Re: The case for FreeBSD

On Mon, Feb 07, 2005 at 09:46:52PM +0100, Diego Calleja wrote:
> > Advertising works, but only if there is a sound product behind it.
> 
> Advertising works regardless of the product, and windows is the best proof of this
> 

I don't see windows advertisements too often, but I see it everywhere,
so advertising seems kind of redundant.

> And lack of advertising can kill a product, regardless of the quality of the
> product (ie: digital)
> 

I'm going to have to disagree with you there, and go along with the
grandparent poster. I think that the quality of the product is
extremely important.

Have you heard of the Ferrari Enzo? Of course you have. Have you ever
seen an advertisement for it on televsion? Of course not. The car's V12
engine and ceramic brakes speak for themselves [1].

I believe that the best products are the ones that require no hype or
promotion at all. Further, it does not appear that the typical FreeBSD
user is the type of person that will really submit to copious amounts of
advertising and promotion.

What I think the community needs is more users making online logbooks
(or "blogs" if you must) documenting what they did to their system to
get it to do such and such thing, and the problems they had along the
way. I have done this myself, and I get the occasional email with a
polite "thank you" in the body of the email. Much of what I have learned
about FreeBSD in the ~4 years that I have been using it was from the
outstanding official documentation, _and_ personal pages and irc. I fail
to see what could be more thorough than thousands of users writing small
docs. Perhaps an official Wiki or similar is in order.

I have continuing faith in FreeBSD, and I will continue to use it. It
may not be getting the fastest lap times, but it is still an excellent
ride.

-Craig

[1] I am not affiliated with Ferrari in any way.