Hello, On 08/25/2011 12:23 AM, Scrap Happy wrote:
E.g., I use very few of the multitude of packages available. I don't care if GIMP runs well or if the latest version is supported on NetBSD -- I'll drag out Photoshop and be done with my work before the package installs itself and all its dependencies. Likewise, OO is more investment than I would care to make -- FrameMaker handles my DTP needs quite well.
I was a bit surprised when I read this. Don't you use NetBSD on your desktop?
I've read a couple of posts in this list that suggest to me that participants use Windows on the desktop and see *BSD as a server OS only. I am genuinely surprised. I have always used some flavour of Linux on my desktop. I think the only proprietary software I have is Adobe Flash. I am happy with my system and I don't feel the slightest temptation to buy a program that will force me to run Windows.
When I need an office program I run OpenOffice. For photo editing I use GIMP. When I want to draw something I may use OO or Inkscape depending on what I need. My plantearium program is Stellarium. My scientific work is done in Fortran compiled with GCC.
I admit that I have a bias toward free/open source software, or at least proprietary software without vendor lock-in. But I don't think that this is the reason I don't use proprietary: I just don't miss it. I *like* running Linux. I *like* Unix-like systems. I am not going to use Windows in order to run a program, and I hardly see the point in paying for Photoshop or FrameMaker when the open source software in my computer has always served me so well.
I had always assumed that BSD users would feel similar. I had assumed that everyone on this list *likes* running NetBSD or *BSD and naturally would want to use it on their desktop rather than endure Windows.
I suspect not; at least for me the answer to the "but why" question above is as simple as that NetBSD was available on the platform I was using at the time, met the general idea of what I wanted ("free, unix"), and I knew about it. Clean design only mattered once I had multiple options that all seemed roughly similar; in my case I switched to, and back from, Debian.OTOH, there *is* some value to what ELSE runs on those platforms. I.e., if all you end up with is an OS, you might *admire* it but not be able to *do* anything with it!
MINIX 3! Cheers, Daniel. -- I'm not overweight, I'm undertall.