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Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!agate!soda.berkeley.edu!wjolitz From: wjolitz@soda.berkeley.edu (William F. Jolitz) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: Honesty with 386BSD 0.1 Summary: Release 0.1 and Perspective on 386BSD. Keywords: 386BSD 0.1 Message-ID: <12adcaINNiuc@agate.berkeley.edu> Date: 24 Jun 92 18:02:50 GMT References: <1992Jun24.025455.3548@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg> Sender: Lynne Jolitz (ljolitz@cardio.ucsf.edu) Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 102 NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu Lynne Jolitz responds to article 1964 regarding Mr. Ahmads "open letter" to William Jolitz and the 0.1 beta testers: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Mr. Ahmads (and all the 386BSD Users), Firstly, I urge anyone concerned about the status of 0.1 or any other items that I can answer please send email to me directly, instead of plastering it all over netnews. I do try to respond to email appropriately. However, I will respond this way, if so demanded. Please, though, anyone who is interested in discussing 386BSD can always send me email at ljolitz@cardio.ucsf.edu, as mentioned in the reg file and read.me file of 0.0. I have also supplied my fax number, if that is more convenient. It helps also if you register so I know who you are, as we are quite inundated, and I spend several hours a day now on 386BSD mail alone. Release 0.1 is in beta test right now at several sites. We hope to have it out very shortly. We are doing the best we can, given the circumstances. I think it is time to put some things regarding 386BSD in perspective. For the last 7 months Bill and I have dedicated our entire full-time personal resources (which means we don't have a company or granting agency) to getting these releases out the door. Bill and I are not a university, non-profit organization, or commercial company, nor have we ever claimed to be. We are just two people using a few borrowed PCs and a laptop and essentially doing the impossible -- putting together a complete 100+ MB source release with binary and installation floppy, documenting, debugging, and enhancing it, completing the release engineering and asking nothing for it, except the goodwill of other volunteers. We had always intended CSRG to handle this, which is why we worked for three years and contributed for no consideration the port to UCB (of which I am an alumna) -- however, when they decided to take it private, we found the only way we could counter this aberrant situation was to complete the system ourselves and release it as should have been done by CSRG years ago. There have been a lot of great people who have volunteered their time to work on this system since release 0.0 (which Bill had to do entirely himself). They have contributed fixes, tested software, and generally worked on pieces of the puzzle. However, it has ultimately come down to one man who has had the vision to see this through to completion. Bill has worked on BSD releases for over 12 years, and he is trying to continue the technical direction of Berkeley UNIX, so that if anyone uses this system, IT WILL BE BERKELEY UNIX, and not some motley or proprietary substitute. He will accomplish this, not on the basis of arrogance, as others often do, but with a firm understanding of what must be done. While he is both brilliant and determined, this project is not easy or trivial. Most people get overwhelmed at the sheer size and complexity. He is not daunted. He will quietly continue and complete each task, enduring the slings and arrows flung by others. After all, the final victory is realized by accomplishing a goal, not just by talking about it. I can empathize with the frustration expressed from 386BSD users. Everyone would like more -- better and faster. However, it may be instructive to try to see it from the other side. So I ask each of you to honestly search your conscience and ask the following question: Would you honestly be willing to put everything you personally have, sacrificing your own personal gain, time with your children, even a normal life, to keep to a commitment and vision without any real expectation of gain? Would you do this over an extended period of time, just because it is the "right thing to do"? And finally, would you continue to put your own resources into this project, knowing that others are looking to you to supply the leadership and vision required, but also knowing that there are many other things you could be doing in the small time alloted in a lifetime? This is where 386BSD and Berkeley UNIX now stand. There are many dedicated and bright people out there who need to focus on their particular area of expertise, not plan for where 386BSD should head. That is the responsibility of the developer. So using 386BSD does have it's price. For us, for all the users, for the larger community. Nothing is free. In this case, it requires cooperation, teamwork, respect, support, time and consideration -- all of which can be avoided by giving USL (AT&T) money for a commercial system. As to commercial comparisions, I find them inappropriate. I ran a systems company for many years, and, quite frankly, no one gets the turnaround on release times from a paid effort that is now demanded from an unfunded effort. Expressions of frustration in this manner are unrealistic and counterproductive. As I look on the list of contributors which will appear with Release 0.1, I can only say that I am grateful that so many have been willing to give something to make things better. We're all working on this together, so we must show a little patience, generosity, and respect to each other. After all, genius is not a commodity, and 386BSD is not an entitlement. Both are hard-earned and sweeter for it. Lynne Jolitz. ljolitz@cardio.ucsf.edu