalked it up to being crazy 
> busy and not 
> >paying much attention.
> 
> Nope, it's not because you're too busy. It's true. FreeBSD is 
> getting fewer mentions in the mainstream press, and fewer 
> commercial apps, lately. Linux is mentioned as if it was the 
> ONLY alternative to Windows. Work is needed to raise 
> FreeBSD's profile.

Which leads me to query, given limited time an resources, what can 
I do?  I've moved many a production server to fBSD over the 
last 10 or so years -- some of them literally -- by blathering 
nonstop about the virtues of the OS.  So what else is there?  Do I 
need to start writing documentation or publishing and pimping more 
Howtos on the intarweb?  Should I brush up on my C and start patching?

Frankly, I'd never given thought to providing more effort.  The OS 
has always done it's own advocacy in my experience.

> 
> --Brett
> 
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org mailing list 
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/free> bsd-hackers
> To 
> unsubscribe, send any mail to 
> "freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>