Compatible NIC

[Eric Kjeldergaard]

> "Yes Use 5.x"! is not technical "help".
> 
> "Don't use 5.x because its slow" IS technical help. You guys just dont
> want anyone to say it.
> 

I'm not about to get into whether or not these 2 things are or are not
"technical help".  But I certainly don't think that anyone does want
to say that saying "Don't use 5.x because its slow" is technical help
because many of us see it as largely unfounded opinion.  I have seen
lots of posts trying to tell you that 5.x is just as fast or faster
and demanding benchmarks.  While I note that you have not provided any
grounds on which to make the claim of decreased speed on similarly
configured software running on matching (or better, the same)
hardware.

I think the issue is more importantly thus:  For the "newbies" as they
are called that have asked about using FreeBSD in recent months, the
suggestion has been to look at 5.x (and most recently, 5.3).  If it is
an inferior product, as you say, you must ask why.  Certainly I don't
fault you for looking out for those who are new to FreeBSD.  I think
the reason it has been recommended is that anyone looking at FreeBSD
for the first time now obviously doesn't yet know how to use it.  If
they do not know how to use it well, then we can reasonably assume
that this person will not be using it on production servers.  (Or at
the very least shouldn't be as an unfamiliarity with the tools on a
production server is a very dangerous thing.)  In general, these
people are then looking at FreeBSD either for personal use or for
servers at some point in the future.  In the first of these cases, 5.3
simply has more features for the Workstation.  There are some great
new tools that are in 5.x line and aren't in 4.x line.  (If there were
nothing added, FreeBSD would hardly need a new branch.)  In the latter
case, then looking towards the future is key.  The engineers that
write FreeBSD (who deserve much thanks from us all) have made it clear
that 5.x is the near future replacement to the 4.x line.  I believe
those to be the primary reasons why 5.x has been recommended for those
trying out FreeBSD for their first time recently.  Another important
point is that regardless of which version they tell us to use, it is
giving them what they desired, a look at how FreeBSD looks and feels.

I hope that this has helped to shed a little light on our reasoning
behind recommending this new and still unstable technology.  Even if
it doesn't, if you wait a short while, 5.x will (I'm sure) be every
bit as good as 4.x was and then some.

-- 
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