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37a25c85 | 1 | In the absence of any other mechanism for counting the number of users |
e5ef5348 JH |
2 | of FreeBSD, we like to as kindly suggest that you take a few minutes |
3 | to please register with the counter set up by | |
37a25c85 PHK |
4 | <Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no>. |
5 | ||
e5ef5348 JH |
6 | The justification for such "registration" is twofold: First, we sincerely do |
7 | wish to know just what the size and demographics of our user-base are | |
8 | in order to better support its needs. Second, it's a sad fact that many | |
9 | people rely on counters and statistics (even when highly dubious) rather | |
10 | than actual experience when chosing an operating system, and the best we | |
11 | can hope to do in such circumstances is to at least try to provide some | |
12 | indication of how popular we are (or are not). This is not how we recommend | |
13 | that people go about chosing an operating system, but the necessity of | |
14 | "marketing" remains an undeniable fact of life. | |
15 | ||
16 | The FreeBSD team does not necessarily feel that Harald's counter represents | |
17 | the best approach to such statistics gathering, and its accuracy will only | |
18 | be as good as people's willingness to register with it (which may not reflect | |
19 | the actual OS population at any single point in time), but in the total absence | |
20 | of any other mechanism for providing such useful statistics, it's certainly a | |
21 | start and we thank Harald for his efforts in providing this service. | |
22 | It's a community service, and of potential benefit to everyone (all *BSD | |
23 | users), so let's see if we can't make it work! | |
24 | ||
25 | Included below is the standard blurb from the counter. | |
37a25c85 PHK |
26 | |
27 | Thanks in advance, | |
28 | ||
e5ef5348 | 29 | The FreeBSD team. |
37a25c85 PHK |
30 | |
31 | ||
32 | How to get registered | |
33 | ===================== | |
34 | ||
35 | In brief: | |
36 | ||
e5ef5348 | 37 | [To register a running installation of FreeBSD] |
37a25c85 PHK |
38 | Send E-mail to bsd-counter@uninett.no with the SUBJECT line |
39 | ||
40 | "I use FreeBSD at <place>" | |
41 | ||
42 | Introduction | |
43 | ============ | |
44 | The intention of this counting project is to count all users of UNIXes | |
45 | that are: | |
46 | ||
47 | - BSD-derived | |
48 | - Freely available | |
49 | ||
50 | The variants NetBSD, 386BSD and FreeBSD are currently distinguished. | |
51 | ||
52 | (NOTE: Linux is NOT BSD-derived. If you use that, send mail to | |
53 | linux-counter@uninett.no instead!!!) | |
54 | ||
55 | The information is *not* used for any purpose but statistics, and unless | |
56 | you request it, information about single persons are *never* made public. | |
57 | (A list of users who have requested publication is available from the | |
58 | FTP file ftp://aun.uninett.no/pub/misc/386bsd/persons) | |
59 | ||
60 | How to register | |
61 | =============== | |
62 | Send E-mail to bsd-counter@uninett.no | |
63 | ||
64 | The subject should be | |
65 | ||
e5ef5348 | 66 | I use FreeBSD|NetBSD|386BSD at <place> |
37a25c85 | 67 | |
e5ef5348 JH |
68 | Where FreeBSD, NetBSD or 386BSD is the particular variant you're using |
69 | and "place" can be school, work or home, or a combination of these. | |
37a25c85 PHK |
70 | |
71 | You will get back a letter with 3 things: | |
72 | ||
73 | - An acknowledgement | |
74 | - A form that you can fill out and send in with more information | |
75 | about yourself, your machine, and your 386bsd-using friends | |
76 | - A report giving the current status of the counter | |
77 | ||
78 | You can update your "vote" at any time, by sending an E-mail message | |
79 | from the same account. Duplicates will be weeded out. | |
80 | ||
81 | The current report, available by anonymous FTP to aun.uninett.no, | |
82 | directory pub/misc/386bsd-counter, file "short", is given below. | |
83 | ||
84 | For all questions, contact Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no! | |
85 | ||
e5ef5348 | 86 | $Id: REGISTER.FreeBSD,v 1.1 1994/06/03 21:42:33 phk Exp $ |