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Date:      Wed, 28 Nov 2001 23:25:12 +0100
From:      "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@freebie.atkielski.com>
To:        "doug" <doug@safeport.com>, <questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Feeding the Troll (Was: freebsd as a desktop ?)
Message-ID:  <011501c1785b$911c42b0$0a00000a@atkielski.com>
References:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.1011128163141.50019G-100000@fledge.watson.org>

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> Assuming one already uses FreeBSD (why else
> subscribe to this list ;) there are advantages
> to using it as a desktop.

Obviously.  My point was that, if you are choosing an OS for primarily desktop
use, the best choice is Microsoft Windows.  If you already have one machine and
it is running FreeBSD for other purposes, it may be more economical to use it
for desktop use as well, rather than buy a different machine and run Windows on
it (and dropping FreeBSD to switch to Windows is very unlikely to be
justifiable, unless you are making a major change in your computer use with
almost total emphasis on the desktop).

I really don't understand this preoccupation with desktops.  Doesn't anyone run
FreeBSD as a server, or is that simply not considered cool enough to please
anyone anymore?

> Since I am of the opinion that Windows will
> eventually become as much of a closed software
> environment as the Mac is for hardware ...

The OS itself is already completely closed, since it is proprietary.  The same
is true for the Mac.  However, Windows has always been more open to third-party
software products, and I don't expect that to change, as it only benefits
Microsoft (owner of the Windows OS).  That is something that Apple just could
never understand, it seems.

> For the health of Open Source OSs in general
> I would point out that there are (tens of??)
> thousands more desktops than servers in the
> world. If there is going to be an OS war it
> will be won or lost there (IMO).

I doubt that.  A single mainframe is worth ten thousand desktops.  We still have
MVS with us.  UNIX is the closest thing we have to an open-source mainframe OS.


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