> > Fafa, I've seen these kinds of efforts before and they are > all generally doomed to failure. > > You see, the problem is that FreeBSD is not a general > computer operating system product. It is a very specific > product in fact. > > Now, the USES that FreeBSD can be put to are VERY general. > BUT, do NOT make the mistake of confusing the fact that just > because FreeBSD can be put to general use, that somehow it is > a general product. It is not. > > FreeBSD is targeted at 2 main groups of people: > > 1) Very knowledgeable people who are using it for personal, > or in-house corporate projects. > > 2) Very knowledgeable people who are using it to construct > turnkey systems for customers who couldn't care less what is > under the hood. > > By contrast, Windows and Linux are in fact, general computer > operating system products. They are targeted at groups #1 > and #2, but they are also targeted at group #3 which are: > > 3) People who barely know how to push a button who have a > problem they need to fix with a computer operating system, > and they really don't care if they understand how the fix > works as long as it works. > > > This gives rise to a rather serious Catch-22 with FreeBSD: > > You need to really understand intimately how FreeBSD works > and how computer software that runs on it works in order to > get it to work well enough for you to learn intimately how it works. > > Windows and Linux solved this Catch-22 by dumbing-down the > interface to their operating systems. Thus, an ignoramus can > get up and running with both of these systems, and that > person can remain fat, dumb, and happy, completely ignorant > of what he is doing, and those systems will still work enough > to get the job done. It may be a half-assed fix, but it is > better than nothing. > > FreeBSD by contrast, long ago decided not to do this. For > starters, if you dumbed-down the FreeBSD interface, then to > most people FreeBSD wouldn't be any different than Linux or > Windows, so why mess with it? But, most importantly, a > dumbed-down interface gets in the way of a knowledgeable > person, and over time becomes a tremendous liability. > > With FreeBSD, the only way that a newbie can break the > Catch-22 is old-fashioned mental elbow grease. In short, by > learning a bit at a time, expanding on that, and repeating > the process. It is a long slow way to get to know anything, > but once you get there, you really do know everything in > intimate detail. > > This isn't a popular thing to tell newbies.
Just going through this list as I do every few days and came across this thread. I just want to say thank you Ted, your comments made for a very decent, informative and realistic read ;) Steve > > Ted > > >Thanks. > > > >-- > > > >Fafa Hafiz Krantz > > Research Designer @ http://www.home.no/barbershop > > Enlightened @ http://www.home.no/barbershop/smart/sharon.pdf > > > > > > > >-- > >___________________________________________________________ > >Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com > >http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm > > > >_______________________________________________ > >freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > >http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > >To unsubscribe, send any mail to > >"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
