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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!cssun.mathcs.emory.edu!cc.gatech.edu!cc.gatech.edu!byron From: byron@cc.gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX) Date: 18 Apr 1996 13:12:01 GMT Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology - College of Computing Lines: 87 Message-ID: <4l5f31$ijv@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> References: <NELSON.96Apr15010553@ns.crynwr.com> <4l2fl2$7hk@sidhe.memra.com> <NELSON.96Apr17101252@ns.crynwr.com> <3175DBD4.167EB0E7@FreeBSD.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: gemini.cc.gatech.edu NNTP-Posting-User: byron Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:21606 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:646 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3269 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3095 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17537 comp.os.linux.advocacy:45988 In article <3175DBD4.167EB0E7@FreeBSD.org>, Jordan K. Hubbard <jkh@FreeBSD.org> wrote: >Russell Nelson wrote: >> system can claim this. The *BSD* people have abandoned the desktop. >> Fine, let them have a hobby operating system. We're going to go for >> the big bucks. > >Not going for the desktop hardly equals "Hobby operating system", you've >simply got this weird (and wholly naive) obsession that the "desktop is >the computer", like some Sun marketing droid who took too much LSD >during the 60's and is now having a flashback to end all flashbacks. Jordan, While I have to admit that Russell's views are quite close to the edge (like over ;-) his core premise is sound. We cannot concede the desktop. However first we have to fulfill two or three basic premises: - Deliver at a cheaper cost (Got that one covered) - Deliver a better product (Got that one covered too) - Deliver a product that performs just about the same functions and in a manner that the user is used to (This is the kicker) One analogy that sticks out in my mind is the entry of the Japanese into the US car market 25 or so years ago. I mean early Hondas and Toyotas were barely more than car chassis sitting on motorcycle engines. But look at the market today. I could have been easy to conceed the market to the Big Three But they fit the above criteria: - They were cheaper - They were a better prodcut. Specifically in gas miliage. - And it was a car. A rinky Dink car, but a car. So to assult the desktop we have to have the same functionality as the competition. And not all of it either. I think any system that can run Microsoft Office to 95 is in the ring. > >Believe it or not, Russell, there are other markets for UNIX. This is >something which I shall not even attempt to explain to you given your >already well-established myopia on the topic, but it's nonetheless true >whether you care to acknowledge it or not. General purpose computing >and file servers, WEB servers (and other forms of Internet service >provision), packet routing and firewalls, you name it and FreeBSD's >being used for it. THESE are the areas I'm focusing on and, given that >the Internet is projected to continue an almost explosive growth curve >right up through the year 2000, I'd say there are PLENTY of "big bucks" >to be made there too (though this is hardly our #1 goal in life - many >of us are, surprise surprise, doing it because we _enjoy_ it). This is a great market too. And it's important to exploit it. But it's not about money necessarily but about choice. Right now if you buy a PC your options are extremely limited. It's stifiling. Imagine the world if there were only 3 types of cars and you didn't like any of them... > >FreeBSD is being used at Netscape, Yahoo and a host of other Internet >companies who are focused squarely on the *network*, not the desktop, >and I aim to continue pushing aggressively in that direction. Go to >your doom fighting ancient and already-lost battles if you really wish, >but I can only hope for the Linux camp's sake that few of them choose to >follow you and fight instead for UNIX's "glorious future", not its >"checkered past." If there's one thing I've learned about history is that seemingly impossible wars can be one, but you have to fight them. Put the image in your mind of Microsoft being the Roman empire and us being the Huns. The war must be pitched, and it can be won. But we have to have the weapons to play. Lastly, I'm really impressed with the areas that FreeBSD is penetrating. But even if we're not in the actual battle yet, we need to put up some resistance, speak of other opportunities, and work on the weapons we need to fight the actual fight. It may take quite a few years to do, but we're all doomed if we give up and let Redmond have the desktop universe by default. BAJ -- Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of... Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel - And Using Linux! Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332 Internet: byron@cc.gatech.edu