[sterling@camdensoftware.com: Re: freebsd - for the win]

[Chip Camden]

----- Forwarded message from Chip Camden <sterling at camdensoftware.com> -----

On Jun 12 2010 18:39, Chad Perrin wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 01:12:55PM -0700, Chip Camden wrote:
> > 
> > Call me fatalistic, but I think there is a direct relationship between
> > FreeBSD's high quality and it's lack of popularity.  If it catered to the
> > common herd, its compromises would be many.
> 
> I believe there is such a relationship, too.  I think the obvious way to
> interpret this recognition of the relationship is as a causal
> relationship where lack of popularity is what (helps/makes) FreeBSD
> maintain higher quality, but I think that's mostly the wrong way around.
> 
> Rather, it is the focus on quality over quantity that keeps it
> "unpopular" (relative to other OSes, anyway).  I also believe that is the
> correct decision, without reservation.  There are things that could be
> done to improve FreeBSD's suitability and attractiveness to a wider
> audience without sacrificing that focus on quality at all -- that could,
> in fact, improve that attractiveness while serving the focus in quality.
> Such things tend to get neglected, though, and I think it is in part
> because of a negative reaction to the idea that populism involves
> sacrifices of quality.
> 
> Popularity, per se, does not result in poorer quality.  Populism,
> however, does -- and both greater popularity *and* a desire for greater
> popularity can create populism.  Note that I'm using the term "populism"
> in a pejorative, apolitical sense, and not in the sense of advocacy for
> the rights of the people, et cetera.
> 
> Anyway . . . for my OS of choice (FreeBSD at the moment), I'd much rather
> err on the side of elitism and quality than on that of egalitarianism and
> quantity.  I just find the occasional statement (which I do *not* think
> is what you were saying) that we should actively *avoid* popularity for
> the sake of quality quite annoying.  I just find the occasional statement
> (which I do *not* think is what you were saying) that we should actively
> *avoid* popularity for the sake of quality . . . well, I find it quite
> annoying.
> 
> -- 
> Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]

I've become an advocate for FreeBSD -- I'd like to see many more people
using it.  But I have no illusions that it will ever reach the vast
majority of computer users without being wrapped in a candy coating like
OS/X.  The real audience, I think, are the thousands of developers who
could appreciate a system like FreeBSD but who have never been
introduced to it.

Sorry, meant to reply to the list.

-- 
Sterling (Chip) Camden
http://camdensoftware.com | http://chipstips.com | http://chipsquips.com

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Sterling (Chip) Camden
http://camdensoftware.com | http://chipstips.com | http://chipsquips.com