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The State of the Demon Address

Posted by michael on from the not-dying dept.

Kelly McNeill writes "It's an exciting era in the Berkeley Software Distribution world; indeed, things started off with a litigious bang over a decade ago, but now BSD solutions are more varied than ever before and offer the user heretofore unprecedented choice and power. So many are the options today that it's time for a roll call from the various distributions. Paul Webb submitted the following editorial to osOpinion/osViews which takes a look at what each BSD has to offer and also looks at where each is going."

9 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Is Apple represented? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Didn't think so.

  2. Statement: "we're not dead...really" by XpirateX · · Score: 0, Troll

    I thought BSD was dead?

    (please don't hit me)

  3. BSD was dying? by chrispyman · · Score: -1, Troll

    I always thought that BSD was dying, but I didn't believe it until their site died ;-)

  4. Giving the matter some thought... by Sheetrock · · Score: -1, Troll
    BSD solutions are more varied than ever before and offer the user heretofore unprecedented choice and power

    I sometimes wonder if this is one of those situations in Open Source where more is not better.

    There is exactly one GNU/Linux, which is occasionally altered by others to meet needs, but which is ultimately designed by one team. It's a jack-of-all-trades, which is probably the best overall strategy for acceptance and survival.

    BSD, on the other hand, has fragmented into a set of extremes. OpenBSD for security, FreeBSD for a Linux-workalike with ports, NetBSD for portability. Each can be useful if you're looking for one solution to one problem.

    But the computing world isn't like that. Almost every system is put to multiple tasks -- particularly desktops, but occasionally servers may have their purpose redefined one or more times over their lifespan. And I think this undercuts the possible success of the different BSDs, as does the fact that one must switch his online community if he wants a different BSD but only his distribution if he wants a different GNU/Linux.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  5. The State of the Demon Address by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    We're talking about Texas right??

  6. Re:openbsd mistakes by RealAlaskan · · Score: 0, Troll
    OpenBSD isn't acceptable as a desktop system

    Well, if we replace ``acceptable'' with ``optimal'', we might come a little closer to the truth, for most of us who aren't using it as our desktops.

    Unfortunately, what they say about the future of OpenBSD is far too true:

    One factor that mars OpenBSD's fair weather is its primary developer, Theo de Raadt. This individual is known to be highly unstable and even destructive at times. OpenBSD's very birth, as noted above, is owed to one of his infamous tantrums and many users have been flamed off the Internet due to his bad moods and compulsive control issues. Though excellent for network equipment, developers may wish to remain wary of this platform and its creator.
    The attitude on the mailing lists is one of the big reasons that I've found OpenBSD not to be optimal for my desktop.
    --
    See what I've been reading.
  7. They've been dying so long by RLiegh · · Score: 0, Troll

    that eventually they'll get as good at it as apple is at going out of business!

  8. BSD ported to Gentoo by Ingolfke · · Score: 0, Troll

    In a last ditch effort to save BSD it was ported to yet another meaningless paltform, a Gentoo BSD emulator. Unfortunately Gentoo has followed the path of BSD, straight into oblivion.

  9. Re:What's so great about FreeBSD 5? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The cuddly demon kicks that stupid penguin's ass.

    There may or may not be some technical stuff, too.