From owner-freebsd-advocacy Wed Jul 14 19:19:16 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from smtp03.primenet.com (smtp03.primenet.com [206.165.6.133]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4B0A114BCE for ; Wed, 14 Jul 1999 19:19:15 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from tlambert@usr07.primenet.com) Received: (from daemon@localhost) by smtp03.primenet.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) id TAA17020; Wed, 14 Jul 1999 19:18:03 -0700 (MST) Received: from usr07.primenet.com(206.165.6.207) via SMTP by smtp03.primenet.com, id smtpd016994; Wed Jul 14 19:17:54 1999 Received: (from tlambert@localhost) by usr07.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) id TAA11653; Wed, 14 Jul 1999 19:17:53 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert Message-Id: <199907150217.TAA11653@usr07.primenet.com> Subject: Re: NT vs Linux vs FreeBSD To: wes@softweyr.com (Wes Peters) Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 02:17:52 +0000 (GMT) Cc: maury@OAAI.COM, advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: <378CD63A.459F14A0@softweyr.com> from "Wes Peters" at Jul 14, 99 12:26:02 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > Of course only a dreamer would suggest that some anti-forking is > > due for the BSD world. Somebody pinch me! > > OK, you're pinched. You're also wrong. Forking isn't bad, it improves > the breed. The three BSD releases aren't all that similar, and each > brings a unique perspective that COULD NOT be addressed by one of the > other BSD projects. I think this is baloney. Linux is addressing the SMP, multiplatform, and agregate distribution as we speak. Forking is an artifact, an emergent property, with roots in both the organizational structure that is carried by all of the BSD groups, and in the tools used by the BSD groups (CVS, in particular) implying strictures that _require_ herd behaviour to prevent forks. The number of Linux distributions is actually a bad thing, for Linux continuity _and_ Linux marketing. But the multiplicity of Linux distributions is _not_ analogous to the forking that has occurred in the BSD world. The closest approach Linux has made to forking are the "ac" kernels, the close calls with libc vs. glibc, and the GGI project (other, older examples, exist). Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message