Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 11:36:31 -0800 From: Bill Campbell <freebsd@celestial.com> To: freebsd@celestial.com, freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BSD Unix vs. Linux Message-ID: <20040112193631.GD89868@alexis.mi.celestial.com> In-Reply-To: <200401121052.57987.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> References: <1691D8C9A2220149A8AF30209B5D0EB4A6A8F0@sc3.shuaacapital.co.ae> <20040111191926.GC85202@alexis.mi.celestial.com> <200401121052.57987.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com>
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On Mon, Jan 12, 2004, Johnson David wrote: >On Sunday 11 January 2004 11:19 am, Bill Campbell wrote: >> On Sun, Jan 11, 2004, Mazen S. Alzogbi wrote: >> >Hi, >> > >> >I have a question that is bothering my brains. Why do people need >> > Linux while there are great stable UNIX based systems as FreeBSD >> > out there? >> >> Desktop applications. > >No need to use Linux just to get a desktop. I'm using KDE on FreeBSD at >work and at home. It's all the desktop that I need. It does KDE on >Linux does, because it's exactly the same desktop with exactly the same >features. Ditto for GNOME. > >It is a bit harder to configure, but that isn't a problem in the >corporate workplace where you have dedicated sysadmins. I think the >only things keeping FreeBSD off of the corporate desktop are the >availability of professional support and comprehensive binary security >updates. ``A bit harder to configure'' is the key when deploying systems for commercial use, particularly in the desktop world. I can buy a $300 machine from Wal-Mart with SuSE pre-installed, and have it up and running on the network with all the essential desktop applications in less than fifteen minutes including adding a couple of RPMS (pam_ldap and nss_ldap) necessary for network logins. I can plug an Apple running OS X into the same network, install X11, and have access to all the same software plus some very high-end commercial packages that aren't available on any non- Windows Intel systems. Most of our SMB (Small-to-Medium Business) customers we have don't have dedicated sysadmins (how do you think we make our money :-). We want to be able to install systems that solve their problems at the least cost to them, and that we can support over the network easily. Their desktop machines are usually running behind a NAT box of some kind (frequently a FreeBSD box), and aren't running much other than the desktop applications. I can probably get anything to work on FreeBSD if I'm willing to put the time and effort into it, but dealing with rebuilding OpenOffice.org, the gimp, and all the other tools is something I would rather leave to others. Bill -- INTERNET: bill@Celestial.COM Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC UUCP: camco!bill PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way FAX: (206) 232-9186 Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206) 236-1676 URL: http://www.celestial.com/ ``The man who produces while others dispose of his product is a slave.'' Ayn Rand
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