Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 10:43:31 +0100 From: Szilveszter Adam <sziszi@bsd.hu> To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: FreeBSD's momentum and future prospects Message-ID: <20021222094331.GC785@fonix.adamsfamily.xx>
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Hello, Well, since you asked for it...:-) Here is my take. I think that FreeBSD 5.0, once it comes out, will be the most exciting release of FreeBSD that there ever was. Rarely do we see so many new features making their way into a new major version of the OS. I furthermore think, that even when compared to the other BSDs, FreeBSD 5.0 is still in very good shape, although there are probably parts that still could be usefully incorporated into it from other BSDs, or added as an option to ports. (Some of the enhancements of pf over ipfilter come to mind, but there are others) In any event, I think that the old saying of "If you want functionality, go to FreeBSD, if you want security, go to OpenBSD" no longer holds: FreeBSD 5.0 will support almost everything in terms of security that OpenBSD does, including kernel accelerated crypto, while at the same time also offering functionality that the other OS does not. When compared to Linux (ok, not all 2153446646457 distros out there, just the major ones) there are items that stick out. - As others have noted, there is no desktop-oriented version of FreeBSD, which is a shame, since even NetBSD tried to do something of that sort not long ago. (I do not know if it was successful) While many people on this list may think that FreeBSD is purely a server OS, I think that this is not necessarily true. Remember, people said the same about Linux, and now we see that a change is happening. It could happen to us, if only some missing pieces would be in place. Among these, one of the most important is a new, modular installer to replace the officially end-of-lifed sysinstall. This new installer will need to be able to offer a GUI interface, a console interface and a full-blown scripting interface, so that unattended installs become a reality since this is a requirement for commercial purposes. Unfortunately, libh is nowhere near ready, and this has been the case for years now. Also, and administration interface needs to develop, since what we have in sysinstall now, is a bit too much for installation needs but falls far short of what is needed for system administration. For example, you can create a new user, but you cannot create a new group. Ick. NetBSD (again) has embarked on this journey and have created sushi(8) to solve this need. - As for drivers, Linux is getting into the position where OS/2 used to be, or the MacOS is now, that not every hardware, but more and more hardware comes with drivers from the manufacturer/vendor. These drivers often do not offer the full functionality of the hardware (see eg printer drivers) but at least exist. The Open Source community, how much it may want to do so, will not be able to keep up with the flood of hardware devices that appear every year and not even with those that people will want to really use. While both FreeBSD and Linux have reached the point where you can go out and buy most PC hardware and expect it to work, this does not hold true for many typically desktop oriented items (sound cards, printers, scanners, USB mass storage devices, Bluetooth etc) Also, localization support is still in its initial stages, since eg there is no way to localize the text strings that libc spits out, we do not have (yet) a framework like the GNU gettext library that would be in widespread use. - As for the higher-end server arena, Linux was lucky since paid programmers took up projects to make it run on eg IBM or Sun hardware. Unfortunately, even NetBSD does not support the recent platforms yet, since (for some reason:-) nobody is willing to donate eg an IBM server freely to a developer. Also, eg the SMPng project still needs to fully produce its results. Linux is much further in SMP support now. And again, drivers are needed for special hardware devices in use at large installations. - As for publicity, Linux clearly wins, since by now everybody has heard of it. But this can change rather quickly, if commercial sponsors come on board. Unfortunately, the big players are already taken (even though they only use Linux as their "entry-level" offering for those that want something cheap, and make sure that the transition is smooth from Linux on eg Sun hardware to Solaris on Sun hardware... Of course, I still think that BSD developers need not hide from the world when it comes to new creative ideas, for a good example on this, see the GEOM project or the MAC framework on FreeBSD 5.0. But these projects would not have happened were it not for the support of DARPA and commercial sponsors, since this already work that simply cannot be done at home, after the kids went to bed. So, while BSD still is a great platform to use and develop, unless sponsors spring up and hardware vendors start taking it seriously, it will never come out of its current niche. OpenBSD is pretty much in the same situation, while NetBSD's hope is the embedded market, where it already has such a sponsor. But only time will tell. Regards: -- Szilveszter ADAM Szombathely Hungary To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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