Advocating FreeBSD
by Jim Mock <[email protected]>
Every once in a while, I'll be sitting in a restaurant or at a cafe,
or in line somewhere, and I'll hear someone mention what seems to be
the latest crazy in buzzwords... "Linux". Everytime I hear someone
mention this, I can't help but wonder if they've ever even heard of
FreeBSD, let alone know what it is. We as a community, and all of the
BSDs in general, really need to push the whole advocacy thing a
little harder than those in the Linux camp since the media seems to be
doing that for them just as much as they are.
By now you're probably wondering what exactly my point is. Well, it's
simple. ADVOCATE! Do something to advocate FreeBSD. Believe it or
not, every little bit helps. I also wouldn't be surprised if you were
wondering what you could do to help. The answer to that is also quite
simple, and I've listed a few things below that would be a good start
in becoming a FreeBSD advocate.
- Start a Users Group.
- Tell friends, co-workers, family, anyone you have a semi-computer
related discussion with about FreeBSD.
- Hold an install-a-thon.
- Help someone install FreeBSD.
- Buy a t-shirt, polo, denim shirt, jacket, coffee mug, or anything else
with a FreeBSD logo on it and wear it or put it somewhere people can
see it and ask what it is (they will, they can't resist when they see
the daemon since he's so cute).
- Go to a Linux Users Group meeting and give a talk about FreeBSD. Keep
in mind it's a good idea to contact the group first to plan it
otherwise if you just stand up and start ranting manically about
FreeBSD you might get lynched by a mob of angry Linux users. This is
also an excellent place to hand out FreeBSD CD sets and
stickers (email me if you are interested in doing something like
this, helping out User Groups with CDs and stickers and so forth is
part of my job. If you're not serious about it, don't waste my time
or yours.).
- Write an article for an online magazine such as the one you're
reading right now, or Daemon News, or any of the other ezines out
there or take it one step further and submit it to published
magazines, such as SysAdmin, etc..
- Give a talk on FreeBSD at a convention such as BSDCon or LinuxWorld.
Another good way to help out the project is to answer questions on
the FreeBSD mailing lists. The freebsd-questions list is a good place
to start.
Being an advocate is a tough job, but not only does it benefit the
project, it also benefits you by making yourself known to the
community. The items above are just a short list of what you can do
to help spread the word about FreeBSD.. now get out there and
advocate! ;-)
- jim |