On Thu, Aug 31, 2006 at 08:01:49PM -0300, Marc G. Fournier wrote:
>  In a perfect world, they all would ... this is not a perfect world, it is 
> one dominated by Linux or Microsoft ... I use Adaptec drivers on 3 of my 
> servers, because, in 4.x, they were rock solid ... in 6.x, they have a 
> problem ... I'd like to be able to go out and upgrade those servers to a 
> vendor that provides "documentation", but its a cost I can't afford at 
> this time ... so, should I then switch to Linux because they do welcome 
> 'vendor written drivers'?  Rhetorical question, since I do not consider 
> switching to Linux an option ... instead, I'm trying to do something to 
> help *BSD advocates promote *BSD to those vendors (see 
> http://www.bsdstats.org) by showing them that we aren't just a 'hobbiest 
> operating system' ... what my point is, though, is if we aren't willing to 
> accept 'vendor written drivers', then it is *we* that are limiting our 
> growth but limiting what hardware we can run stably on ...

A 'hobbiest' operating system is one which makes no demands, accepting
whatever the vendors want it to. And it's not a matter of promoting *BSD
to the vendors. It's a matter of vendors promoting their products by
providing clear, concise documentation, demonstrating the quality and
correctness of their products.

We should not wait for a perfect world to make correct decisions.

-p.