From: radel@bach.udel.edu (Todd Radel) Subject: Thoughts on target markets for Linux Date: 1 Oct 1992 00:51:39 GMT
Many people have commented lately about how to get "Joe and Jane User"
to switch to Linux. There is one significant target group that could
be easily persuaded to switch over, I think: BBS operators.
Allow me to explain: sysops who wish to use their machines while the
BBS is running in the background currently have to choose between
DESQview/386, Windows 3.1, or OS/2, none of which are very satisfactory
for various reasons. I got the idea a while back that I could move my
entire system over to Linux if only I could get the BBS up and running.
No more DOS!
Unfortunately, no one has yet uploaded binaries (or even patched sources)
for C-News, trn, rfmail, ix/Mbox, or XBBS to any of the FTP sites. I
tried to get some of these working. C-News and trn apparently work
fine, but none of the last three would compile properly. Partly I
think they wanted a few features that haven't yet been implemented
(i.e. the locking() call), and partly I'm simply not that knowledgeable
about porting stuff. Thus, for the time being, I've had to go back to
DOS and Windows until the above-mentioned stuff becomes available.
I'll continue reading c.o.l until I see that someone has a stable,
full-featured, easy-to-set-up BBS system including FIDONET.
What I'm saying is this: if we had a complete, ready-to-run setup
appropriate for BBS operators, I think we could attract them in droves.
Most of them thought OS/2 2.0 was going to cure all their problems,
only to discover that it caused quite a few of its own! (I know.)
What does everyone think? Am I off base or does this make sense?
-- Todd Radel | "I obscenity in the milk of all," Agustin said, CIS/English undergrad | "if it does not seem like a lunatic asylum in University of Delaware | here." -- Hemingway, _For Whom the Bell Tolls_ A.I. duPont Institute, 1600 Rockland Road, Wilmington, DE 19899