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USENIX Reports

bruce writes: "O'Reilly has just put up a page with conference reports from USENIX. The BSD BoF session sounds like it was pretty interesting, lots of info there." Yes, "*BSD is Dying" posts are up 75%, thank you very much.

31 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Yep, there's an increase of anti-bsd stuff, just as MS swing their anti-GPL campaign into overdrive - and a key part of their strategy is probably to attempt a "divide-and-conquer" approach between the BSD and GPL camps. I'd say that the sudden increase in overblown trolls is a direct result of this. Worryingly, there's also a group of very earnest .NET fans, preaching the MS party line as if they'd been to a scientologist "improvement" course or something, but for MS stufff...

  2. Then by the same logic.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    remember that BSD users are still rabid and
    intolerant. In fact most power *users* of any following are. It's part of the reason that there are 3 *BSDs.


    Given there are over 180 Linux versions, then using your statement, there are MORE rabid Linux users. All pushing 'thier' version.

    The 'BSD is dying' gal doesn't help, nor does the /. crew in letting it keep geting posted. VA doesn't grok that being a 'linux' only company, while saying you are 'Open Source' isn't going to fly. Or, perhaps now they do after looking at thier stock pice.

    1. Re:Then by the same logic.... by Amokscience · · Score: 2

      That is a correct extension of that logic although many of those versions of Linux are customized for the task at hand, not because of strong beliefs.

      The /. crew is a necessary evil. Unfortunately, like usual in real-life, less than good quality became dominant.

      --
      Fsck cluebie moderators. I'll say what I want, offtopic or not. And fsck having to qualify every bloody statement just
  3. Win2K Server by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 2

    I think the statement that Windows 2000 can handle as much or more traffic then any other server just because the MS sites are some of the highest traffic isn't that accurate.

    We don't know how many servers it's taking to power all that do we? There might be twice as many Windows 2000 boxes driving that load as there driving Yahoo.

    (Yahoo is second to MS according the Media Matrix - http://www.mediametrix.com/data/thetop.jsp)

    I'll admit that Windows 2000 is better than Windows NT 4 - However it's not nearly as stable as Linux or a BSD in my experiance.

    1. Re:Win2K Server by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 2

      Same here. No BSoD. However IE does get crashy on me. After using IE on Win9x/NT/2000/Mac OS Classic/Mac OS X - It seems to me that the most stable version of IE is the Classic MacOS Version.

      My Windows 2000 install does two strange things.

      1. Leaving it running with no open Applications running, it slowly starts to page into virtual memory alot - after 24-36 I have to reboot.
      2. For some reason it will cause my motherboard to give me an overheat alarm, even though Red Hat running on the same box will not. The overheat problem just started a couple months ago.

      Dispite those issues...it's a better Windows...not that that means much :)

  4. From 4 to 7 ? by AftanGustur · · Score: 2


    So what if there are 7 "anti-bsd posts" ??

    Statistics folks, statistics !

    75% is an impressive number, but remember that after your second installation of any OS you have done 100% as many as the day before !! (assuming you won't do them both on the same day)
    --
    echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb15CB32EF3AF9C0E5D7272 C3AF4F2snlbxq'|dc

    --
    echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
  5. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by llywrch · · Score: 2

    You must be hanging with the wrong kind of people.

    The Linux users' group in Portland, OR many years ago renamed itself to the ``Portland Linux/UNIX Group", & the mailing list has carried threads about other flavors of UNIX like Solaris, AIX as well as *BSD since then. (We don't get as many posts about *BSD because, I guess, there are older, more established lists that can answer those kinds of questions faster.

    And my ISP has ran on FreeBSD for the last few years -- & if I had a problem with his choice of UNIX flavor, I wouldn't still be using my shell account there on a regular basis.

    Geoff

    --
    I think I see a trend here. Maybe for them it really would be easier to muzzle the entire internet than to produce p
  6. Re:scariest thing by ergo98 · · Score: 2

    Indeed, it may be speculated that MS _need_ the server-side .NET on BSD, because Win2000 sure isn't up to the amount of traffic MS's own .NET servers will be able to take :-) - chances are, they'll use BSD servers identifying themselves as win2000 (they've done it before...)

    Windows 2000 can handle as much or more traffic than any other server. Microsoft.com, one of the most trafficked sites, is Windows 2000. Unfortunately there are lots of clueless newbies out there who fuxxor the system up significantly and then claim that "Windows 2000 sucks!", but you learn to filter that out.

    It's already screwed up - C# itself might be "standardised", but without the full implementation of the .NET APIs it won't be very useful

    To port the .Net Framework would be a massive bitch because that Framework largely relies upon the underpinnings of the Windows platform (which is why the framework hasn't been submitted to any universal authority). For example OLEDB, MSMQ, security ACLs, etc. I am very impressed at how amazingly comprehensive the .Net Framework is, and it might shut-up the anti-Win32 wankers out there (bah who am I kidding? Those wankers haven't bothered with facts since day one, so they'll still be going strong).

  7. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by sbuckhopper · · Score: 2

    I think that its still important to remember that there are Linux users that are not Linux zealots.

    I will say that I am a big Linux supporter, but the reason that I am a big Linux supporter is because Linux has been around for a long time, it is a PC UNIX-like O/S that has enabled me to not see BSODS for a really long time. It has also helped me understand the O/S's that run on high performance computers and thus get better jobs when I had gotten out of school.

    I had gone to work for a company after school that used FreeBSD on its build servers, building large data warehouses for web publishing. I programmed for/administered these machines. I like FreeBSD a lot.

    I now teach people how to be Solaris admins (in an official, Sun supported way). I like Solaris a lot. Some of the things that Sun Hardware and Solaris does on things like their Starfire machines is out of this world.

    The virtual server that I run my web site on (okay there isn't anything to the website, but I've written some cgi's that run on the webserver) is BSDI. I've had an account there for over two years now and the system has gone down once for any noticable amount of time. That's cool.

    Now here I am a Solaris instructor, liking Solaris a lot, but not considering myself a SunOS zealot. I just happen to know a lot about it. I still run Linux on my desktop (past 6 years), as I said first because I was sick of BSODs, but now because linux has better device support than any of the other PC based forms of UNIX (and because I'm sick of BSODs). I don't run Linux on my desktop because I want it to take over the world, I run Linux because it runs well. If I ran a local server I would probably run something like FreeBSD, but for now I have no need for that. I run Linux because I want relatively good device support on an O/S that is somewhat similar to what I have to work with every day in my classes and that doesn't crash so often. Typically my system only goes down now when I have to move locations or when I have to upgrade the kernel.

    I'm not a linux zealot, I'm not a UNIX zealot, but I refuse to run Windows.
    ---
    "Everybody knows the moon's made of cheese."

    --
    "Everybody knows the moon's made of cheese," Wallace.
  8. Re:scariest thing by MSG · · Score: 2

    Saying that "wine doesn't run on PowerPC" is close to the truth, but little informed. The wine application would be useless on the PowerPC platform, because wine was written to emulate the Win32 API, not the x86 CPU. Therefore if you were to build wine on PowerPC, it wouldn't do anything useful because you probably don't have any Win32 software compiled for PowerPC laying around. However, winelib (the core of wine) *can* be used to port Win32 software to the PowerPC platform. You would compile winelib on PowerPC, then compile your Win32 app on PowerPC. You've ported with a minimum of effort. This is what the original poster was suggesting. That MS could use winelib to port their Win32 .NET platform to UNIX like platforms without rewriting everything.

    The point that OS X doesn't use X Windows is totally valid. Porting the .NET GUI API to BSD would give them almost no leverage in porting to OS X. In order to port to OS X, they'd still have to do a *lot* of work to port the winelib GUI code to the Cocoa API.

  9. Re:scariest thing by DGolden · · Score: 4

    It's already screwed up - C# itself might be "standardised", but without the full implementation of the .NET APIs it won't be very useful. And the forthcoming BSD-platform release will not include any client-side GUI support - MS is keeeping that bound to GDI on the windows platform, initially (they may be using Corel's wine-expertise to later bring client-side to BSD and thereby mac os x).

    Indeed, it may be speculated that MS _need_ the server-side .NET on BSD, because Win2000 sure isn't up to the amount of traffic MS's own .NET servers will be able to take :-) - chances are, they'll use BSD servers identifying themselves as win2000 (they've done it before...)

    So MS's plan seems to be Windows on the client, BSD on the server for real reliability, and Win2000 on the server for the real suckers...

    See the discussions on this article for more details.

    Remember, microsoft-man speak with forked tongue...

    --
    Choice of masters is not freedom.
  10. Re:BSD is living by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 2

    But really how much did Apple do here?

    You answered the question yourself:

    "and built a new GUI with some nifty features"

    A new GUI with nifty features is NOT a trivial undertaking. After all, how long have people been trying to do this for UNIX? Decades. Did any of them match OS X? Nope.

    NO PLANS TO PORT OS X TO x86 HARDWARE!

    Actually Darwin, the UNIX bit of OS X does run on x86.

  11. What BSD provides to OSX by TheInternet · · Score: 2

    Apple took BSD and built a new GUI with some nifty features to make the Mac community accept it. Don't get me wrong I love BSD and I think that OS X will be good for it. But really how much did Apple do here?

    BSD is a major part of Mac OS X, but it's not like Apple took FreeBSD and slapped a GUI on top of it. In Mac OS X, BSD provides:

    - The process model (PID, signals)
    - Unix security model (users, permissions)
    - posix threads
    - BSD sockets
    - unix tools and libraries

    Apple created:

    - Quartz: window server, graphics library, 2D rendering, printing system
    - Cocoa: incredible object-oriented development environment
    - NetInfo (open source): Mac OS X's distributed auto-configuring network services system
    - OpenGL implementation
    - Java implementation
    - QuickTime - used for all kinds of graphics stuff
    - Carbon: APIs that Mac toolbox apps can be ported to to take advantage of modern OS features (represents a HUGE amount of work on Apple's part)
    - Classic: An environment that allows the vast majority of exist Mac applications to run on Mac OS X
    - All the system-level and user-level glue that allows all this stuff to work seamlessly together for the masses

    Mac OS X's kernel is a modified version of Mach 3.0.

    - Scott
    --
    Scott Stevenson
    WildTofu

    --
    Scott Stevenson
    Tree House Ideas
  12. Re:BSD is living by SecretAsianMan · · Score: 2

    fast boot so you can crash sooner

    Hrm. FreeBSD has always booted much faster for me than any version of Windows I've ever run. Man, 4.0-RELEASE was just damn snappy booting.

    --
    SecretAsianMan (54.5% Slashdot pure)

    --

    Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.

  13. hard-core technical issues by QuantumG · · Score: 4

    To everyone behind censoring proxies: sux to be you.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  14. BSD rants and raves by joq · · Score: 2
    BSD isn't going anywhere any time soon contrary to what a troll thinks. In fact BSD should have an easier time in the upcoming months via way of (evil drum roll) Microsoft.
    This week, Microsoft announced that it will work with Corel to port the .NET Common Language Infrastructure and the C# programming language to open-source OS FreeBSD, a Linux competitor ... Contrary to reports, this porting effort doesn't constitute an implementation of .NET on FreeBSD, but involves only some of the low-level technologies that are part of .NET. Microsoft's decision to use FreeBSD rather than the far more widely used Linux is reportedly because of the company's disdain for Linux's GNU Public License (GPL), which Microsoft has described as "Pac-Man like" and "a cancer." The FreeBSD license is reportedly far more amenable to Microsoft because the license doesn't require the author of commercial works to provide the source code to others, as does the GPL.
    [source] My only pseudo concern with FreeBSD is, I wish they would scrutinize what is released via the ports more, this way they wouldn't have to release patches as much as they do, but again in comparison to Linux, as with OpenBSD many services aren't run off the back, and as with OpenBSD, unless you're going to pkg_add /cdrom/packagaes/ALL || make install /usr/ports , you're not going to have as many issues as you would with other OS'. For the Linux zealots yes you have your `secure Linux` variants, and you also have advisories for those too [check Linux Security], Trustix, EnGarde, etc. they're all there. NetBSD is a sleeper for all, it's still a nicely written BSD, and I think it'll be around for a while. Open is well Open, and isn't going anywhere soon, love or hate Theo & Team OpenBSD but I still feel comfort knowing soom rootard isn't going to to anything to my servers at any give time.
  15. Re:BSD folks do evangalize, don't kid yourself by bugg · · Score: 2
    There's a simple answer to that- all of us BSD users who just love UNIX don't take the time to write "nice book" or in some cases will just not notice the book was even printed (I never heard of your book before)

    Many more BSD users are less vocal about their beliefs; it also seems to me that those who tend to say "linux sucks" have been "on the BSD bandwagon" for a lesser amount of time and want to separate themselves from their Linux past. It's really no different than the Freudian defense mechanism of reaction formation.

    To conclude, if you're going to judge BSD users on the vocal ones, you're going to judge them all on Brett Glass et. al. That's not fair. We're all pretty vocal if you ask us about BSD, but most of us don't have a desire to shove BSD down the throats of others. If you want a real impression of BSD users, base it on productive discussion on BSD mailing lists (sure they get out of hand sometimes.. nobody is perfect) and NOT slashdot, linux news sites, or even IRC.

    --
    -bugg
  16. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by szcx · · Score: 5
    This is something I've been pondering for a while. As a group, the *BSD folk seem to be happy to coexist with other systems while the majority of (vocal) Linux supporters are hell-bent on Linux World Domination and if you're not 100% on board the Destroy Microsoft bandwagon, then you are the enemy. The phrase "use the best tool for the job" in some peoples minds has been interpreted as "use the best tool for the job... so long as it's Linux".

    There are zealots everywhere -- hell, I know people who go absolutely rabid if you get coffee from Starbucks instead of Seattles Best -- but sometimes it just seems the Linux users could learn a thing or two about tolerance from their *BSD cousins.

  17. anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by JDizzy · · Score: 2

    I think that was the best statistic.... shows the insecurity of the Linux folks..... and ofcource, what else do they have to compare thems selves to? Yeah.... In their minds they be competeing with bsd folks, yet the bsd folks tends to ignor them and simply do code. But serriously BSD folks dont' hate anything,nor compete, we just love unix.... WE don't hate windows... hate is such a negative things to do.... dwell on possitive stuff. ;-)

    --
    It isn't a lie if you belive it.
    1. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by Amokscience · · Score: 2

      While I tend to agree with you, and am myself a freebsd user and openbsd follower, remember that BSD users are still rabid and intolerant. In fact most power *users* of any following are.

      It's part of the reason that there are 3 *BSDs.

      And while someone in #freebsdhelp on efnet is just as likely to be running mirc on win2k (using a freebsd NAT box) as they are BitchX in an xterm, the universal sentiment is that 'Linsux' really sux, hence the preponderance of @linuxsucks.com et al dns tags.

      What Linux *does* have is a high fad/hip/cool factor which leads to lots of bandwagoning... and banbwagoneers tend to be rabid (vapid) ignorant users (zealots).

      --
      Fsck cluebie moderators. I'll say what I want, offtopic or not. And fsck having to qualify every bloody statement just
    2. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by Amokscience · · Score: 2

      Nothing in my post implies that there are no reasonable users.

      --
      Fsck cluebie moderators. I'll say what I want, offtopic or not. And fsck having to qualify every bloody statement just
    3. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by MtViewGuy · · Score: 2

      What's even more interesting is the fact that OpenBSD was being used on high-volume web sites far longer than Linux. It's only with the release of the 2.4.x version Linux kernels that Linux finally now has the ability out of the box to run high-volume web sites. I think the impetus of Dell and IBM to support Linux on a large scale is a good reason why the 2.4.x kernel was finally finished.

      Besides, the zealotry of much of the Linux crowd has turned off way too many IT managers out there to start with. I know I'll get modded down for saying this, but some Linux supporters have an attitude that reminds me of things said in the Communist Manifesto. (shrug)

    4. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by iomud · · Score: 2

      Especially those high volume single processor servers eh?

    5. Re:anti-bsd posts up 75% on slashdot!!!!! by squiggleslash · · Score: 2
      You get modded down as a troll regularly because you post flamebait based on strawman attacks and third rate insults rather than simply opposing points of view.

      If I were moderating, and saw a Linux or BSD zealot attack Windows, calling it "M$ Windoze" and claiming it's a virus because "anything it touches has to go under the EULA", would you feel it reasonable that I mod down the idiot?

      When you post attacks on the "GPV" (that's Maynard's "cute" way of refering to the GPL for anyone reading this unaware of his style) on the grounds that "anything it touches gets infected", you're both posting drivel (as a million developers who use GNU tools to develop closed source or BSD/X/etc licenced software will attest - BSD Unix uses GNU GCC. Apple's Mac OS X uses GNU GCC, even the closed source bits. NeXT's entirely closed source NextStep used GCC) and doing so in the most childish, idiotic, way.

      You're acting the zealot, creating extreme positions to paint over the arguments you wish to rail against, hurling insults and ignoring the actual positions of the people you attack.

      That, friend, is why you're being modded down. If you read Slashdot, you'll find that there are people on both sides of the GPL who are usually modded down for their positions, and people on both sides who are usually modded up. If you post intelligent, non-inflamatory, critiques of the GPL and other licences, you'll gain moderation points (or at any rate, not be modded down.)
      --

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  18. Lets ask Google what it thinks. by jorbettis · · Score: 2

    Search for: "Linux sucks":

    Results 1 - 10 of about 2,320. Search took 0.62 seconds.

    Search for: "BSD sucks":

    Results 1 - 10 of about 32. Search took 0.11 seconds.

    I rest my case.

    --

    Jordan Bettis

    ``Wherever you go, there's another stupid sigfile quote.''
    1. Re:Lets ask Google what it thinks. by friscolr · · Score: 2
      you really want to see:
      Operating System Sucks-Rules-O-Meter

      From their page:
      This operating system quality and approval metric is based on a periodic AltaVista search for each of several operating systems, directly followed by "sucks", "rules", or "rocks".

      there's also one for programming languages and some other things - check out the bottom of the first page.

      -f

  19. Re:Hi, you're full of shit by connorbd · · Score: 2

    I see where you're coming from. I do think Open Source will eventually wipe out the business value of day-to-day software (if it hasn't already).

    Folks, here's the thing: if you're going to create a software startup, here's where I think your profits are going to come from in the future:

    -games
    -vertical-market applications
    -consulting

    Linux is just fine for any of those settings.

    /Brian

  20. All extremists may fuck off now. Thank you. by connorbd · · Score: 2

    (I think that puts it rather nicely; a touch of irony as trollbait, y'know...)

    The vast majority of Linux and BSD zealots are either idiots or doing a massively effective job of trying to look like it. This is the same sort of reason that I respect politicians like John McCain and Jim Jeffords -- principles are all well and good, but they aren't going to get things done when an agreement has to be reached.

    The fact is that the BSD people are sharing because they feel like sharing, and the GPL people are sharing to make a point. I side more with the GPL people myself (mostly because I don't want my own code abused) but I really have no problem with either side.

    The technical issues involved are not at issue here, are they, really (except when dealing with Windows)? Okay, Linux is obnoxiously ad hoc in places. Okay, *BSD so far lacks SMP support (except in Darwin/MacOS X). Neither one fits an OS guru's idea of "purity" (again, except for Darwin/X and xMach). The fact is that technical arguments are as bad as political arguments for being vague -- a little PR can turn any stupid design into a feature with enough mindbending (witness Apple's proud declaration of the early 90s that they didn't like DMA, or old-line DOS zealots talking about being able to replace memory managers as if there wasn't actually a need to do so).

    I don't think the zealots are getting us anywhere. RMS has essentially shot his mouth off into irrelevance; ESR (though I don't consider him a zealot, really) is close to doing the same thing. Theo De Raadt puts out an excellent OS, but he's fast becoming a laughingstock for his attitude. Meanwhile we've got companies like Apple and Sun who are in fact contributing back and instead of praising them for getting a start and politley encouraging them to get in step with the community they're serving, the zealots rip into them for biting the hands that feed them.

    (Let me let you in on something: of course they've got an agenda. It's called making money. Shut up, take what they'll let you take, and tell them (not us) what else you want. Enough pressure, they will listen.)

    The fact is that I support both Linux and BSD, and it's not just because I'm Mac/Unix bytesexual. At the end of the day, these two sides will be the survivors when everything else has gone to hell, simply because they're the only ones guaranteed to still be out there in a form that someone can pick up and run with ten, twenty, fifty years down the road.

    One rant from a rabid middle-of-the-roader,

    /Brian

  21. BSD is living by ostone · · Score: 2
    Well... in anticipation of the massive anti-BSD flaming ahead I decided to say this... BSD is doing just fine thank you. BSD (in the BSDLites) was really a hacker project and out of that has grow a robust server. It isn't GPL, but I don't hold that against them. Frankly I find that on my old peice of crap computer BSD is seriosly the best way to go.
    now to reply to the real post:
    • Points of Intrist in the BoF Post:
    • "Mac OS X has the power and openness of Unix, with the simplicity and friendliness of a Mac"
      Apple took BSD and built a new GUI with some nifty features to make the Mac community accept it. Don't get me wrong I love BSD and I think that OS X will be good for it. But really how much did Apple do here?
    • What went to WindRiver:... FreeBSD-related work
      And yet again there is the shadey sound of Windriver playing with words about FreeBSD. It isn't possible for them to OWN FreeBSD, but watch them overstepping their bounds guys.
    • OpenBSD received a DARPA grant to continue the security work its been doing.
      Still trying to get at Mitnicks encrypted data (read porn) eh big bro?
    • OpenBSD Received a legal threat from OpenSSH.com, demanding that they change the OpenBSD name, which they refused (good for you!)
      Because you know that the goals of Open Source software projects are purely evil... they were planning on trying to sell back the name and then dominate the world muuuaaahhahahahahahah hah ha ha ha ah ahhh ahhha ah....
    • FreeBSD: [Jordan Hubbard] Mentioned he was working on speeding up the boot process...hey, that'd be nice!
      yeah I seem to recall the boot being a little slow when I last booted a month ago... of course Microsoft has already got the golden pair... fast boot so you can crash sooner.
    • AMD and Intel step up FreeBSD efforts
      I really hope this leads to them competing on who can donate the most money to Open Source.
    • Microsoft renounces evil, switches to FreeBSD
      I seem to recall Hotmail switching from BSD to 2k (so thats why my email got so much slower and less predictable)
    • NO PLANS TO PORT OS X TO x86 HARDWARE!
      Damn, I guess I won't be doing the OS-X benchmarking then.
    • OS X: Fully integrated JDK 1.3
      woohoo... I am a java programmer, and while some many people around here hate java support of it will promote Open Source
    • OS X: Key productivity applications (MS Office...)
      I wonder if StarOffice will come bundled for a little of taste of Microsofts own medicine (but IE MUST come preinstalled)
    one last thing.... if you haven't read/used any O'Reilly books, then your really missing out.
    "Peace, Love, Linux" -Leo Laporte, TSS
    --
    Remove *your pants* to send me email.
  22. BSD folks do evangalize, don't kid yourself by satch89450 · · Score: 2
    But serriously BSD folks dont' hate anything,nor compete, we just love unix.... WE don't hate windows... hate is such a negative things to do.... dwell on possitive stuff

    I have one word for you: BULL

    When I was writing my book, Linux IP Stacks Commentary for Coriolis, I took pre-publication copies of the book to the THINK conference and let people there paw through them. Let me summarize the reactions I got, by "class":

    Admitted Windows Fanatics (AWFs): "I don't understand any of this. Where is the Visual Basic?"

    Macintosh Evangalists: well, they didn't say anything -- they were too busy reading and in most cases taking notes. One of them got violent when someone tried to pry the spiral-bound book out of his hands. Fortunately I was able to satisfy the curiosity of the newcomer with another copy that I had held back for just such an eventuality.

    Sun advocates: "Hey, this doesn't look anything like the W. Richard Stevens books." (The pre-publication proofs didn't have the dedication in the front, so at that time no one was aware that we authors had a double dedication: To Jon Postel, Primary Mover and Shaker, and to W. Richard Stevens, the guy "who illustrated TCP/IP" for all of us.)

    BSD mavans: "Hey, why are you writing this crap about Linux? BSD is way cooler [I refuse to spell this last word the way the BSDfolk tend to say it] and needs more press!" When I point out that the Stevens books already document the NET3 implementation, which I understood to be the core of the BSD stack, they replied "well, we need more bookshelf space devoted to BSD."

    There were other, less-easily catagorized responses, which is why this doesn't add up to 100. :)

    "We just love UNIX"? Then why is the ONLY hate mail I've received about the book (aside from regular demands to write a second edition covering the 2.4.0 stack) come from *BSD folk? Why does the only mail that contains the word "traitor" come from people who profess allegiance to the Little Red Devil? NOT ONE MEMBER of the fruit group, not one member of the Gremlins-for-Gates parade, not one member of the three-letter-word SUN fans, not one member of the Amiga/BeOS niche-dwellers have written a discouraging word.

    (And the really, really funny postscript to all this: I'm bring up a NetBSD box here for some consulting work, because the client insists on it. No rationale based on fact. I'm not kicking, mind you, because NetBSD will do the job.)

  23. Re:Opiates by daniel_isaacs · · Score: 2
    I wish those that are moderating would READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE before declaring something "Off Topic".

    I fail to see how responding to something that was in the article can be off-topic. Would the coward that modded the parent down explain to me why he/she chose to do so?

    --
    - Dan I.