Why FreeBSD not popular on hardware vendors

[Da Rock]

> If we want FreeBSD to grow to where vendors pick up obscure and not-so-obscure 
> devices and support it more than it is now, we need publicity. If we need 
> publicity, we need marketing types. If we need marketing types, we need to 
> pay them, and we need to put up with them, and even be nice to them. I'm not 
> so sure I want to pay that price. 
> 

I don't know that it would NEED marketers, but even so that would be
making a deal with the devil- so I agree entirely with that point.
However, I do think the problem could be better faced technically than
from a business standpoint anyway- style would be a major point here.

> As it stands right now, it's a meritocracy -- those with the skills share 
> their work with others with the skills. It is bound together by the respect 
> we have for each other, and there's not much name-calling going on. The 
> product is technically sound, has better hardware support than other *ixes (I 
> run OpenBSD on servers -- but not on the laptop beause of the lack of laptop 
> support), and gets the job done well. The documentation is simply phenomenal. 
> I'm good with that. I'm also more than pleased that there are barriers to 
> entry based upon a basic unix knowledge level -- I've had one too many 
> encounters with the unwashed to want to go that direction. Linux developers 
> spend more time catering to that crowd, and IMO, it suffers for it as much as 
> it benefits from it.

Hence why I tend to send really green unix newbies to linux school than
grind their teeth on FreeBSD straight up. Let em get their skills and
experience in how *nix in general works on something a little easier
(for MIB lovers: noisy cricket), then move up to the big guns.