[nycbug-talk] Flash petition 479 and counting. . .

[G.Rosamond]

On Aug 17, 2004, at 4:53 PM, alex at pilosoft.com wrote:

>> Gee. . .I had you confused with a guy who ran a colo facility in
>> downtown Manhattan. . .
> :)

<uce>Yes, Alex runs Pilosoft downtown, and they also provide 
broadband.</uce>

>
>>> Basic math: 10k$ to port. say, 10000 users to gain. Can Macromedia
>>> expect revenue from their products to justify it? Unlikely.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately, BSD users are just *too damn small of a user base* to
>>> care about for a company that wants to take money. Get used to it.
>>
>> Agree it's an uphill battle with desktop software, although note
>> Mozilla, OpenOffice, etc.  But of course those are open source 
>> projects.
>>
>> However, it's also true that on the backend Oracle, has given more
>> attention to the BSDs.  And apparently Intel is now calling the 
>> OpenBSD
>> developers, instead of them chasing Intel people.
> Server != desktop. People notice that in server space, BSD is well
> established.

Right, which is what I say here:

>> But that's still not desktop closed source software . . .
>>
>> Still doesn't hurt to make the effort. . .
> Sure - just don't expect result. Frankly - I don't remember any
> petitiononline that achieved any result other than venting the
> frustration.
>

All valid points. . .but I also think that BSD users making a stink 
does matter. . .it does put us on the map.

We have discussed online petitions in NYCBUG before, and were going to 
launch it with the founding of the group, specifically around Intel and 
Centrino, back in January.  Petitions aren't just about pressuring a 
firm, but also about galvanizing people and raising awareness.

The core of the BSD community is not the home hobbyist desktop user, 
but rather developers focused on the backend world . . .which is 
certainly preferable to building stable operating systems.

However, the BSD desktop users are a significant group which seems to 
have increased in size significantly over the past year, particularly 
with the Linux/IBM v SCO battles and OS X's recognition.

I do think *we* should look to start something up like this in the 
future. . .but I think it would be more advantageous to focus on 
hardware manufacturers.  *That's* what the core developers of each 
project really want.

g