According to Brent Fulgham:
> > Could it be that a large chunk of the Linux users are not
> > hackers and wouldn't know C from csh scripts that they are
> > happy with drop-in binaries?
> >
> Yes -- this is very true. As Linux has matured, we observe a large shift
> in the user base. Linux used to be predominantly a "hacker OS". Now,
> especially in the last year, more and more "user" type folks are using
> Linux. And I believe this is a good thing.
>
> I think BSD could benefit from these types of users as well. Very often,
> the really talented music/art/writing people are not interested in
> compiling every package on their system, and just want something that
> works (and works well). So if BSD desires to be targeted at Hackers
> only, then perhaps binary package schemes are not useful to you (I mean
> you as in "the BSD world")
>
> That's one of the issues we (Debian) had with a potential port. Some
> BSD folks might view it as the first step in the "userfication" of BSD,
> and would react negatively.
>
> I see the influx of these alternative types in using our OS's as very
> positive because while I may have strengths in technical areas, my
> artistic skills are limited. I am excited to see good icon art, or
> beautiful splash screens. Often created by people who don't know
> (or care) about some of the technical subtleties.
>
Hm! My bias is to have src for most--not all--binaries.
So that in our unified distribution, I'd like the option to
fetch the source.
And right on the money: as BSD gets out of its crusty-old-geek
users (or crusty-young-), it will (or DebianBSD will) draw in
masses of the non-hacker world. The purpose of computers is
to serve the users. We hackers are such a minority of
computer users, we barely show up on the radar.
I may make fun of non-geeks, but I'm as much of a feeb on
the artsy side of Life. If not for my wife, I'd go around
in purple socks, green cords, and a yellow T-shirt... :)
gary
>
>
--
Gary D. Kline [EMAIL PROTECTED] Public service Unix
