4 ms·

"Feedback from our customers that they want broader and timelier support". Absent volume, you and I don't get to be direct customers of Intel. I wonder who the

"Feedback from our customers that they want broader and timelier support". Absent volume, you and I don't get to be direct customers of Intel. I wonder who they meant. My first guess was Sony or Nintendo, since both have recent consoles with FreeBSD-derived OS, but fact checking indicated that neither have an Intel CPU. Maybe at the behest of Apple, or the router/NAS/appliance manufacturers, many of whom run a FreeBSD-derived OS. Or perhaps it was simply effective lobbying by the FreeBSD project / foundation. This is all speculation so if anyone knows who really prompted this I'd be interested to hear it. (edit: grammar & fact check)

GalacticDomin8r 10y ago
> you and I don't to be direct customers of Intel. Speak for yourself, thank you very much.
X86BSD 10y ago
My guess was Netflix, and then someone reminded me of Nintendo now that the switch is out. So those would be my two guesses as to who is leaning on them. Perhaps iXsystems as well.
- gonzo 10y ago
  Netflix, Netgate and Yahoo had an extended meeting with Intel and several members of the Foundation board during MeetBSD last year.
  - ksec 10y ago
    Yahoo? I thought they abandoned ( or forced to switch to Linux ) under Marissa.
wyldfire 10y ago
> My first guess was Sony or Nintendo, since both have recent consoles with FreeBSD-derived OS, but I don't think either have an Intel CPU. It's a fair bet they were considered as design candidates. Perhaps their community engagement was a factor in them losing the designs. (Though IMO that seems like it would be weighted much lower than other factors).
ksec 10y ago
I have the exact question in mind. Who, Why, and Now? Sony - If Intel wants the next PS5 CPU to be from Intel. But Intel lacking any decent GPU, and their reluctance to low margin business may suggest otherwise. Yahoo - some have suggested, but as much as I want to believe it is true, last time I heard they have been switching to Linux since Marissa arrival. Most of their BSD people has since left. Netflix - FreeBSD usage is limited to their own CDN Appliance, which as the name implies, working like a appliance and needs not much tweaking. Their main, encoding and core Network is on AWS with Linux. And if Netflix is that much a big customer for Intel? Router / NAS / Appliance? Gosh they have been here for more then a decade and only now Intel decide to listen to them? One reason could be they are switching to ARM + Linux. For them to stay on x86 they will have to better support for FreeBSD, but I still think this is a weak argument. Apple - Despite OSX's close relationship with the BSD community. Apple doesn't use any FreeBSD on their Cloud Servers. And Airport uses NetBSD which is something different enough. May be it is Whatsapp?
- kev009 10y ago
  WhatsApp is completely absent from FreeBSD development. The donations from Jan Koum have been from his personal finances. In kind, it's a shame FB/WhatsApp don't do development. And while the FreeBSD Foundation provides governance and services around the periphery including a couple full timer contributors, almost all significant code contributions are coming from a small quorum of commercial users. If Intel follows through on higher quality and more timely HW enablement, that is going to be a lot more worthwhile than this donation. NF was able to leverage some connections built over several people's careers to wake Intel up to the extant market share of FreeBSD users. By my naive estimation this is approaching $1B/yr. The other conjecture I will offer is that Intel may see any of AMD Naples, ARM64, OpenPOWER as a realistic threats now and dots were connected between Intel's marketing driven culture and Intel's software services group which has a mission to make sure software runs best on Intel.
  - ksec 10y ago
    >> In kind, it's a shame FB/WhatsApp don't do development. Someone posted on HN a long time ago about FB tries to force / persuade Whatsapp team switch to Linux. I couldn't google it though. Well I hope the NF story is true. FreeBSD desperately need some love.
mintplant 10y ago
> My first guess was Sony or Nintendo, since both have recent consoles with FreeBSD-derived OS Switch OS isn't FreeBSD-based. https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838702899014217729 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838702899014217729 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838666432774692864 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838666432774692864 https://twitter.com/ylws8/status/838777665498853376 https://twitter.com/ylws8/status/838777665498853376 Though the network stack may be partly taken from FreeBSD. https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838786008380420096 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838786008380420096

GalacticDomin8r 10y ago

> you and I don't to be direct customers of Intel. Speak for yourself, thank you very much.

X86BSD 10y ago

My guess was Netflix, and then someone reminded me of Nintendo now that the switch is out. So those would be my two guesses as to who is leaning on them. Perhaps iXsystems as well.

gonzo 10y ago
Netflix, Netgate and Yahoo had an extended meeting with Intel and several members of the Foundation board during MeetBSD last year.
- ksec 10y ago
  Yahoo? I thought they abandoned ( or forced to switch to Linux ) under Marissa.

wyldfire 10y ago

> My first guess was Sony or Nintendo, since both have recent consoles with FreeBSD-derived OS, but I don't think either have an Intel CPU. It's a fair bet they were considered as design candidates. Perhaps their community engagement was a factor in them losing the designs. (Though IMO that seems like it would be weighted much lower than other factors).

ksec 10y ago

I have the exact question in mind. Who, Why, and Now? Sony - If Intel wants the next PS5 CPU to be from Intel. But Intel lacking any decent GPU, and their reluctance to low margin business may suggest otherwise. Yahoo - some have suggested, but as much as I want to believe it is true, last time I heard they have been switching to Linux since Marissa arrival. Most of their BSD people has since left. Netflix - FreeBSD usage is limited to their own CDN Appliance, which as the name implies, working like a appliance and needs not much tweaking. Their main, encoding and core Network is on AWS with Linux. And if Netflix is that much a big customer for Intel? Router / NAS / Appliance? Gosh they have been here for more then a decade and only now Intel decide to listen to them? One reason could be they are switching to ARM + Linux. For them to stay on x86 they will have to better support for FreeBSD, but I still think this is a weak argument. Apple - Despite OSX's close relationship with the BSD community. Apple doesn't use any FreeBSD on their Cloud Servers. And Airport uses NetBSD which is something different enough. May be it is Whatsapp?

kev009 10y ago
WhatsApp is completely absent from FreeBSD development. The donations from Jan Koum have been from his personal finances. In kind, it's a shame FB/WhatsApp don't do development. And while the FreeBSD Foundation provides governance and services around the periphery including a couple full timer contributors, almost all significant code contributions are coming from a small quorum of commercial users. If Intel follows through on higher quality and more timely HW enablement, that is going to be a lot more worthwhile than this donation. NF was able to leverage some connections built over several people's careers to wake Intel up to the extant market share of FreeBSD users. By my naive estimation this is approaching $1B/yr. The other conjecture I will offer is that Intel may see any of AMD Naples, ARM64, OpenPOWER as a realistic threats now and dots were connected between Intel's marketing driven culture and Intel's software services group which has a mission to make sure software runs best on Intel.
- ksec 10y ago
  >> In kind, it's a shame FB/WhatsApp don't do development. Someone posted on HN a long time ago about FB tries to force / persuade Whatsapp team switch to Linux. I couldn't google it though. Well I hope the NF story is true. FreeBSD desperately need some love.

mintplant 10y ago

> My first guess was Sony or Nintendo, since both have recent consoles with FreeBSD-derived OS Switch OS isn't FreeBSD-based. https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838702899014217729 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838702899014217729 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838666432774692864 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838666432774692864 https://twitter.com/ylws8/status/838777665498853376 https://twitter.com/ylws8/status/838777665498853376 Though the network stack may be partly taken from FreeBSD. https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838786008380420096 https://twitter.com/qlutoo/status/838786008380420096