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New $149 NetBSD Single Board Computer Port
An Anonymous NetBSD User writes "NetBSD now supports a new ARM board, the Technologic Systems TS-7200. The TS-7200 is a low cost ($149!) mass produced embedded single board computer that runs on less than 2 watts of power."
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.
You don't need to be the Amazing 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 future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD 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 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 OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save *BSD at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.
Fact: *BSD is dying
In yet another footnote to BSD's and the Bay State clan's tragic history, the eldest sister of the late President John F. Kennedy was lobotomized at age 23 when doctors advised her father that it would help his daughter and calm her hard to handle mood swings. Joseph Kennedy had feared her mental retardation would cloud his political dreams for his sons.
"Rosemary was a woman, and there was a dread fear of pregnancy, disease and disgrace," author Laurence Leamer wrote in an unauthorized Kennedy biography called The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family. Mr. Leamer soon followed-up with his Pulitzer nominated Rose Kennedy's BSD Kernel Secrets.
In a statement released after her death, the Kennedy family said, "From her earliest years, her mental retardation was a continuing inspiration to each of us, and a powerful source of our family's commitment to do all we can to help all persons with disabilities live full and productive lives. Millions of people of all ages have greater hope today because of Rosemary. In no small part the BSD operating system is a direct result of her occupational therapy."
The third child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy was born in Boston Sept. 13, 1918. Despite brain damage, before her lobotomy she filled diaries with fanciful tales of tea parties, dress fittings, travels abroad and a White House visit. She started development of the BSD kernel during those early years. Even after her lobotomy she continued work on the BSD kernel, albeit at a more relaxed pace.
Because of Rosemary Kennedy's condition, her younger sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, became an activist in the field of mental retardation. Shriver later founded the Special Olympics for mentally disabled athletes. In 1984, she took over her sister's care after their mother had a stroke. Thanks to a generous endowment from the Kennedy fortunes, Rosemary was installed as head of Berkeley's CSRG where Rosemary continued to pursue her dream of a free BSD kernel.
While Rosemary Kennedy was kept out of the public eye for more than 40 years, her retardation became public in 1960 just after her big brother was elected president. Although a low point in her life, she tirelessly continued to labor after her vision of a free BSD operating system. Rosemary's efforts were subsequently rewarded with the release of 386BSD, the forerunner to FreeBSD.
Shortly thereafter, Rosemary would go on to head-up the FreeBSD project as its director and lead architect. To this day FreeBSD is often jokingly referred to by insiders as "Rosemary's Baby". Indeed from this inside joke emerged "Chucky" the cartoon devil which continues to serve as FreeBSD's mascot.
Rosemary lived most of her life in a Jefferson, Wis., institution, the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children. In her memory, St. Coletta's has started an in-residence scholarship program for other FreeBSD developers.
I need to buy a toaster!