Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:24:03 -0700 From: Charlie Kester <corky1951@comcast.net> To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Open Vs Free BSD Message-ID: <20090619192403.GB2227@comcast.net> In-Reply-To: <20090619182326.GX12531@manor.msen.com> References: <735E59909DEB44AF92825EA7C65CF430@ionicoffice.ionic.co.uk> <200906190623.10417.andres@msu.edu> <20090619182326.GX12531@manor.msen.com>
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On Fri 19 Jun 2009 at 11:23:26 PDT Michael R. Wayne wrote: > >OK, I'm going to take a guess here that English may not be Michal's primary >language and re-ask his question: > > Given the several versions of *BSD, I have been led to understand > that each excells in different ways. How do I select which one > is right for my application, what are the underlying reasons > that would lead me to that choice and what are the the disadvantages > I am risking? > >This is, actually, not an inappropriate question coming from a potential >new user who is not familiar with the history surrounding the various >versions and would make an outstanding FAQ. As an example, we run FreeBSD >on our firewalling machines because it works well enough and we prefer the >reduced support costs of using a single O/S across our network. I am unsure >of what the advantage of moving to OpenBSD might be and would find it very >difficult to quantify the advantages (if any) versus the increased support >resources required. > >This is a very real issue. Linux has a similar problem; I've personally >been in meetings where clients examined the myriad Linux distributions >and say "It's very likely that we will make the incorrect choice. So we'll >go with Windows." I suspect similar events have occurred with *BSD. So, >rather than jumping on people about them bringing up religous wars (because, >face it, you CAN edit a file perfectly well in either vi or emacs :-), we'd >all be better served by giving them enough information to make the >right choice in their situation while realizing the tradeoffs they are >making. I agree, this shouldn't necessarily be treated as flamebait or trolling. But shouldn't the question be redirected to the advocacy mailing list/team?
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