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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dish.news.pipex.net!pipex!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.kth.se!admin.kth.se!merope.saaf.se!electra.saaf.se!not-for-mail From: gorhas@electra.saaf.se (G|ran Hasse) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: FreeBSD social event Sept. 2/3 Date: 25 Aug 1995 00:34:11 +0200 Organization: Svensk Amat|rAstronomisk F|rening Lines: 60 Message-ID: <41iup3$4sn@electra.saaf.se> References: <DD6HuH.HEA@bonkers.taronga.com> <40mb4i$aei@masala.cc.uh.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: electra.saaf.se In article <40mb4i$aei@masala.cc.uh.edu>, Woody Jin <wjin@hermes.cs.uh.edu> wrote: >In article <DD6HuH.HEA@bonkers.taronga.com>, >Christoph P. Kukulies <kuku@gilberto.physik.rwth-aachen.de> wrote: >>Second announcement: >> >> INVITATION >> FreeBSD - Hackers - Weekend >> "Social Event" >> September, 2nd/3rd 1995 >> Aachen, Federal Republic of Germany >> ... >>Saturday Afternoon Open discussion on various topics >> ... "How can FreeBSD be made more popular?" > >I suggest that the name FreeBSD be changed to a better one. >I understand that most FreeBSD users are unix experts, and they understand >what is going on. However, majority others are not, and they don't bother >to be. > >I have several following cases : > >Me : "I suggest that you should buy a nice PC and then install FreeBSD. > I used it sometime ago, and it was quite reliable." > >Other : "free BSD ? " "Hmmm... free ?" > ^ > "free means something not reliable, and not guaranteed ..." > "And I heard that BSDs are just for hackers ..." > "We can't afford to hacking an unreliable system ..." > >Me : "Well, in fact, the name itself is FreeBSD which is one of > BSDs on Intel platforms..." > >Other : "Even the name is FreeBSD ?" "Hmmm... shouldn't be any good". > "I think that we will buy just SUN or DEC Alpha. We won't have > much trouble ....". > I just ast "Other" to stop breathe - You know the air is FreeAir... >What I realized was that in many sites, they even cannot afford to >trying some exploration because of lack of fund, and/or lack of >human resources, and consistent request of reliable system from the users. >They just would not take a risk. > >IMHO, having a good name with repectable evaluations, and ease of >use/installation with good documentation are must to be >popular. It was some years ago, but most FreeBSD (esp. NetBSD folks) users >used to say, "BSD is for the poeple who know something ..." >Essentially, they humiliated novice users (esp. from DOS). >(I don't know whether they are still doing this). This gave the >impresstion that FreeBSD is for hackers only. It will take time and >lots of efforts by FreeBSD members to get rid of such false impressions. >Believe it or not, most people never try. They hear it from others. > >-- >Woody Jin