On 31/10/2007, Chris Mahan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 10/31/07, Shawn Walker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > That's my point. If you want to be able to prove *why* we shouldn't > > have a distribution called OpenSolaris you must demonstrate the harm > > it would cause as the benefit has already been demonstrated and talked > > about. > > > > Not to be offensive, but other than hurt feelings, I don't see the harm in > it. > > > > I agree with Joerg (for once--just kidding!) in that an official > "OpenSolaris" distribution will harm other OpenSolaris-based projects. > Here's why. > > As Ian Murdock eloquently states in the third paragraph in this very thread: > "... - one answer to that question is clear to > me: OpenSolaris MUST be something new users can download and install." > > This, of course, is meant to drive incoming eyeballs (new users) to the > obvious choice, the Official OpenSolaris distro. So the eyeball will, > instead of being puzzled by the myriad arrays of available distro, and > instead of reading the descriptions and reading about Nexenta's debian-like > packaging and ShilliX's Unix on USB, they will sheepfully click on the big > green Download OpenSolaris button. * > > And they will not go to the other distros. > > And since distros need people, new people, to thrive, the Official > OpenSolaris distro will be disproportionately advantaged in the draw of new > users compared to other distros, who will wither away. > > People's decisions will not be based on the technical merit of each distro, > after careful examination of the characteristics of each distro and based on > their need. Rather, they will become Victims of Marketing and be funneled > into OpenSolaris-that-was-Indiana. > > So, does it harm other distros? In the sense that they will be starved for > new users, definitely.
By the same logic, Ubuntu never should have succeeded since there was nothing to drive people from the Debian or any other website to it. RedHat shouldn't have been able to rise to dominance and Slackware fall, and so forth. If one of the alternative distributions provides a truly better experience, users will naturally flock to it: "birds of a feather." The ability to use the OpenSolaris name is a privilege; not a right. Yes the distribution with the name gets the most visibility, but if another one provides a better experience, people will choose it despite it's goofy name (e.g. see Ubuntu). The other thing here that is going unmentioned is that the distribution is not set in stone. There is absolutely nothing preventing another project being started on OpenSolaris.org called "Project Wonkers" and having it become the new official distribution. The community here has the power and ability to directly drive the contents of this distribution and instead I just see a bunch of bickering about how unfair everything is. Stop complaining and do something about it! I've been watching OpenSolaris since it first launched and I've seen more progress and interest in OpenSolaris since Project Indiana was announced than ever. I don't see hordes of people flocking to Nexenta despite the fact that it provided a better experience in many ways over a year ago. This isn't about anyone's pet project getting "top billing"; this is about growing up and meeting the needs of our users instead of bickering about who's feelings are going to be hurt. Stop focusing on yourselves; focus on the users. We need to do what's best for the community, not our egos. -- Shawn Walker, Software and Systems Analyst http://binarycrusader.blogspot.com/ "We don't have enough parallel universes to allow all uses of all junction types--in the absence of quantum computing the combinatorics are not in our favor..." --Larry Wall _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
