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The expense is spanking

I don't disagree with your conclusion, I just disagree with how you got there.

I hazard that it would be trivial (if tedious) to demonstrate that users prefer whatever their computer came with, and that if PCBSD is a step towards a coherent OEM desktop solution, then it may make something of itself[1].

But the notion that the alternative desktop-operating-system market (as such) is anything but fleeting is still a bit absurd. There might be an absolutely large number of us[2], and we might be cranky and noisy, but we're still insignificant in a world of hundreds of millions of computers.

Also: http://bsdstats.org/



[1] This hardly comes at the expense of FreeBSD, though. Ubunutuwutufutugutu, maybe.
[2] You just try packing 20 or 30 thousand typical BSD users into a phonebooth.
 
Distrowatch page hits measure user interest, not popularity. Also, the samples are self-selected. In other words, don't put too much stock into Distrowatch rankings.
 
fronclynne said:
But the notion that the alternative desktop-operating-system market (as such) is anything but fleeting is still a bit absurd. There might be an absolutely large number of us[2], and we might be cranky and noisy, but we're still insignificant in a world of hundreds of millions of computers.
Click to expand...

We are only insignificant if you assume a world of bland conformity and sterile sameness. In the real world, however, each single FreeBSD user carries more significance than yet another single Windows user. Ignore the mindlessness of marketing and use the operating system of your own choosing!
 
Good for them! Why should we even care?

Systems like PC-BSD are for people who want everything to be ready for them on a silver plate.

"Pure" FreeBSD is for people who need reliable, stable and highly configurable systems they can build themselves piece by piece. It's for people who want to actually know their systems.
It's a completely different "customer base", if you pardon the expression.
 
Brandybuck said:
We are only insignificant if you assume a world of bland conformity and sterile sameness. In the real world, however, each single FreeBSD user carries more significance than yet another single Windows user.
Click to expand...
Well, we are at best a niche market, and there isn't a long tail.

But I certainly long for a day when Ballmer asks me for change and I smilingly pass him a fiver and pat him on the back.

&quot said:
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
22. For you will heap burning coals on his head,
And the LORD will reward you.
Click to expand...
 
>Well, we are at best a niche market, and there isn't a long tail.

Well I wouldn't call ISC, Yahoo, Nokia, DARPA, Cisco, Juniper etc. pp. a niche market - if so then a very powerful and influential niche. Of course on the desktop, but even Mac OS X is a niche market if it comes to the desktop.
 
I had this whole essay > /dev/null (thank God)

oliverh said:
>Well, we are at best a niche market, and there isn't a long tail.

Well I wouldn't call ISC, Yahoo, Nokia, DARPA, Cisco, Juniper etc. pp. a niche market - if so then a very powerful and influential niche. Of course on the desktop, but even Mac OS X is a niche market if it comes to the desktop.
Click to expand...
Good point.

Now we just need to use leverage.
 
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