FreeBSD & Linux distro

[James]

On Wed, 2008-02-20 at 19:24 -0700, Predrag Punosevac wrote:
> Chad Perrin wrote:
> > On Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 01:27:49PM -0700, Chad Perrin wrote:
> >   
> >>> On Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 09:14:04AM -0700, Chad Perrin wrote:
> >>>       
> >> [ snip a bunch of stuff ]
> >>
> >> On Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 11:36:34AM -0500, Jerry McAllister wrote:
> >>     
> >>> A good rundown of some of the differences.
> >>> Maybe you can put this on a web page and get it added to lists
> >>> of comparrisons.
> >>>       
> >> Sure.  I'll polish it up and post it somewhere in that polished form,
> >> then reply here.  If not today, I'll aim to get it done tomorrow.
> >>     
> >
> > Okay, posted:
> >
> >   http://arc.apotheon.org/freebsd/vs_linux.html
> >
> > If anyone has suggestions for how to fix it up further, let me know.
> >
> >   
> Hi Chad,
> 
> Here is my honest opinion. I hope it will help you improve the post :-)
> 
> I didn't like very much the tone of the article as well as some 
> pejorative conclusion. If you are going to post something even
> as a FreeBSD advocacy the tone of the article should be neutral and all 
> claims verifiable. Do not get me wrong. I
> do not like Linux and more over I have never used it in my life but I 
> would have hard time to swallow some of your claims.
> 
> How would you feel if I tell you that I use mostly OpenBSD because it is 
> easier for work than FreeBSD and in my experience much more stable than 
> FreeBSD.  Those are my subjective feelings and probably have little to 
> do with the reality. If anything statement like that are irritating and 
> have no value to a person who is deciding between using OpenBSD or FreeBSD.
> 
> Try to find on the internet couple of advocacy articles by Greg Lehey.  
> They are  very  well-written. 
> 
> Example: Statement of the type BSD appears more stable than Linux is 
> non-verifiable.
> Statement of the type FreeBSD is direct decedent of the BSD flavor of 
> Unix started in mid seventies at the University of California Berkley 
> while the Linux kernel is Unix clone started in 1993 based on the 
> mixture of System V and BSD Unix is
> verifiable. Or 80% of all servers with longest up time run FreeBSD is 
> something that can be verified.
> 
> You should definitely address the following things
> 
> 1. FreeBSD is longer in the development than Linux.
> 
> 2.  Probably 80% of the servers with the longest  UP time run  FreeBSD.  
> Give a link. Easy to find.

Just  a note -- linux is often not included in the lists of longest
uptime because it has a feature whereby the uptime counter resets itself
after a period of time.
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/accuracy.html#hz1000


> 
> 3. FreeBSD is a COMPLETE operating system GNU/Linux is not.
> 
> 4. It has different development and engineering process than Linux.
> 
> 5. It has better quality control at least because Linux has no quality 
> control at all.
> 
> 6. The Largest FTP sever on the world run FreeBSD (your beloved freebsd.org)
> 
> 7. FreeBSD has one of the best systems for the installation of the third 
> party software (ports and do not forget packages
> as some people will jump at you and make a claim that Debian has better 
> packaging system as it is more efficient than compiling things from ports)
> 
> 8. Most extensive collection of third party software (over 18000 ) only 
> second to Debian.
> 
> 9. One of the best documented systems
> 
> 10. Mention the advantage of the BSD license  comparing to GPL for the 
> commercial use.
> 
> 11. It is philosophically different than most Linux distros as all 
> services are turned of by default.
>  
> 12. Unlike Linux it doesn't claim that is the best and most suitable for 
> everything.  If you need security then Open is better choice. If you 
> need something for embedded devices probably Net is better choice.
> 
> 13. More secure than Linux if for no other reason but for PF which is 
> ported from OpenBSD. Note that PF is not ported for Linux.
> 
> 14. Kernel security level concept doesn't exist in Linux.
> 
> Try to disperse common myth that BSD doesn't support hardware but do not 
> be shy to admit that lack support for things like
> video conferencing.
> 
> Do not be shy to admit that virtualization is poor and maybe 
> intensionally as quite of few people do not believe that putting 
> somebody's else cra*p on the top of FreeBSD will not make that cra*p 
> working better or be more secure. If you need Window's application run 
> Windows.
> 
> 
> Does it make a good Desktop system? Depends what do you mean by that. If 
> you need everything working out of box
> for your grandmother Mily probably not. If you need Flash and Java 
> plug-ins probably not. But if you need ROCK solid
> workstation for academic work, occasional multimedia and want to be 100% 
> in control of your computer like me it is the best desktop OS around.
> 
> 
> Most Kind Regards,
> 
> Predrag
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"