*BSD News Article 76206


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From: Andrew Houghton <aah+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Walnut Creek FreeBSD ad copy
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 14:48:08 -0400
Organization: Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 30
Message-ID: <Am4r3cy00YUv09fPc0@andrew.cmu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: po9.andrew.cmu.edu

This is just a little note of disappointment..  I've been using
FreeBSD for over two years;  I'm a subscription holder for the
release CD's, and I just received the 2.1.5 CD, along with the latest
Walnut Creek brochure (which is what prompted this post).

Can't anyone come up with better copy for the FreeBSD vs. Linux page?
It's rare for me to see ad copy which so effectively makes a system
(in this case FreeBSD) appear the less appealing..  especially from
the company which supports it.

I can understand the positioning of FreeBSD as the more 'conservative'
OS choice.. what I can't understand is why Walnut Creek would
apparently work so hard to make FreeBSD appear a *worse* choice for
someone looking to get some flavor of un*x on their PC.  If I were to
start paging through the Walnut Creek catalog, with no background or
understanding of the issues involved, there is no doubt that I would
choose Linux, based solely on the ad copy.

There *must* be quotes someone can pull from one of the articles which
have discussed FreeBSD.  There must be some way to make FreeBSD appear
equally interesting to the hobbyist or first-time system hacker as
Linux.

Am I the only one who notices or cares about these things?  Am I
over-reacting?  I vaguely remember some traffic ~5 or 6 months ago
regarding something equivalent.  At the time, I think Jordan said
something along the lines of "it's out of my hands, the W.C. ad isn't
controlled by me."  Can we make constructive criticism?  To whom?

- Andrew Houghton