Why Are You Using FreeBSD?

[Daniel Kalchev]

On 01.06.12 13:19, Katinka wrote:
> There's a nice discussion going on, over at Phoronix. 
> <http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?71263>
> For some reason, they don't seem to like us very much.
>

Do we really care?

The number of really bright people, or even people who are able to 
reasonably comprehend and understand things is very, very small and more 
or less constant over the years. The "rest" will always be more and 
there is really no point to convince them opf anything. Evangelizing 
those ignorant people to FreeBSD is just creating new (FreeBSD) 
religion, which is not what the bright minds are concerned. Attract the 
masses and you will definitely lose the leaders.

Instead, lead by example. Showcase. Demonstrate how superior FreeBSD is 
because the people who keep it going are not interested to be the Jack 
of All Trades (and master of none). Showcase implementations that are 
hard to do with any other OS.

Don't even complete on benchmarks. This is one thing I learned years ago 
working closely with Cisco: your competitor could always outspec you or 
win the benchmark, with system specifically designed for the task. Or 
tuned to the task. Just like with Linux.

This is not to say we should ignore opportunities to improve FreeBSD. 
Just don't slip for the popularity vote and stay within the framework 
and principles (even when you are seemingly outpaced) that made FreeBSD 
so successful.

Albert Einstein once said:

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more 
violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move 
in the opposite direction."

Daniel

PS: This became longer than originally envisioned.