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Date:      Thu, 06 May 1999 18:44:52 -0600
From:      Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>
To:        Tim T Seidl <ts@visi.com>
Cc:        advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: linus on BSD
Message-ID:  <37323784.2C782940@softweyr.com>
References:  <Pine.GSO.4.10.9905061310270.735-100000@isis.visi.com>

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Tim T Seidl wrote:
> 
> http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/Linuschat990505.html
> 
> Jon Lewis from atlantic.net at 2:46pm ET
> What's your opinion on the various BSD's vs Linux? BSD
> proponents still claim the BSD networking code is
> cleaner/faster than the Linux code and that BSD in
> general is more salable. In your opinion, is any
> of this still true?

It was a poor question.  Anyone who's looked at both will tell you
the BSD networking code is cleaner, but you'll never get Linus to
admit that, as he infers below.

Most proponents who claim any BSD to be more salable that Linux
don't do so on the grounds of the code, but rather on licensing
issues.

> Linus Torvalds at 2:47pm ET
> No.
> 
> What did you expect me to say, seriously?

Ask a rhetorical question, get a rhetorical answer, right?

> Actually, I think the major lack in BSD is the lack of
> interest and the fact that they haven't really gotten
> people worked up about their cause. A lot of them seem
> to be fairly old-fashioned ("we cater to the /original/
> UNIX people") or just to have given up on the market.
> They aren't hungry enough, I think.

This is (as usual) a pretty fair summation.  I'd like to point out
in this forum that many of us, me included, don't necessarily want
all of the kinds of "worked up" people Linux has attracted in the
past year.

One important distinction Linus hasn't noted is that we're catering
not only to the /original/ UNIX people, but to /all/ UNIX people.  

Our real message is for those who know, understand, and *like* UNIX: 

We're the best, you belong here, and you can help to keep us the best.  

This includes those who learned about UNIX by installing and playing 
with Linux, and are now looking for an upgrade.  We're happy to leave 
the perpetually clueless to Linux, and vice versa.  ;^)

-- 
       "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"

Wes Peters                                                 Softweyr LLC
http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr                      wes@softweyr.com


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