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Comparing Linux and BSD, Diplomatically
Joe Barr writes "Talk about a red-button issue. How do you compare Linux and the BSDs and keep the debate from turning into a friendly-fire flame-fest nightmare between bigots on both sides of the line? Linus Torvalds once handled a similar situation by wearing a BSD beanie at USENIX while delivering a Linux talk. Now he tries it again in this interview on NewsForge ."
Try to use the appropriate tool at the right time at the right moment.
What is appropriate depends on the situation and your experience.
Easy, you just compair them to Microsoft and the Linux and BSD bigots will unite.
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
So what? Everyone knows windows blows both of them out of the water as far as viral whoring goes. Try that with wine.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
To summarrize Linus :
1)They are different don't try to compare them.
2)I like Linux better because it agrees with me.
3) Don't ask me what I wan't in Linux (kernal) from BSD (kernal) because I don't use BSD.
Basically it was a whole bunch of nothing
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
Torvalds : It just means that I don't know anything about BSD technical internals, so I'm the wrong person to ask. Ask somebody who uses both.
Which are better, apples or oranges?
I shows a lot about how he thinks. He seems to be more of a realist than I would have thought.
I find Linus's interviews to be very interesting.
I do think that Linux, and Windows seems to be more similar than Linux and BSD, since he keeps commenting that BSD wants everything to be perfect, whereas Linux tends to be all things "good" for everyone.
I would consider Windows to be happy with just being "ok" at all things, and not perfect. Which also works for a lot of people.
Personally, I find it hilarious that there's a standard anarchy symbol....
Just junk food for thought...
He's obviously a bad person to ask since he thinks things like "you'll find a lot of areas where Linux is better (often a lot better -- as in "it works"), and then you'll find a few narrow areas where one particular BSD version will be better." and "Linux has a much wider audience, in many ways. That ranges from supporting much wider hardware (both in the driver sense and in the architecture sense) to actual uses.".
Sorry, NetBSD runs on more hardware that linux does, and apart from running on very large SMP systems, I can't think of *anything* that linux can do and BSD can't, much less "many" things.
It's quite easy.
Purchase 1x Tux Plushie, 1x Daemon Plushie, fill them both with audio tapes of associated OS zealot's verbal spew, put them down and press play. Whichever one's batteries run out first wins the debate.
Simple, no?
The easy part was getting the brain out, but the hard part was getting the brain out.
Nice bit of underhanded baiting there yourself. Not that I don't agree on many levels. Solaris isn't so immature, however the user level stuff is horrific and unfriendly. I know I am a Solaris admin. Get into big oracle or financials systems then tell me it's child's play. Still over all your correct.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Ditto the other poster, you couldn't resist the bait on Solaris. Solaris will kick some Linux and BSD butt for certain applications, however, it is relatively unfriendly as a desktop OS. Hopefully when OpenSolaris.org "opens for business" this week, we'll have a better package manager and userland applications. IMHO, the Solaris kernel is simply one of the, the not THE, best kernel currently available.
Personally, I run a dual-boot system: Linux and emacs.
Find free books.
Now, now, operating systems are technical things, with technical merits and disadvantages.
A good computer scientist can look at any system and ask himself, "ok how does this suck?".
Because the answer to that question can be followed up with "how do we make it better?".
If you can't ask "how does this suck?" for fear of being an "troll" then you've effectively eliminated thought.
Everyone who cares about the details knows Linux is light years ahead of solaris in every respect that matters to people of this century and not the last.
Look at Linux's vast array of scheduling algorithms. See how Linux's capabilities thrash Sun's pathetic security model into the ground. Checkout the triangles/sec and blit rate in Quake2.
OK?
A: I don't know, man. It depends what you mean by "better."
Q: Okay, then, why is it BSD used to be better?
A: Was it? I was busy not noticing.
Q: So you prefer Linux?
A: Um. Yes. Are you an idiot?
Q: Why do you think BSD and Linux are two different operating systems?
A: Probably because they start at different places in the alphabet. Are we done here? (points) Hey, look, there's Tanenbaum! Go ask him why writing a Unix kernel from scratch is impossible!
Q: Thank you for your time. Tune in Wednesday as we ask the BSD leaders why they insist on using one-button mice.
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