Subject: Re: Gartner perspective on BSD
To: Ram Chandar <ram.chandar@qz.port5.com>
From: Wes Peters <wes@dobox.com>
List: netbsd-advocacy
Date: 02/15/2002 15:04:38
Ram Chandar wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I think Linux Hatred on this list out of place.
>
> For a Linux user moving to BSD is just like buying
> better, more comfortable underwear.
>
> I have to admit that I came to know about BSDs from
> the FreeBSD+Linux HowTo at linuxdoc.org and my move
> from RedHat to NetBSD was much smoother than I
> expected. I felt very familar with NetBSD, as it
> is more like the UNIX I have read in UNIX related books.
Congratulations, you've hit on an important truth here. I use OpenBSD
and FreeBSD on a daily basis, and yet consider NetBSD to be the most
"unix-y" operating system, truer to "the unix way" than any other. I
am quite pleased to see FreeBSD adopt important bits of NetBSD
technology like the new rc system, a truly unix solution to a tough
problem often made much harder by programmers who didn't take the
time to fully understand the problem before coding (non-)solutions.
The unix way: find the true nature of the problem and make the machine
do the work. Do it in a way that maximizes the use of existing tools.
Write simple tools that perform one job well, glue these tools
together with scripts that accomplish the larger task. A perfect
description of the rc system, and NetBSD in general.
As a NetBSD pundit once said, the goal is correct code, the outcome is
portability.
--
Boats love me
Sails fear me
Wes Peters <wes@dobox.com> System Architect
http://www.dobox.com/ DoBox Inc.