From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 31 14:01:39 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5A0B106566B for ; Thu, 31 May 2012 14:01:39 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jim@ohlste.in) Received: from mail-vc0-f182.google.com (mail-vc0-f182.google.com [209.85.220.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 777D48FC0A for ; Thu, 31 May 2012 14:01:39 +0000 (UTC) Received: by vcbfy7 with SMTP id fy7so748412vcb.13 for ; Thu, 31 May 2012 07:01:38 -0700 (PDT) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=google.com; s=20120113; h=message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:cc:subject :references:in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding :x-gm-message-state; bh=ay1FM+SP8N3P6bREiscXT6DAl9/5/pQYWMlG3LBWKO0=; b=VZKbdZn4FvOTenzubJ8XROHLcpK9SQt8uH+C71Qa9vjrbgYiinncO87Rr7dZc2cMc9 8kVrlfM60T5Qn4cctVt1y6GBvelbGT+kOdjIrXCYfmmP1fKC63tFkDYB4wTLKIQ492Gd A0Hak5xL5K4nltFznUn77+VCMND+9dKUVkmRkHkJMSPmn3uROMTQEXmOFfbxlQJho0Q7 RMgRQDSim6t7Q2xgaRp9F7f5M7I4FmisKYoAaExZGoP8QuGLSlIVj3Kj9AQV+uYIUzx6 pJpFbuTmMok3i+ARnnfT1lFiarrEB0EPAi0D+7dastWxNC3POZ45QXH6924iiysapppg ZazQ== Received: by 10.220.219.80 with SMTP id ht16mr2267848vcb.36.1338472898624; Thu, 31 May 2012 07:01:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from jims-iMac.local (pool-72-84-124-250.nrflva.fios.verizon.net. [72.84.124.250]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id d20sm4951390vde.20.2012.05.31.07.01.37 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Thu, 31 May 2012 07:01:37 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <4FC779C0.7020801@ohlste.in> Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 10:01:36 -0400 From: Jim Ohlstein User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.7; rv:12.0) Gecko/20120428 Thunderbird/12.0.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: David Chisnall References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQk8nMcEJHuLAcloVj/F1vsN9gc0TJ9KmoNZY9IaKfrSwrGIAa1AxjXMs8g4Kz7wJb2x1Y/Y Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why Are You Using FreeBSD? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 14:01:39 -0000 On 5/30/12 2:20 PM, David Chisnall wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > This is off-topic, so please feel free to disregard it, but I'm sending it to this list in the hope that it will reach a largish number of users. > > I am currently looking at updating some of our advocacy material (which advertises exciting new features like SMP support), and before I do I'd like to get a better feel for why the rest of you are using FreeBSD. If you had to list the three things you most like about FreeBSD, which would you pick? Are they the same as when you first started using it? > > These have been said before but I'll reiterate. 1. Stability. It's a well thought out, designed from the ground up, operating system. It is not a collection of "chosen for you" packages attached to a kernel. 2. Ease of configuration 3. Ports Having used various Linux distos for quite awhile, the above are all so much of an improvement, and are still why I use FreeBSD. To add others, in no particular order: Ease of upgrade. While some have noted that binary upgrades are easier on Debian, it's far and away superior, IMMHO, to have a locally compiled system. Many Linux distros have no upgrade path short of a wipe and re-install. Community support by dedicated professionals. BSD License vs GPL. I agree with the sentiment about small minds and viral licensing. I use FreeBSD for webserver (nginx), database (MySQL), mail (exim and dovecot), nameserver (BIND), firewall, and more. As a small time, part time sysadmin I couldn't imagine going back to any other OS. I don't make my living from server management, rather my servers support my interests and small business (if anyone has ever seen the Staples commercial in the US with "Bob", the sole proprietor and employee who wears all of the hats including tech support, that's me). -- Jim Ohlstein