Re: Is FreeBSD ready for desktop (Mozilla Flash)

From: Tim Daneliuk (tundra_at_tundraware.com)
Date: 09/08/05 

Date: 08 Sep 2005 14:14:08 EDT

Conrad wrote:

<SNIP Sad Tale Of Desktop Woe>

I am more-or-less exactly in your shoes. I use and have commerically
deployed FBSD in a number of settings. I am huge fan of this system,
have contributed to the ports tree on a number of occasions, and have
sat patiently and quietly through the mess that ensued when 5.x got
started, knowing it would eventually be fine. As a server it is IMHO without
peer. As a desktop system is just blows. I have *never* been able to
get things like printing, video, and sound to reliably autoconfigure across
the breadth of hardware one sees in the real world. I feel your pain.

Note: I *get* that autodetection and configuration of hardware is
        a tough problem. But users don't care if it's hard, they
        just want things to work transparently. For all of you who
        have a vitriolic hatred of Microsoft - this autodetection
        business is something they actually do rather well.

Let me take a moment to respond to some of your responders' comments.

1) "Send Us A Patch Or Give Us Enough Technical Details To Write The Patch"

    Nice try. If you want FBSD to be taken seriously on the desktop it
    has to be accessible to *non technical* people otherwise it is forever
    going to be a server OS.

2) "Why on earth do you care about Flash/Microsoft/Adobe ..."

    Because, you imbecile, that's where a huge commerical opportunity
    lies. I literally would have not had the last two FBSD gigs if I
    could not have demonstrated integration with a predominantly
    Windows shop. People who think this way need to quit smoking reefer,
    get a haircut, take a bath, and go see how the rest of the world
    operates. Getting stoned and playing video games hardly qualifies
    one to pontificate on who should use what software.

3) "X is a proprietary, worthless technology. Why do you care?"

    Ibid - Because the Real World isn't built around the fantasies
    of hackers, however talented we may (or may not) be. It's built
    around the expectations of people who pay the bills. If my client
    wants Flash, they get it, not a lecture about their stupidity or
    the relative merits of open source vs. proprietary formats. BTW,
    some of the most important technologies in the world are "proprietary"
    and I'm glad they are. These would include nuclear weapons, the crypto
    that encodes their launch codes, and systems that keep people like
    Charles Manson locked up. Grow up. There is a place for open source
    and a place for close/proprietary systems. Only children think one
    is the exclusive better of the other.

4) "It clearly says in the doc that to fix this you ..."

    End users are not going to read 1000 pages of documentation to make
    their browser work. Hell, *I'm* not going to do that (and I read pretty
    rapidly). They are going to *switch systems*.

In no way am I denigrating the very real hard work of the FBSD team.
But Conrad is exactly right about what he says. IMHO, we should just
concede the desktop to Microsoft/Linux/Apple because there seem to
be insufficient resources available (with the right experience) to
fix this problem. I know I don't have the background to do this,
or I'd be on it already.

In the mean time, I am trying to convince as many clients/potential
clients to consider Apple OS/X which is pretty near the perfect
blend of OS and GUI (if you *must* use a GUI ;) Too bad I can't afford
a nice Mac laptop myself.

This also shows some promise. I've been running it for a week or so now.
It too had problems with autoconfiguring video/monitor:

      http://www.desktopbsd.net/ 

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Daneliuk     tundra@tundraware.com
PGP Key:         http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/

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