[alerts@infosecnews.org: [ISN] Top Ten Reasons Why Ubuntu Is Best for Enterprise Use]

[Jeremy C. Reed]

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007, Gregory W. MacPherson wrote:

> Perhaps if the *BSD community would mirror some of these behaviors then
> *BSD (which technically is superior to an LINUX) would receive this type
> of press. Perhaps...but not likely.

Let's discuss this here... My comments below. I remove the original 
content since I don't have permission to redistribute it.

> 1. Users Love It

FreeBSD doesn't offer a "fresh but familiar GUI environment" like Ubuntu 
in its default install. Different ouside projects compete to do this with 
different goals.

> 2. The Platform Has Excellent Support

No single company backs FreeBSD and there is no official source of 
commercial FreeBSD support contracts. (By the way, I have been providing 
professional FreeBSD contracts and support for over seven years.)

> 3. Cost Savings

Of course FreeBSD is free. As for SLA, see #2 above.

> 4. A Superlative Security Record

What studies? How can FreeBSD be evaluated by same studies? (Or has it?)

FreeBSD can say same (s/Linux/BSD Unix/).

> 5. Frictionless Deployment

Depends on your needs. FreeBSD installs very fast and easy for many needs. 
For other needs, it is very slow and tedious (depending on 
knowledge/experience). See #1.

Also this makes no sense to me. Different environments for testing, 
development and production to me usually has nothing to do with license 
fees.

> 6. A Huge Selection of Applications and Tools

FreeBSD also has huge collection of packages. In Ubuntu (Debian) many 
software suites are divided up into multiple packages (clients, servers, 
development headers, shared libraries, documentation, etc.).

FreeBSD's default install is very light so is a good starting point for 
many.

> 7. Thin Client Joy

FreeBSD can be a thin client and can be a thin client server.

> 8. Unleash Your IT Talent

FreeBSD is open source and free and has community participation and 
collaboration. The source code and documentation changes can easily be 
evaluated.

> 9. Access A Whole New Skills Pool

?

> 10. Predictable Releases

Many like a consistent schedule for new releases. FreeBSD also has 
policies on how long to maintain previous releases. Note that FreeBSD base 
and ports have different update policies. Depending on how FreeBSD 
updates are done, it can be easy.


  Jeremy C. Reed