Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 08:21:27 -0800 From: "Aleksandar Obradovic" <alex@montenegro.com> To: <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: FreeBSD vs. Linux survey results. Message-ID: <NDBBIHGCEMKHOOANFEOFAEDKCJAA.alex@montenegro.com>
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Thanks everyone for taking time to fill out the survey. I've got 49 responses so far, and here is the summary of those. FreeBSD vs. Linux Take a survey: http://www.pollcat.com/ty9f5l0g47_a Live report : http://www.pollcat.com/report/ty9f5l0g47_a Question 1: How long have you worked with LINUX system(s)? (Select One) 4 Not at all 10 Less than a year 8 1 - 2 Years 20 3 - 5 Years 6 5 - 7 Years 1 7 - 10 Years Question 2: How long have you worked with FreeBSD system(s)? (Select One) 6 Less than a year 21 1 - 2 Years 17 3 - 5 Years 5 5 - 7 Years Question 3: How advanced are you related to the UNIX knowledge: (Select One) 6 2 15 3 - Intermediate 19 4 9 5 - Expert Question 4: I use my computers for: (Select All That Apply) 38 Fun/Learning 34 Development 15 Games 15 Multimedia/Graphics 40 Internet 23 Running a business 2 Other:research 1 Other:where I work we support dozens of *nixes 1 Other:File server at my job 1 Other:school work, hosting my domain (email, web, ftp, etc). 1 Other:scientific computations 1 Other:security assessment (hacking) 1 Other:teaching 1 Other:personal workstation/X terminal Question 5: I am currently using: (Select One) 28 Only FreeBSD 21 Both FreeBSD and Linux Question 6: My experience with FreeBSD compared to the experience with Linux was: (Select One) 8 3 - About the same 9 4 27 5 - Much Better Question 7: What would you recommend FreeBSD for: (Select All That Apply) 38 Application Development 37 Application Server 44 Web Server 42 File Server 2 Games 9 Multimedia/Graphics 28 Learning/Fun 34 Enterprise Solutions 36 Running a business 1 Other:Unix Workstation 1 Other:workstation 1 Other:cross-platform development 1 Other:any server-related task in any field 1 Other:All I ever wanted runs just fine under FreeBSD 1 Other:Absolutely the most scalable platform. Question 8: What would you recommend Linux for: (Select All That Apply) 21 Application Development 9 Application Server 15 Web Server 12 File Server 31 Games 26 Multimedia/Graphics 29 Learning/Fun 7 Enterprise Solutions 6 Running a business 5 Nothing 1 Other:no idea 1 Other:personal Unix Workstation 1 Other:nice to get a kickstart in "unix". 1 Other:any desktop-OS related tasks Question 9: Your final recommendation for the new/existing UNIX users is: (Select One) 40 FreeBSD 4 Linux Question 10: Additional Comments (Enter Free-Form Response) 1 Comments::The markedly cleaner design of all the BSDs's makes them a much better choice for a novice as well as an experienced user. Also, for someone with previous Unix experience (any flavor, I'm familiar with 6 or so) will be surprised by Linux' behaviour in several areas. I switched from SYSV to BSD with far less trouble than I've experienced supporting some Linux systems. 1 Comments::I am long time Linux user who tried FreeBSD out of curiosity and never looked back 1 Comments::Although I prefer FreeBSD, because of the major linux hype lately I have better hardware support in linux 1 Comments::Although installation remains more difficult than with many Linux distros, administration is considerably easier, with scripts and conf files nicely settled in predictable places, rather than scattered around /etc/rc*. (you know what I mean) 1 Comments::Compared with Linux, the source code of FreeBSD is more professionally written. 1 Comments::Final recommendation for NEW users would be Linux, even though I prefer FreeBSD. This is because most Linux distributions come with a lot of pre-configuration that FreeBSD leaves to the user. Experienced users may see this as a strength and an opportunity to tweak, but telling a new user that he has to write an Xsession file from scratch in order to get kdm to let him choose a different window manager each time he logs in, it strikes fear into his heart. I saw your post on freebsd-questions, but I hope you've posted to at least one Linux mailing list as well, in order to avoid overly biased results. Good 1 Comments::FreeBSD is UNIX done right! 1 Comments::I started with FreeBSD and it has cought on. The Linuxes I have installed have never lasted very long. I like the 'completeness' of FreeBSD from first install. (Once installed, everything is there. NFS, 1 Comments::I think Linux is better for new unix users. Otherwise they are the same, particularly Debian and FreeBSD. If Bash were the default shell in FreeBSD, it would be really hard to tell them apart at first glance. FreeBSD is hampered by adherence to THE unix way, so it doesn't do things like make bash (or z or something else) the default shell. Linux seems a little more flexible that way, perhaps that is why I think it wins the user-friendliness war. Some of the commercial vendors make Linux even more user friendly. There is no similar counterpart in the 1 Comments::I tried Debian Linux and found it very buggy in its installation. I wasn't even able to get gcc to install. (Even had a company do the original install of Debian Linux on my computer.) With FreeBSD, once I got past setting up my drive correctly, I had no real problems loading compilers and other tools. Thursday, March 02, 2000 Page 3 of 4 1 Comments::Number 9 is difficult to use as one could use either one for the same or different tasks. Im really impartial to the two when it comes to certain things. FreeBSD tends to not manage memory as well as Linux. However, FreeBSD seems to be more fun to me. FreeBSD is not as well developed when it comes to drivers as Linux is. Also, FreeBSD is more complicated for the new users and therefore should be something I would only recommend to intermediate to expert Unix users. However, Linux implements some excellent strategies to its own runtime issues as far as ease of configuration. But, it also tends to be a little less secure more often than FreeBSD seems to be. This may only be because of the huge amount of attention Linux is getting right now and therefore less attention to the thoroughness of coding to programs because of a high desire to deploy the software quickly (my opinion and probably not entirely accurate of course). FreeBSD has always had some squirely issues with its NFS daemon and therefore I couldn't really recommend it over Linux for a Fileserver (at least intermixing the two within a hybrid environment) FreeBSD also tends to be a little slower to fix drivers/software issues than Linux (from what I've been able to gather) FreeBSD does handle client load better than Linux which is why I would choose it over Linux to run as a corporate environment server (with many employees pounding on it all day) So, in short, those are my views and opinions. Hope they helped. Oh my actual answer to #9 would probably be: If they are new: Linux Existing: both 1 Comments::Sincerely, I think that FreeBSD is recomended for production use. If what do you want is a normal desktop workstation for documment preparation, gaming, and "other normal" use in a great/stable Unix like platform, then there is Linux. 1 Comments::#9 depends entirely on the use of the machine. 1 Comments::There's only one way to find out what's suitable for your purpose/taste/application/etc.: Try both FreeBSD and Linux for a while, then decide what you like more. 1 Comments::Quit fooling around with playware and get a real OS! BSD/OS! The hard stuff! To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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