Explaining FreeBSD features
Steve Bertrand
iaccounts at ibctech.ca
Wed Jun 22 19:46:53 GMT 2005
>
> Fafa, I've seen these kinds of efforts before and they are
> all generally doomed to failure.
>
> You see, the problem is that FreeBSD is not a general
> computer operating system product. It is a very specific
> product in fact.
>
> Now, the USES that FreeBSD can be put to are VERY general.
> BUT, do NOT make the mistake of confusing the fact that just
> because FreeBSD can be put to general use, that somehow it is
> a general product. It is not.
>
> FreeBSD is targeted at 2 main groups of people:
>
> 1) Very knowledgeable people who are using it for personal,
> or in-house corporate projects.
>
> 2) Very knowledgeable people who are using it to construct
> turnkey systems for customers who couldn't care less what is
> under the hood.
>
> By contrast, Windows and Linux are in fact, general computer
> operating system products. They are targeted at groups #1
> and #2, but they are also targeted at group #3 which are:
>
> 3) People who barely know how to push a button who have a
> problem they need to fix with a computer operating system,
> and they really don't care if they understand how the fix
> works as long as it works.
>
>
> This gives rise to a rather serious Catch-22 with FreeBSD:
>
> You need to really understand intimately how FreeBSD works
> and how computer software that runs on it works in order to
> get it to work well enough for you to learn intimately how it works.
>
> Windows and Linux solved this Catch-22 by dumbing-down the
> interface to their operating systems. Thus, an ignoramus can
> get up and running with both of these systems, and that
> person can remain fat, dumb, and happy, completely ignorant
> of what he is doing, and those systems will still work enough
> to get the job done. It may be a half-assed fix, but it is
> better than nothing.
>
> FreeBSD by contrast, long ago decided not to do this. For
> starters, if you dumbed-down the FreeBSD interface, then to
> most people FreeBSD wouldn't be any different than Linux or
> Windows, so why mess with it? But, most importantly, a
> dumbed-down interface gets in the way of a knowledgeable
> person, and over time becomes a tremendous liability.
>
> With FreeBSD, the only way that a newbie can break the
> Catch-22 is old-fashioned mental elbow grease. In short, by
> learning a bit at a time, expanding on that, and repeating
> the process. It is a long slow way to get to know anything,
> but once you get there, you really do know everything in
> intimate detail.
>
> This isn't a popular thing to tell newbies.
Just going through this list as I do every few days and came across this
thread.
I just want to say thank you Ted, your comments made for a very decent,
informative and realistic read ;)
Steve
>
> Ted
>
> >Thanks.
> >
> >--
> >
> >Fafa Hafiz Krantz
> > Research Designer @ http://www.home.no/barbershop
> > Enlightened @ http://www.home.no/barbershop/smart/sharon.pdf
> >
> >
> >
> >--
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