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FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 Almost Ready
essdodson writes "Scott Long of the FreeBSD release engineering team has posted that FreeBSD 5.0 RC2 has been compiled and should be available shortly. Check it out and help make this the best FreeBSD release so far. The updated release schedule lists Jan 17, 2003 as the anticipated release date."
- BSD is dying: not popular; not enough of critical mass in the user base to attract new users; ignored by commercial vendors;
- FreeBSD not really mutliplatform: Mac OS X is not FreeBSD, they just share few utils and tools; you cannot install FreeBSD exactly same way on x86, PPC and Sparc and have the same (99%) set of applications and same stability;
- BSD was traditionally for servers: there is no such thing as BSD desktop geeks;
- FreeBSD is technically only for small servers: cluster and SMP support is either week or unstable; commercial cluster vendors ignore BSD;
Linux, especially Gentoo:- Gentoo is the most prospective free OS: the best of FreeBSD (Portage is like ports but even better); the best of Linux (many drivers out of the box); attractive for already "poisoned" by Linux IT managers;
- Linux, especially Gentoo, is really multi-platform: Linux kernel is multiplatform; Gentoo Portage even improves it (architecture keywords, CFLAGS); insalls and works exactly same (99%) way on x86, PPC and Sparc;
- Linux is desktop enhanced: there are many Linux desktop geeks playing with DVD, video cameras, TV/FM tuners and so on;
- Linux has a "big server" support: SMP and clusters are already stable; commercial vendors love Linux for clusters;
Now, the question is: where would you invest your money (if you have one), your skills (if you have one) and your effort time (if you have one)?Less is more !