Instead of freebsd.com, why not...

[Anthony Atkielski]

Julio Capote writes:

> A website like www.spreadfirefox.com aims at targetting firefox to
> regular users that may not get the full "marketing dosage" from
> www.mozilla.org, so why not do the same for freebsd?

Because FreeBSD is a server, not a desktop.  The real market potential
is on the server side.  And if you want to convince large organizations
to adopt FreeBSD as a server, you must not present it as a substitute
for Windows desktops, a/k/a "regular users."

> www.spreadfreebsd.com could have a faq that would debunk alot
> of "Can FreeBSD run KDE?" or "Can I watch movies on FreeBSD?" type
> myths ...

There aren't likely to be any CIOs or CEOs or small-business owners
asking such questions in the first place.  Do you think companies like
Yahoo are using FreeBSD to _watch movies_?

> ... also we could have some kickass screenshots ...

Nobody in serverland cares about screenshots.  Screenshots are for
games.

> ... to show that FreeBSD can do anything Linux can do on the server
> end and the desktop.

Screenshots say _absolutely nothing_ about what an OS can do as a
server.  And FreeBSD is not any more suitable for the desktop than Linux
(which is to say, it's hardly usable at all).

One of the things you have to have clear in your mind when promoting an
OS is exactly what market you want to reach.  The server market in large
organizations is diametrically opposed to the desktop market, and both
are diametrically opposed to the consumer market.  You can't court one
without alienating the others.  You can't have everything.  You must
decide which market you want.

FreeBSD, like all UNIX operating systems (sorry, I should say
UNIX(R)-like), shines as a server, not as a desktop, and even less as a
consumer desktop.  If you want to make the OS succeed, you pitch it to
the market for which the OS is best suited ... and that is the server
market.  If you pitch the OS to the desktop and consumer markets, you
can write-off the server market ... operating systems that seem to be
desktop- or consumer-oriented make CIOs very nervous (and justifiably
so).

> Overall the website would be aimed
> for people that are curious about freebsd but cant find what they are
> looking for in www.freebsd.org or #freebsd, What do you guys think?

I think www.freebsd.org already covers the geeks perfectly.  If you
build a separate site, there's no point in aiming it at those same
geeks.  You must target someone else.  And hope that they don't see the
geek site.

-- 
Anthony