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PC-BSD has been re-branded as TrueOS.

TrueOS without systemd... https://www.trueos.org/

That's funny they didn't update the PC-BSD website since they've greatly improved their documentation lately. I personally would have announced the change months in advance on the home page of the project, but at least some of their communication is good? It was probably just an oversight; I'm sure they've been swamped working to get this release out (still in beta). The new website is at trueos.org.

The name change occurred when the underlying FreeBSD went from version 10 to 11. This and other changes (they're now at least partially tracking -current to improve hardware compatibility ASAP) broke compatibility so you can't upgrade from PC-BSD 10.3 to TrueOS Desktop--you have to do a fresh install.

So it's sort of a re-spin? Definitely not a fork. It's more than a rename under the hood but as a user you can operate as if it were just a rename.

That's funny they didn't update the PC-BSD website since they've greatly improved their documentation lately. I personally would have announced the change months in advance on the home page of the project, but at least some of their communication is good? It was probably just an oversight; I'm sure they've been swamped working to get this release out (still in beta). The new website is at trueos.org.

The name change occurred when the underlying FreeBSD went from version 10 to 11. This and other changes (they're now at least partially tracking -current to improve hardware compatibility ASAP) broke compatibility so you can't upgrade from PC-BSD 10.3 to TrueOS Desktop--you have to do a fresh install.

So it's sort of a re-spin? Definitely not a fork. It's more than a rename under the hood but as a user you can operate as if it were just a rename.

Apart from being an utterly uninspired naff name, its already been done - OSF/1 (Alpha unix) was renamed to Tru64 by compaq which did precisely zip for its sales or penetration. Product names get changed when the people managing them can't think of anything else better to do to promote it.

PC-BSD user here (for home computing) and fully agree w/ you. In fact, my recent experience has been abysmal, after I had loved using the OS for months

A bit of background here. My system had previously been updated (on a rolling basis) to 10.2, and had the latest Lumina - I think 0.7 or 0.8. I had left the country for some weeks, when 10.3 was out, so when I returned, I tried upgrading to 10.3. It went upto the CLI login, and stopped. I found nothing online that would revive it, and so decided to reinstall it from a 10.0 DVD, which I had received 2 years ago. It wiped my system - I thought that being ZFS, it would have kept everything and just updated the parts necessary. Oh, well!

So I ended up reinstalling PC-BSD, and then did the updates, but that went up to 10.2. Which would be fine, except that it doesn't recognize the PC-BSD update server anymore, and so I'm stuck w/ really old versions of both Chromium and Firefox. Gmail won't work w/ the Thunderbird version that they have, even though I previously used Gmail seamlessly w/ the last Thunderbird. And I can't even get Lumina. It's so frustrating - I've downloaded 'TrueOS' on an USB and will try installing from scratch this weekend - see if it's any different. This time, I was careful not to put any data in my PC-BSD installation (I do have my old data backed up on a separate external drive)

On a different note, I also have a SteamOS download, so I'm now also considering replacing PC-BSD w/ SteamOS. Only thing I need to know - does it support me doing normal computing stuff like Ubuntu would, or is it only possible to play Steam games? I've stopped using Windows for things like shopping or banking, and had been using PC-BSD, but w/ my system being forced back to something old, I have to look at the alternatives. If SteamOS works for that, I'd use it, given how PC-BSD has fallen off. Otherwise, I was waiting for PC-BSD 11 w/ a SteamOS jail where I could have played my Steam game

Back to VioI8's comment, it's true - Tru64 had been used before - it was the stupid renaming by Compaq of Digital UNIX, which they could have just called Compaq Unix or OSF/1. In the TrueOS page re: this announcement

Many are very familiar with the name PC-BSD® and may be wondering why we changed the name. Although it's a household name for so many, the developers realized this was a time for a new name that would better convey our message. Lead developer Kris Moore had this to say: "We've already been using TrueOS® for the server side of PC-BSD®, and it made sense to unify the names. PC-BSD® doesn't reflect server or embedded well. TrueOS® Desktop/Server/Embedded can be real products, avoids some of the alphabet soup, and gives us a more catchy name." One important lesson learned from going to conferences is that people can have a hard time remembering the acronym that makes up our name, which is not a good place to start with marketing a product. We're confident the TrueOS® name will allow people to quickly identify the project. Subsequently, we will be able to convey our brand message in a better and more unified way.

WTF? PC-BSD at least tells us that this is a BSD distro specially designed for desktops/laptops and fine-tuned for ease of use. TrueOS doesn't even tell us whether it's UNIX - it's like they're running away from any perception that they may be UNIX, or trying to make people think that they're a Linux distro when they're not.

And speaking of TrueOS, their own heritage is really bizarre. The team claims that they took PC-BSD w/ all the improvements, stripped out the