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FreeBSD to Celebrate 10 Year Anniversary in SF, CA

Dan writes "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...in the early part of 1993...the last 3 coordinators of the 'Unofficial 386BSD Patchkit' would go on to start the FreeBSD project that has grown to be used by millions of websites and installations around the world. Murray Stokely is talking about Jordan Hubbard, Nate Williams, and Rod Grimes. Looking for a catchy name, David Greenman suggested FreeBSD and it stuck. With the help of Walnut Creek CDROM, the first CDROM distribution, FreeBSD 1.0, was released in December of 1993."

103 comments

  1. Obligatory BSD Death Wish by saden1 · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    BSD is dead man. Time to switch to Linux.

    --

    -----
    One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
    1. Re:Obligatory BSD Death Wish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      You forgot, that Linux is illegal, and Linux developers have no respect for copyright laws.

    2. Re:Obligatory BSD Death Wish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Au contraire, my dear moron.

      FreeBSD is being used by FIVE TIMES as many on the desktop.

      Think about it before you try to be cute next time.

  2. Any Necraft data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Any netcraft surveys on the spread of BSd available?

    1. Re:Any Necraft data? by cerskine · · Score: -1
      It's fucking dying SHIT ON ME! It's official - Netcraft has fucking confirmed: *BSD is dying

      Yet another cunting bombshell hit the "community" of *BSD asswipes when IDC recently confirmed that *BSD accounts for less than a fraction of one single puny fucking percent of all servers. Coming hot on the heels of the latest Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more fucking market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is ingesting itself backwards, disappearing up its very own shitter, as fittingly exemplified by coming a piss poor dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.

      You don't need to be a cock-sucking Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any fucking future at all for *BSD because that sorded, shit-filled, mutated testicle of an operating system is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink splashes across the accounting documents like a series of exploding bloodfarts. FreeBSD munches the most ass of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD cuntwipes Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying and its rotting corpse smells worse than a maggot, vomit, shit and piss cocktail.

      Let's keep to the facts and look at the fucking numbers, shall we? OK!

      OpenBSD wanker Theo states that there are a pathetic 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Oh, God, let's fucking see... The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore it's turd-suckingly obvious that there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore, by simple fucking arithmetic, there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. Surprise fucking surprise, this is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

      Due to the troubles of those arseholes at Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD showed themselves to be a bunch of retarded tossers, went out of business and were taken over by BSDI who sell another special needs OS. Now BSDI is also a miserable failure, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house... pathetic.

      All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily fucking declined in market share. *BSD is where it belongs, at death's door and its long term survival prospects are almost non-fucking-existant. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among moronic, dilettante shitheads. *BSD continues to Chew Satan's Dick And Fuck The Baby Jesus Up The Pooper. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.

      Fact: *BSD IS A FUCKING USELESS WASTE OF BITS AND IS DYING LIKE THE DOG THAT IT IS. IT MAKES ME SICK JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.

    2. Re:Any Necraft data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Hey, the last line of that post says "FUCKING USELESS WASTE OF BITS" - is that your signature?

      In this case, you could really use some nice delimeter... Just my $.25....

    3. Re:Any Necraft data? by Dark_Planet · · Score: 3, Informative
    4. Re:Any Necraft data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      It has been confirmed, this russian guy is dying.

      Which I hope happens to an arsehole like you soon.

      If BSD not having hoards of pre-teen wannabe "geek" followers means that BSD is dead, then great! I hope BSD stays "dead".

      Meanwhile, most BSD users are happily using the BSD's, not coming here and not giving a fuck about fuckwits like you.

    5. Re:Any Necraft data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      You don't keed to be a Kreskin to look into FreeBSD's future. Even a child knows that FreeBSD is dying. All major marketing surveys show that FreeBSD has steadily declined in market share. FreeBSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim.

      Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

      The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The loss of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral. In truth, for all practical purposes FreeBSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking. It's a fact: FreeBSD is dying.

  3. Learning from BSD's mistakes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    What We Can Learn From BSD
    By Chinese Karma Whore, Version 1.0

    Everyone knows about BSD's failure and imminent demise. As we pore over the history of BSD, we'll uncover a story of fatal mistakes, poor priorities, and personal rivalry, and we'll learn what mistakes to avoid so as to save Linux from a similarly grisly fate.

    Let's not be overly morbid and give BSD credit for its early successes. In the 1970s, Ken Thompson and Bill Joy both made significant contributions to the computing world on the BSD platform. In the 80s, DARPA saw BSD as the premiere open platform, and, after initial successes with the 4.1BSD product, gave the BSD company a 2 year contract.

    These early triumphs would soon be forgotten in a series of internal conflicts that would mar BSD's progress. In 1992, AT&T filed suit against Berkeley Software, claiming that proprietary code agreements had been haphazardly violated. In the same year, BSD filed countersuit, reciprocating bad intentions and fueling internal rivalry. While AT&T and Berkeley Software lawyers battled in court, lead developers of various BSD distributions quarreled on Usenet. In 1995, Theo de Raadt, one of the founders of the NetBSD project, formed his own rival distribution, OpenBSD, as the result of a quarrel that he documents on his website. Mr. de Raadt's stubborn arrogance was later seen in his clash with Darren Reed, which resulted in the expulsion of IPF from the OpenBSD distribution.

    As personal rivalries took precedence over a quality product, BSD's codebase became worse and worse. As we all know, incompatibilities between each BSD distribution make code sharing an arduous task. Research conducted at MIT found BSD's filesystem implementation to be "very poorly performing." Even BSD's acclaimed TCP/IP stack has lagged behind, according to this study.

    Problems with BSD's codebase were compounded by fundamental flaws in the BSD design approach. As argued by Eric Raymond in his watershed essay, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, rapid, decentralized development models are inherently superior to slow, centralized ones in software development. BSD developers never heeded Mr. Raymond's lesson and insisted that centralized models lead to 'cleaner code.' Don't believe their hype - BSD's development model has significantly impaired its progress. Any achievements that BSD managed to make were nullified by the BSD license, which allows corporations and coders alike to reap profits without reciprocating the goodwill of open-source. Fortunately, Linux is not prone to this exploitation, as it is licensed under the GPL.

    The failure of BSD culminated in the resignation of Jordan Hubbard and Michael Smith from the FreeBSD core team. They both believed that FreeBSD had long lost its earlier vitality. Like an empire in decline, BSD had become bureaucratic and stagnant. As Linux gains market share and as BSD sinks deeper into the mire of decay, their parting addresses will resound as fitting eulogies to BSD's demise.

    1. Re:Learning from BSD's mistakes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Well, from Linux you can only learn, how to use the code you haven't written as your own - and how to disobey copyright laws.

    2. Re:Learning from BSD's mistakes by John+Sokol · · Score: 1

      One word, Linux wouldn't be what it is, or even the entire internet for that matter, if it were not for BSD. BSD was until reciently been considered a research OS and the TCP/IP stack was prototyped there.
      Much of early linux borrowed from Net2 and 386BSD and later replaced this code.

      Linux also had similar growing pains but lack the copyright problems that held back BSD allowing Linux to capture the lions share of the market before BSD was able to be officialy free of AT&T.

      Linux has also has similar infighting but is was more obscure at that time, and so most people aren't aware of that. While the BSD was very visible while its fight were occuring.

      And by most accounts BSD has alway been more stable then Linux. Why Else whould Apple choose this for the base of there new OS?

      --
      I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
    3. Re:Learning from BSD's mistakes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why Else whould Apple choose this for the base of there new OS?

      BSD license.

  4. anal grease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Will this party be held in a San Francisco bath house? Will the Slashdot gang be there so I can fuck their buttholes?

    1. Re:anal grease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      The Slashdot gang won't be there, because they won't let teenagers in.

    2. Re:anal grease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      u fag

    3. Re:anal grease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      no yuo

  5. *BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Oct. 23 -- BSD resumed receiving life-sustaining care yesterday in a Florida hospital room, but many experts said there is virtually no hope that it will ever recover, despite it fan boy's desperate hopes.

    "IF IT'S over a year, BSD's not ever going to get up," said Fred Plum, a professor emeritus at Weill Cornell College in New York. "You'd just don't see it. It just doesn't happen."
    BSD, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state since its heart stopped for unknown reasons in 1990. A feeding tube in BSD's stomach was removed this past Wednesday after its husband, Theo De Ratt, who said his wife had told him she (BSD) would not want to be kept alive under such circumstances, won a long series of court battles to have life-sustaining nourishment withdrawn so she (BSD) could die.

    1. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Cool. I hope you already know, that at least 94.2% of lifecare medical equpment is running on embedded versions NetBSD and FreeBSD. Why? Because they are far more stable, than any other Linux distro ever invented.

    2. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      nice job pulling those stats out of your ass

      medical equipment usually runs some kind of small embedded OS on simple hardware because its plain stupid to run something like Linux or BSD on that type of hardware.

    3. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      ROTFL. Go and read www.wasabi.com for NetBSD in embedded devices.

      Of course, with such lame virtual memory system, as found in Linux, you might find it impossible to run whole OS in an embedded device - but NetBSD is very memory-conservative and way much stablier (not to mention it don't destroy LG CD-ROMs while installation).

      On an 32 MB system running NetBSD, XFree86 and MySQL I still have 4 MB free RAM - which is, of course, used as a buffer cache for I/O operations (NetBSD is stunning fast, not as slow as Lamux).

      Check it out yourself... or keep dreaming about so-called Linux superiority.

    4. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
      Fact: NetBSD is dying

      That's all she wrote, chief !

    5. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Maybe she thought about your erection, not NetBSD :)

      NetBSD is strong.

      It's the incompatible myriad of lame kernels, called Linux, which is really dying. The latest version of it is also known to destroy SATA drives (not to mention IDE CD-ROMS).

    6. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
      Linux? That POS. Who cares. BSD, Linux, they're all the same, horse meat.

      Fact: NetBSD is dying.

    7. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Where do I mention Linux in my post?

      Asshat.

    8. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      No, you did not get this right. Let's do it again:

      Fact: NetBSD is better, faster, and much more stable than Linux.

      Fact: Linux is dying.

    9. Re:*BSD: Feeding tube re-inserted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

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  6. THE DEAD BSD SKETCH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Cast:
    Mr. Praline: John Cleese
    Shop Owner: Michael Palin

    A customer enters an operating system shop.

    Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint. (The owner does not respond.)
    Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?
    Owner: What do you mean "miss"?
    Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
    Owner: We're closin' for lunch.
    Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this operating system what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
    Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, *BSD...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
    Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
    Owner: No, no, it's uh,...it's resting.
    Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead operating system when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
    Owner: No no it's not dead, it's, it's restin'! Remarkable OS, *BSD, idn'it, ay? Beautiful kernel!
    Mr. Praline: The kernel don't enter into it. It's stone dead.
    Owner: Nononono, no, no! It's resting!
    Mr. Praline: All right then, if it's restin', I'll wake it up! (bashes at the keyboard) 'Ello, Mister *BSD! I've got a lovely fresh kernel update for you if you show...

    (owner hits the keys)

    Owner: There, it spewed some debug output to the command line!
    Mr. Praline: No, it didn't, that was you hitting the keys!
    Owner: I never!!
    Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!
    Owner: I never, never did anything...
    Mr. Praline: (yelling and typing into the console repeatedly) 'ELLO COMMAND PROMPT!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock cron job!

    (Rips out hard drive from computer case and thumps it on the counter. Shoves it back inside the case and reboots the system - blank screen.)

    Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead operating system.
    Owner: No, no.....No, it's stunned!
    Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?
    Owner: Yeah! You stunned it, just as it was finishing an I/O task! *BSD stuns easily, major.
    Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That operating system is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of responsiveness was due to it bein' in the process of recompiling itself after a particularly comprehensive code update.
    Owner: Well, it's...it's, ah...probably pining for some dilettante dabbling.
    Mr. Praline: PININ' for some DILETTANTE DABBLING?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that? Look, why did it fall flat on its back the moment I started Emacs?
    Owner: *BSD prefers swapping everything out to the hard drive! Remarkable variant, id'nit, squire? Lovely kernel!
    Mr. Praline: Look, I took the liberty of examining the system when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been printing any text at all to the screen was because of all the WORRYING COMPILER WARNINGS encountered while it was being rebuilt.

    (pause)

    Owner: Well, o'course it was spitting out those warnings! If I hadn't updated the kernel with an unstable development build, you might have had your FTP server compromised [slashdot.org], and VOOM! Bye bye to your business.
    Mr. Praline: "Server"?!? Mate, this OS wouldn't "serve" if you put four million volts through it! It's bleedin' demised!
    Owner: No no! It's pining!
    Mr. Praline: It's not pinin'! It's passed on! This OS is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! [lemis.com] It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting

    1. Re:THE DEAD BSD SKETCH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Hey, that's Monthy Python parody! Cool. Have you heard about a programming language called Python? BSD is far more superior in running it, than any Linux distro ever invented. Check it out!

    2. Re:THE DEAD BSD SKETCH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      I use perl. Return to your grave *BSD zombie from hell.

    3. Re:THE DEAD BSD SKETCH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      I bet you've hardly ever seen a perl program.

    4. Re:THE DEAD BSD SKETCH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
      You don't need to be a Kreskin to look into FreeBSD's future. Even a child knows that FreeBSD is dying. All major marketing surveys show that FreeBSD has steadily declined in market share. FreeBSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim.

      Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

      The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The loss of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral. In truth, for all practical purposes FreeBSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking. It's a fact: FreeBSD is dying.

    5. Re:THE DEAD BSD SKETCH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
      Posted: November 2, 2003

      (C) 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

      A 13-year-old homeschooled surfing star whose left arm was bitten off by a shark while surfing Friday morning in Hawaii is hospitalized in stable condition, and her best friend's father is credited with saving her life by using a surf leash as a tourniquet.

  7. Did you forget? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    To sign out or select 'Anonymous Coward' this time with your BSD rantings?

    For a snicker, from saden1's description: 23, good looking, smart and sexy. I'm a geek without all the emotional and ideological baggage.

    1. Re:Did you forget? by bsd_usr · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      At least he has the balls to use his id. What's wrong, did you lose your balls, Mr. Anonymous Coward?

    2. Re:Did you forget? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never had balls.

      Not part of my gender.

      (And note how said 'user with balls' is still posting the 'BSD is dying' crap as an AC.)

  8. Moderation by horcy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think it's time that the slashdot staff has to take action against those lame BSD posts... Every single news fact about BSD gets these empty headed posts.

    --
    Check my site: http://pixel.pagina.nl
    1. Re:Moderation by Homology · · Score: 1, Troll

      Well, yes, there are so many immature Leanux kiddoes that can't handle the fact that a *BSD is actually a mature OS, and not just another kernel+patch.

    2. Re:Moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      When I win the lottery I'm making a substantial donation to the FreeBSD Foundation....enough for them to take over the free *nix space and send these Linux trolls running with their tails between their legs

    3. Re:Moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      Two words, FUCK OFF.

    4. Re:Moderation by cpeterso · · Score: -1, Troll


      &^%Q#^&%@#^*$@$#

    5. Re:Moderation by cpeterso · · Score: 2, Insightful


      Slashdot could add a new lameness filter to prevent people from posting comments that contain the words "BSD" and "dead". How often do you really need to use the word dead in casual converstation?

      I was originally going to just joke that any comment that contained the word "BSD" should be filtered, but the idea of filtering "BSD AND dead" is not that bad an idea.

    6. Re:Moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who's doing most fo the work on XFree86, GCC, GNOME, KDE and all sorts of other projects of which the BSD flavours make heavy use?

      That's right, Linux distro vendors such as Red Hat. Next time you want to attack Linux, think that it's propping-up BSD. Or you could go back to GCC 2.7.2, XFree86 3.3.1, etc. etc. etc.

      You are a cretin. Get your head in the real world?

    7. Re:Moderation by merdark · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Earth to Linux zealot. XFree86 is BSD software. That's right, it's under the BSD license, and has *nothing* to do with Linux! Wow.

      Furthmore, you can't credit Linux with GCC either. GCC is worked on by many many people using many different systems. By your logic, you should be kissing Apple and Sun's butts since they infused quite a bit of help into GCC and GNOME. You should also kiss Troll Tech's butt for QT which let's KDE exist. And of course you should kiss SGI's butt for giving you GLX (part of XFree now) and OpenGL.
      So Red Hat helps out too, so what? Linux is owed nothing and deserves nothing.

      If anything, Linux has set the open source movement back a few years by having inferior technology (ya ya 2.6 fixes this) and an unstable driver API preventing the much needed vendor made drivers.

      Oh, and Linux is not the real world by the way. Look up, away from your monitor and breath. Meet world.

    8. Re:Moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      this is what we call censorship.

      if you don't like someone else's opinion, just ignore them.

    9. Re:Moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Earth to Merdark. XFree86 is _not_ BSD software -- it's not a component of any BSD project, it just happens to share the same license.

      Moving on, you seem to have a hard time understanding. I didn't "credit" Linux for GCC's recent developments, just pointed out that the new optimisations, features and support are coming mostly from Linux companies. The same is true of XFree86, GNOME, KDE and others used on a BSD desktop. Do you really think, without the massive success Linux is enjoying, and all the companies and people behind it, these projects would still be progressing so well?

      Exactly. Next time you're chuffed that XFree86 supports your new graphics card, or GCC has a new feature, or GNOME and KDE see new releases, thank Linux. It's nothing to do with Linux being good/bad -- you BSD zealots make it sound like Linux could just disappear tomorrow with no problems, but you'd lose so much. Linux's popularity is driving big developments. Learn to live with it.

      As for "an unstable driver API preventing the much needed vendor made drivers". Ah yeah, now _that_ explains why FreeBSD has much broader hardware support, eh? Stop being a cretin.

      "Oh, and Linux is not the real world by the way."

      Hah. I thought you were misinformed and naive, but that's just laughable. I guess you count massive companies with thousands of computers like Shell as "not the real world" then? The German city of Munich? Hundreds of other places, corps and organisations using Linux en masse?

      What's _your_ real world? Sitting on Internet forums with your l33t self-satisfaction BSD box, making mystifyingly vague claims about BSD being "more stable" than Linux or something?

      When you get a proper job and a life, kiddo, you might start seeing things as how they are, rather than through rose-tinted specs. BSD is pretty good, but Linux the place to be.

    10. Re:Moderation by pyrrhonist · · Score: 2, Insightful
      How often do you really need to use the word dead in casual converstation?

      How about:

      "I can't log into the BSD box!"
      "That's because it's dead."
      Oh, wait, that's never going to happen in a billion years.
      You're right, it won't come up in casual conversation.
      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    11. Re:Moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "I can't log into the BSD box!" "That's because it's dead." Oh, wait, that's never going to happen in a billion years.
      Because BSD uptimes typically get very near to a billion years? :)
    12. Re:Moderation by merdark · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, Linux could disappear tomrrow with no problems. Any one of the BSD kernels could take over the duties performed by the Linux kernel. All those "Linux vendors" would them immediatly be "BSD vendors".

      You cannot credit Linux with the open source movements achievments. Sorry, try again.

      The only reason the corporations are using Linux is because of the hype. The only reason Linux is the more popular kernel is due to the AT&T lawsuite that existed when both Linux and BSD were new.

      Sure, companies make drivers for Linux, credit popularity again, not the kernel. Do you know why there are not *more* drivers for Linux? Because of the crappy ABI. And know what's more? Most of those binary only drivers are specifically for "Red Hat". Again, Linux is the problem here.

      Just because the term Linux is commonly used to refer to the open source operating system technology doesn't mean you get to credit everything to Linux. Try again bud.

      BSD owes Linux nothing. It may owe something to the *companies* promoting open source operating systems which *happen* to use the Linux kernel, but certainly not to the Linux kernel.

    13. Re:Moderation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No problems? The Linux kernel has a far broader range of features being put to good use, and you couldn't just switch to FreeBSD's kernel without losing a large amount of functionality and having to make many sweeping changes.

      Then again, you're the guy who just said "Linux isn't in the real world", so you're clearly just a zealot who needs to get out more. Sigh!

    14. Re:Moderation by tarius8105 · · Score: 1

      No problems? The Linux kernel has a far broader range of features being put to good use, and you couldn't just switch to FreeBSD's kernel without losing a large amount of functionality and having to make many sweeping changes.

      You are correct if you mean in for the average desktop user. However, FreeBSD has been known to blow linux out of the water with speed. Further more, try on a 2.4 kernel compiling 4 different apps at once, it slows the machine down to a crawl if not locks it up. You'll never see that happen on a BSD box.

    15. Re:Moderation by merdark · · Score: 1

      Please list this "far broader range of features" that Linux has.

      Journaling file system? BSD has an equivalent. ACLs? BSD has em. Sure, some drivers may be missing, but people could port those over to BSD fairly quickly if the so cared.

      The only *critical* feature that you'd be missing is enterprise volume managment. Which again, is a feature born from the corporations, and just happens to have been put into Linux by those corporations. ALSA is also pretty good, but again, this could be ported to BSD as kernel modules. There is nothing special about the Linux kernel. It's a plain old monolithic kernel which is only in the near future getting features other monolithic kernels have had for a long time such as a good VM and O(1) scheduling (BSD may not have had O(1) until this year, but corporate UNIXs sure did).

      And again. Linux is not the real world. If you ever actually *worked* at any decently large corporation or university, you'd know that the real world involves heterogenous environments. Linux fits in as a destop and small server piece, but is in competition with Windows and Mac mostly, sometimes BSD (especially on the server end). Linux and BSD don't even come close to big iron like Sun and AIX though. Show me hot swapable cpu support or terminal services or IBM type world class support for Linux and *then* you can maybe think about Linux for the Enterprise. And that's assuming that 2.6 is in production, which it isn't. That's the real world. In the real world, Linux is only an option. That's right, the world does *not* revolve around slashdot and open source.

  9. More Words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    It's not pinin'. It's passed on. This OS is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It's kicked the bucket, it's shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile. *BSD is an ex-operating system.

  10. Binary patches? Please? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Much as I love the clean layout and careful design of FreeBSD (and in fairness the other BSD flavours), it's a lot of hassle to maintain. When a security patch appears, needing the full development toolchain, kernel and system source and time to patch and rebuild and install is tiresome. On my Debian boxes, it's one simple command.

    So is any form of binary patching planned for future FreeBSD releases? I'd love this, and I'd move my Debian boxes over to FreeBSD immediately.

    1. Re:Binary patches? Please? by Vint+Cerf · · Score: 1

      Yes.

    2. Re:Binary patches? Please? by cperciva · · Score: 3, Informative

      Or, more usefully: FreeBSD Update, which is also in the FreeBSD ports tree (security/freebsd-update).

    3. Re:Binary patches? Please? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hrm, that's useful, but it still requires a machine for applying patches and rebuilding. Not sure if that guy offers the resulting binaries -- whatever the case, it'd be so much better to have them distributed via FreeBSD's main site and FTP mirrors.

    4. Re:Binary patches? Please? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have 'all these boxes' you have the money to buy your own machine for compiling the patches on.

    5. Re:Binary patches? Please? by cperciva · · Score: 1

      Hrm, that's useful, but it still requires a machine for applying patches and rebuilding. Not sure if that guy offers the resulting binaries -- whatever the case, it'd be so much better to have them distributed via FreeBSD's main site and FTP mirrors.

      I publish binary updates for 4.7-RELEASE and 4.8-RELEASE right now. I will be publishing updates for 4.9-RELEASE as well, and also 5.x RELEASES once I get some new hardware.

      This will be integrated into FreeBSD more fully in the future (included in base, updates built and distributed by the project), but there are some improvements I want to make first.

    6. Re:Binary patches? Please? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cool, that sounds superb, and good luck with it. The only problem is that not everyone will trust you -- you seem like a decent guy to me :) -- so having it rolled into the official FreeBSD Project stuff would make it perfect.

    7. Re:Binary patches? Please? by cperciva · · Score: 1

      The only problem is that not everyone will trust you -- you seem like a decent guy to me :) -- so having it rolled into the official FreeBSD Project stuff would make it perfect.

      That's exactly one of the reasons I don't want it as part of the project yet. Right now, quite independent of the issue of trusting the *person* building updates, people have to trust the *machine* building updates -- which isn't exactly an ideal situation. Of course, people trust the root CVS repository, but that's something which can be verified; it's hard to verify binaries.

      Something I will be working on is the ability to have several machines independently building updates and verifying each other's updates; the update client would then refuse to install any updates unless they were signed by (for example) 18 out of the 20 update-building boxes.

  11. Troll-in-one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    All the *BSD is dying posts are contained in this one post. If you have mod points, please mod this up so that everybody will know that *BSD is dying! No need to post your own, as it will only be redundant!

    Oh, and if I've missed any, please add your troll as a reply and I'll include it in the next Troll-in-one.

    _*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

    The *BSD Wailing Song

    What's left for me to see
    In my ship I sailed so far
    What can the answer be
    Don't know what the questions are.
    And after all I've done
    Still I cannot feel the sun
    Tell me save me
    In the end our lost souls must repent.
    I must know it is for certain
    Can it be the final curtain
    As long as the wind will blow
    I'll be searching high and low.
    Who knows what's really true
    They say the end is so near
    Why are we all so cruel
    We just fill ourselves with fear.
    And heaven and hell will turn
    All that we love shall burn
    Hear me trust me
    In the end our lost sould must repent.
    I must know it is for certain
    Can it be the final curtain
    As long as the wind will blow
    I'll be searching high and low
    Final curtain
    Final curtain


    _*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

    • flask of ripe urine
      pressed to bsd lips
      bsd drink up

    _*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

    I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you BSD fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a BSD box (a PIII 800 w/512 Megs of RAM) for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one folder on the hard drive to another folder. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this BSD box, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.

    In addition, during this file transfer, Netscape will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even Emacs Lite is straining to keep up as I type this.

    I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various BSD machines, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a BSD box that has run faster than its Windows counterpart, despite the BSD machines faster chip architecture. My 486/66 with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 800 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that BSD is a "superior" machine.

    BSD addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a BSD over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.


    _*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

    It is common knowledge that *BSD is dying. Almost everyone knows that ever hapless *BSD is mired in an irrecoverable and mortifying tangle of fatal trouble. It is perhaps anybody's guess as to which *BSD is the worst off of an admittedly suffering *BSD community. The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The erosion of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral.

    OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of BSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

    Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell a

    1. Re:Troll-in-one by Paracelcus · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I'm going to take the bait!
      Without flaming or ranting or childishly using foul language!

      On my humble P55C233 with 196 Megs of RAM and two 5,000 RPM eide HDD's...
      FreeBSD 4.4 RELEASE
      Running SETI@Home
      CUPS
      DDclient
      Samba
      Fetchmail
      Sendm ail
      SSH, etc.

      I can copy a 22 Meg tif image from one HD to the other using "cp /opt/pictures/geomp.tif /home/myhome/" it takes 3 mins 36 seconds.

      I think you need to look carefully at your configuration and check for rootkits, and hidden processes.

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    2. Re:Troll-in-one by Shanep · · Score: 1

      To add to the anti Trolling...

      OpenBSD 3.2, Pentium 75MHz, 32MB old 72pin EDO RAM, old narrow SCSI 520MB Seagate drive on some old Taiwanese VX motherboard I found thrown out during my local clean-up day:

      Time to create 22MB file from /dev/zero: 24 seconds.
      Time to copy that file to same disk: 1 min 17 seconds. (plenty of old head thrashing).


      firewall# dmesg
      OpenBSD 3.2 (GENERIC) #25: Thu Oct 3 19:51:53 MDT 2002
      deraadt@i386.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/co mpile/GENERIC
      cpu0: F00F bug workaround installed
      cpu0: Intel Pentium (P54C) ("GenuineIntel" 586-class) 75 MHz
      cpu0: FPU,V86,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,MCE,CX8
      real mem = 33140736 (32364K)
      avail mem = 25227264 (24636K)

      using 430 buffers containing 1761280 bytes (1720K) of memory
      mainbus0 (root)
      bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+(39) BIOS, date 07/10/96, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xfb1e0
      apm0 at bios0: Power Management spec V1.2
      apm0: AC on, battery charge unknown, estimated 0:00 hours
      pcibios0 at bios0: rev. 2.1 @ 0xf0000/0xb700
      pcibios0: PCI BIOS has 5 Interrupt Routing table entries
      pcibios0: PCI Interrupt Router at 000:07:0 ("Intel 82371SB PCI-ISA" rev 0x00)
      pcibios0: PCI bus #0 is the last bus
      bios0: ROM list: 0xdc000/0x4000
      pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
      pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82437VX" rev 0x02
      pcib0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0 "Intel 82371SB PCI-ISA" rev 0x01
      pciide0 at pci0 dev 7 function 1 "Intel 82371SB IDE" rev 0x00: DMA, channel 0 wired to compatibility, channel 1 wired to compatibility
      pciide0: channel 0 ignored (disabled)
      pciide0: channel 1 ignored (disabled)
      rl0 at pci0 dev 20 function 0 "Realtek 8139" rev 0x10: irq 15 address 00:08:a1:28:72:e7
      rlphy0 at rl0 phy 0: RTL internal phy
      isa0 at pcib0
      isadma0 at isa0
      pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
      pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
      pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
      wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard
      (bha probe): bha_cmd, cmd/data port empty 13
      aha0 at isa0 port 0x330/4 irq 11 drq 5: model AHA-1542CF, firmware B.0
      aha0: unlocking mailbox interface
      aha0: async, parity
      scsibus0 at aha0: 8 targets
      sd0 at scsibus0 targ 0 lun 0: [SEAGATE, ST3655N, 9550] SCSI2 0/direct fixed
      sd0: 520MB, 2493 cyl, 5 head, 85 sec, 512 bytes/sec, 1065036 sec total

      pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
      midi0 at pcppi0:
      sysbeep0 at pcppi0
      npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: using exception 16
      pccom0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
      pccom0: console
      pccom1 at isa0 port 0x2f8/8 irq 3: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
      biomask 800 netmask 8800 ttymask 8802
      pctr: 586-class performance counters and user-level cycle counter enabled
      dkcsum: sd0 matched BIOS disk 80
      root on sd0a
      rootdev=0x400 rrootdev=0xd00 rawdev=0xd02
      firewall# time dd bs=64k count=352 if=/dev/zero of=/22MB.bin
      352+0 records in
      352+0 records out
      23068672 bytes transferred in 23.791 secs (969608 bytes/sec)
      0.0u 2.0s 0:24.24 8.5% 0+0k 21+2490io 15pf+0w

      firewall# ls -la /22MB.bin
      -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 23068672 Oct 27 23:29 /22MB.bin
      firewall# time cp /22MB.bin /home
      0.0u 2.7s 1:16.37 3.5% 0+0k 379+2490io 11pf+0w

      firewall#

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    3. Re:Troll-in-one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok

      P90 overclocked to a blazing 100MHZ. 16MB or ram and Linux Kernel 2.0.36 with a 420MB IDE drive

      time to create 22MB file ~13 seconds
      time to move 22MB file ~38 seconds.

      I think you have a problem...

    4. Re:Troll-in-one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The reason your file's transferred faster is because it's on an IDE drive set to 420.

      I'll bet his setup remembers where it *put* the file :)

  12. The Failure of *BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The Failure of *BSD

    Of course we can all agree that BSD is a failure, but why did BSD fail Once you get past the fact that BSD is fragmented between a myriad of incompatible kernels, there is the historical record of failure and of failed operating systems. BSD experienced moderate success about 15 years ago in academic circles. Since then it has been in steady decline. We all know BSD keeps losing market share but why Is it the problematic personalities of many of the key players Or is it larger than their troubled personalities
    The record is clear on one thing no operating system has ever come back from the grave. Efforts to resuscitate BSD are one step away from spiritualists wishing to communicate with the dead. As the situation grows more desperate for the adherents of this doomed OS, the sorrow takes hold. An unremitting gloom hangs like a death shroud over a once hopeful BSD community. The hope is gone; a mournful nostalgia has settled in. Now is the end time for BSD.

  13. Rod Grimes - 10 Years Later by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Actually, only 8 or 9 years later, since I haven't seen Rod in the last year or two. He's a bitter, angry asshole who's ruined more than a couple business deals with various people I've known. I don't think I've ever met anyone who actually /liked/ Rod. He was trying to run a business as a systems integrator in Gresham, Oregon and that failed miserably. He ran a spam operation for a good while, putting all that BSD knowledge to "good" use. Yes, BSD is dying, rightfully so.

  14. Why FreeBSD died by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    The End of FreeBSD

    [ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]

    When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.

    Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.

    FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.

    It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.

    So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.

    Discussion

    I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.

    From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.

    There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.

    Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.

    Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?

    Shouts

    To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.

    To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. I

  15. FreeBSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    We all know that *BSD is dying, it almost goes without saying. Yes, ever hapless *BSD continues to be mired in an irrecoverable and mortifying tangle of fatal trouble. It is perhaps anybody's guess as to which *BSD is the worst off of an admittedly suffering *BSD community. The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The erosion of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral.

    OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of BSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

    Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    All major marketing surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among hobbyist dilettante dabblers. In truth, for all practical purposes *BSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking.

    Fact: FreeBSD is dying

  16. "Do not stand at my hard disk and forever weep. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    BSD IS DEAD

    "Do not stand at my hard disk and forever weep.
    I am not there; I do not sleep.
    I am a thousand winds that blow.
    I am the diamond glints on snow.
    I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
    I am the gentle autumn's rain.
    When you reboot in the morning's hush
    I am the swift uplifting rush
    Of quiet birds in circled flight.
    I am the soft stars that shine at night.
    Do not stand at my hard disk and forever cry.
    I am not there. "

    BSD IS DEAD

  17. How about these words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    fucking BSD alive not is

    Now make a sentence out of that...

  18. YOU FAIL IT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Dupe! This is already in the troll-in-one, asswipe!

  19. TROLL IN ONE WARNING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    The person posting the Troll-in-one is a BSD user trying trying to encourage people not to post the truth about BSD.

    Feel free to post the truth as often as nessecary until everyone understands, folks.

    1. Re:TROLL IN ONE WARNING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
      Excellent point. The number one Slashdot problem is how moderation is used to obfuscate the truth. Many who read Slashdot can't handle the truth. When Truth conflicts with their private agenda, it is Truth which is suppressed.

      A prime example is the simple fact that *BSD is dying. It is a well known fact, confirmed by study after study. This little matter of Truth does not fit the preconceived world view held by many of the Slashdot "comrades", however. Therefore, taking a cue from Stalinst philosophy, the Truth is suppressed.

      The truth shall set you free -- *BSD is dying.

    2. Re:TROLL IN ONE WARNING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      I encourage people to mod up the troll-in-one so that it can't be modded to oblivion! This way, everybody will know the truth!

  20. Broken 1.0 releases? by bovinewasteproduct · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So who else has contributed broken software to a 1.0 release?

    I'm the reason why the mitsumi CD-ROM driver was broken, and of course Rod had just cut the gold master (and back then it was a major pain to make masters) and could not update the sources.

    After about 20 patches, he just just gave me a commit bit...:)

    BWP

    1. Re:Broken 1.0 releases? by scosol · · Score: 1

      Whoa! I'm responsible for the broken mitsumi cdrom driver in the later releases- 2.2.x or so?
      Circa 95-96 :)

      --
      I browse at +5 Flamebait- moderation for all or moderation for none.
  21. dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You totally missed the point. Linux vendors contribute a LOT more code to project such as XFree86 than any of you BSD fanboy's.

    1. Re:dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You totally missed the point. Linux vendors contribute a LOT more code to project such as XFree86 than any of you BSD fanboy's.

      Given the 200+ forks of GNU/Linux and each one wanting the programs to run, of COURSE they are submitting patches back. DUH.

      But you seem to be confused that 'if it runs on Linux its called Linux'. A common problem, comes from the Microsoft 'call everything Microsoft to gain mindshare/marketshare' thinking.

  22. *BSD is not dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    If you don't believe me, check out NERO's Last Measure of the Internet

    1. Re:*BSD is not dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      This sick post should just be removed. People who think this crap is funny should just grow up...oh, wait.. give the 5 year old some time and maybe he will.

    2. Re:*BSD is not dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      I would just like to report how effective this is on a Linux machine running Netscape. 8 billion windows, and the system slows to a crawl. The only way out is to CTRL+ALT+F2-6 out and kill Netscape. Bravo.

    3. Re:*BSD is not dying by peterpi · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      heheh, that is teh 1337 troll! ;)

  23. OWNT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    haha pwnd

  24. Developer laments: What Killed FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    The End of FreeBSD

    [ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]

    When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.

    Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.

    FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.

    It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.

    So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.

    Discussion

    I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.

    From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.

    There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.

    Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.

    Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?

    Shouts

    To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.

    To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. I

  25. FreeBSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    It is common knowledge that FreeBSD is dying, that ever hapless FreeBSD is mired in an irrecoverable and mortifying tangle of fatal trouble.

    All major marketing surveys show that FreeBSD has steadily declined in market share. FreeBSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim.

    Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The loss of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral.

    In truth, for all practical purposes FreeBSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking.

    Fact: FreeBSD is dying

  26. YHBT. YHL. HAND. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    YHBT. YHL. HAND.

  27. HEY MICHAEL MOD ME DOWN LOL OMG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    All our times have come
    Here but now they're gone
    Mac OS don't fear the reaper
    Nor do the windows, SUN or the rain..we can be like they are
    Come on baby...don't fear the reaper
    Baby take my hand...don't fear the reaper
    We'll be able to fly...don't fear the reaper
    BSD's bought the farm....

    Distro is done
    Here but now they're gone
    Romeo and Juliet
    Are together in eternity...Romeo and Juliet
    40,000 server crashes every day...Like Romeo and Juliet
    40,000 workstations reformatted everyday...Redefine happiness
    Another 40,000 coming everyday...We can be like they are
    Come on baby...don't fear the reaper
    Baby take my hand...don't fear the reaper
    We'll be able to fly...don't fear the reaper
    BSD's bought the farm...

    Love of two is one
    Here but now they're gone
    Came the last night of sadness
    And it was clear she couldn't log on
    Then the file was opened the wind appeared
    The mobo blew then disappeared
    The curtains flew then Jordan Hubbard and Michael Smith appeared...saying don't be afraid
    Come on baby...and she had no fear
    And she ran to them...then they started to fly
    They looked backward and said goodbye...she had become like they are
    She had taken their hand...she had become like they are
    Come on baby...don't fear the reaper "

  28. michael sims by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if this is offtopic, why isn't the parent of this post not?

  29. BSD is a one legged man in an ass kicking contest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    FreeBSD is a one legged man in an ass kicking -- It got its ass kicked, plain and simple.

    Boo hoo hoo. Sob.

  30. *BSD -- it's all over but the burial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    Sure, we all know that *BSD is a failure, but why? Why did *BSD fail? Once you get past the fact that *BSD is fragmented between a myriad of incompatible kernels, there is the historical record of failure and of failed operating systems. *BSD experienced moderate success about 15 years ago in academic circles. Since then it has been in steady decline. We all know *BSD keeps losing market share but why? Is it the problematic personalities of many of the key players? Or is it larger than their troubled personas?

    The record is clear on one thing: no operating system has ever come back from the grave. Efforts to resuscitate *BSD are one step away from spiritualists wishing to communicate with the dead. As the situation grows more desperate for the adherents of this doomed OS, the sorrow takes hold. An unremitting gloom hangs like a death shroud over a once hopeful *BSD community. The hope is gone; a mournful nostalgia has settled in. Now is the end time for *BSD.

  31. What I know about *BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    1. You can play many great games on it.
    2. It can easily be used by my grandma.
    3. It has many excellent GUIs you can choose from.
    4. There is much support available for it.
    5. It is a single, coherent, all-in-one OS.
    6. It can be run on many platforms, including x86.
    7. You need not compile anything or know C.
    8. Support for the latest hardware is generally quite good.
    9. It is compatible with GNU/Linux and even includes a Linux emulation layer.
    10.It is one of the most alive operating systems in existence, with improvements being made to it almost daily.

  32. BSD death ghetto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    BSD you grow in the ghetto, living second rate
    And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate.
    The places you play and where you stay
    Looks like one great big alley way.
    You'll admire all the numberbook takers,
    Thugs, BSD pimps and pushers, and the big money makers.
  33. What a useless story by norweigiantroll · · Score: 1

    It doesn't even contain a link to the news flash

    1. Re:What a useless story by scosol · · Score: 1

      Yeah- I was just gonna say "Hey SF, Maybe I'll attend- errr where is the link to the actual story???"

      --
      I browse at +5 Flamebait- moderation for all or moderation for none.
  34. Oh shit - someone has trolled my troll! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Oh god that cracked me up. I had to have a secondlook at it to realise that it was a troll of a troll.

    Good work. Nice to know that someone out there isn't taking the trolls seriously.

  35. Elegy for *BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Elegy For *BSD


    I am a *BSD user
    and I try hard to be brave
    That is a tall order
    *BSD's foot is in the grave.

    I tap at my toy keyboard
    and whistle a happy tune
    but keeping happy's so hard,
    *BSD died so soon.

    Each day I wake and softly sob
    Nightfall finds me crying
    Not only am I a zit faced slob
    but *BSD is dying.

  36. Sco's gift by OzPhIsH · · Score: 1

    I wonder what gift Sco will be giving the BSD team... Maybe they'll donate some code enabling FreeBSD to finally be "ready for the enterprise." That or maybe they can license "Happy Birthday" for us so we can all sing it at the party! I for one can't wait to see more wild antics of Darl the Clown! WoooHooo Birtday!!!!!

    --

    "To lead the people, you must walk behind them"

  37. Rod Grimes by Rex+Code · · Score: 1

    Or "Grimy", as he liked to be called.

  38. FreeBSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    You don't keed to be Kreskin to look into FreeBSD's future. Even a child knows that FreeBSD is dying. All major marketing surveys show that FreeBSD has steadily declined in market share. FreeBSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim.

    Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The loss of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral. In truth, for all practical purposes FreeBSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking. It's a fact: FreeBSD is dying.

  39. FreeBSD is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    You don't keed to be Kreskin to look into FreeBSD's future. Even a child knows that FreeBSD is dying. All major marketing surveys show that FreeBSD has steadily declined in market share. FreeBSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim.

    Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The erosion of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral. In truth, for all practical purposes FreeBSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking. It's a fact: FreeBSD is dying.

  40. Hard Times for FreeBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    Sure, we all know that *BSD is a failure, but why? Why did *BSD fail? Once you get past the fact that *BSD is fragmented between a myriad of incompatible kernels, there is the historical record of failure and of failed operating systems. *BSD experienced moderate success about 15 years ago in academic circles. Since then it has been in steady decline. We all know *BSD keeps losing market share but why? Is it the problematic personalities of many of the key players? Or is it larger than their troubled personas?

    The record is clear on one thing: no operating system has ever come back from the grave. Efforts to resuscitate *BSD are one step away from spiritualists wishing to communicate with the dead. As the situation grows more desperate for the adherents of this doomed OS, the sorrow takes hold. An unremitting gloom hangs like a death shroud over a once hopeful *BSD community. The hope is gone; a mournful nostalgia has settled in. Now is the end time for *BSD.