Re: FreeBSD 10 prognostication...

On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 04:42:12PM -0400, Rick Macklem wrote:
> Well, I worked for a computer science dept. for 30years and it seemed
> to go something like this:
> - Undergrad installs "toy" version of Linux on their desktop/laptop,
>   likes it and promotes it to their friends.
> - When these students graduate, they put Linux/Unix experience on their
>   resume and get hired by a company with no Unix-like systems expertise.
> --> They set up Linux servers for said company.
> 
> If the same was happening for xxBSD, then they would list that as well as
> Linux and they would at least be aware that both existed. I don't believe
> FreeBSD needs to try and do the easy to install GUI distro, but they could
> reference the xxBSD distros that do try to do this. (Yea, I know someone
> didn't like using the term distro for xxBSD distributions, but...)

I've got a friend/associate who refers to FreeBSD as a "niche" operating
system. He raves about how great the cloud is and gets a chuckle out of
me running a "niche" system.

This guy is smart, perhaps even brilliant. He's wise to many technologies, and
yet he seems to think of FreeBSD as a joke.

Jails are usually more suited to "cloud work" than KVM or the latest
OpenVZ/Containers/??? of the linux world ever will be... and yet, when you look
into so-called cloud computing (a fuzzy term that I pretty much lump
compartmentalization & redundancy into) FreeBSD is mostly unheard of.

Clearly, FreeBSD is missing out on the cloud, even though the jail system
in FreeBSD is quite awesome.

The real problem, as I see it, is the failure to recognize the
value of open UNIX-ish systems. Linux *is* better at some things, so
is OpenBSD, and so is FreeBSD. (I won't be running FreeBSD on the desktop
ever again.. been there once, it sucked)

It's unfortunate that people make IT decisions based on popularity. Not
just operating systems, "mysql is the best database" for example.

I think we ought to call it "cow computing" because people act like
cattle when they make decisions... follow the herd. 

If the goal is to make freebsd uber-popular, it needs more alpha cows, 
not "more quality".. it already has awesome quality. 

I don't think more shiny things will help, but shiny glitter could
end up hurting it, if it interferes with the elegance FreeBSD currently
enjoys. 

Make the jail system appeal to the alpha's and we'd see it rocket
in server popularity.


Jamie
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