Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Email to Brian Behlendorf

Author:Robert Cassidy
Posted:4/26/2000; 11:44:52 AM
Topic:Email to Brian Behlendorf
Msg #:16713 (In response to 16700)
Prev/Next:16712 / 16714

Frontier falls in a unique catgory shared by a few other products. I call it the 'everything-but-kitchen-sink-solution'. WebObjects shares this space along with some MS apps as well.

It comes down to how you answer the question: "What can I do with this?". If your answer is along the lines of "I don't know, what do you need done?", you've joined the club. It's a great club to be in - having tools so powerful and flexible they solve a wide range of problems (and Frontier is king of this space, IMO, and why it has to me more traits of an OS than of an app). But marketing such a thing is hell on earth. Why? Because most people don't want tools (which Frontier is), they want solutions, which Frontier isn't.

Solutions are very hard. There is such a HUGE gap between identifying a problem and identifying a solution and few people realize that. Tools help those that can see a solution but need something in order to build it - but they see the path to follow. Solutions help those that can only see the problem. No path lies before them.

Enter Manila and Pike. These are solutions. They address specific needs. They too are flexible but only in a way that is relevant to a specific goal. Frontier seems to not have such a goal, which is why it's such a damn good thing to build off of.

Dave might not agree with that. His view might be different. But looking in from the outside, that's what I see. (Dave, I'm trying to help with this 2-way thing... ;-)

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