Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 10:55:18 -0700 From: wes@intele.net To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: FreeBSD vs. Win95, per Annelise Anderson Message-ID: <199603301755.KAA05837@obie.softweyr.com>
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In a recent conversation with Annelise, she revealed that she had written this in the recent past, but not posted it because she wasn't certain the humor would be apparent. My wife and I both laughed so much, I asked Annelise if I could post it here in chat. Having obtained her permission, here it is for your reading enjoyment. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (Being a sailor, I particularly like the inclusion of GPS devices in the list below.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 01/27/1996 Julien Lamy to questions@freebsd.org: > > from what I've understood of your FreeBSB, it's just like Windows95 > isn't it? > > Julien. In certain respects, yes. Both FreeBSD and Windows95 belong to the general category of toys suitable (primarily) for males ages 12 and over, along with cars, boats, bikes, knives, guns, rockets, medieval armor, cameras, GPS devices, harems, spacecraft, fast CPUs, power drills, radar detectors, cell phones, and so forth. FreeBSD and Win95 have even more in common than this would suggest. Cars run on roads, bikes run on gasoline, harems run on money; both FreeBSD and Win95 run on electronic hardware, indeed on virtually the same kind of electronic hardware. (Some people would say that FreeBSD and Win95 actually run the hardware; others that the hardware runs FreeBSD and/or Win95. This seems to be merely semantics.) Furthermore both include the components essential for the new sport of net surfing, with the addition of an ISP. But here we run into some differences. Win95 comes with a built-in ISP, but you may not like it. It is easier with FreeBSD to select the ISP of your choice. Nevertheless, both reach the net and its critical resource, the backbone. The sport of net surfing requires little physical exertion, its only real risk being a threat to the carpal tunnels. But it does involve crashes. Unlike automobile or bike crashes, these do not involve breaking glass or crunching metal, or even the collision of one piece of electronic hardware with another. They seem to occur mysteriously inside the hardware and are not well understood. What is known, however, is that crashes are more frequent when Win95 is running than when FreeBSD is running *on identical hardware.* Both FreeBSD and Win95 run the three essential programs: WordPerfect, pgp and Doom. Win95 might be better, however, for paying bills and doing tax returns. Win95 also comes "out of the box" with more little pictures (technically known as graphics). This seems to make it more appealing to females. Whether you consider this is an advantage or a disadvantage is a matter of personal preference. On the other hand FreeBSD costs less, is somewhat less likely to destroy your DOS/Win3.1 setup if you happen to have one and care about it, and has better technical support. Finally, FreeBSD can more easily be deconstructed into its component parts (in fact, it comes deconstructed) and put back together in ways that will make it do interesting or entertaining things. It therefore has more "play" in it than Win95, although it is initially less "pretty." For many people this difference is decisive. Keep in mind, though, that FreeBSD vs. Win95 is not an either-or choice; you can have both, and even other similar toys (e.g., OS/2), and all will run on the same electronic hardware (although not at the same time). As someone put it in a newsgroup, "He who dies with the most operating systems wins." Annelise Anderson <ANDRSN@HOOVER.STANFORD.EDU>
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