From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 1 19:23:18 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 561FF106564A for ; Mon, 1 Mar 2010 19:23:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from corky1951@comcast.net) Received: from qmta03.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net (qmta03.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net [76.96.62.32]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 043B88FC15 for ; Mon, 1 Mar 2010 19:23:17 +0000 (UTC) Received: from omta16.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net ([76.96.62.88]) by qmta03.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id np7t1d00B1uE5Es53vNBpf; Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:22:11 +0000 Received: from comcast.net ([98.203.142.76]) by omta16.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id nvS61d0081f6R9u3cvS6U5; Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:26:08 +0000 Received: by comcast.net (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:23:14 -0800 Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 11:23:14 -0800 From: Charlie Kester To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20100301192314.GD2894@comcast.net> Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org References: <4B8ABAB3.1060003@gamozo.org> <9d972bed1003010724g5b64123ap5ff18c408dc0a7e@mail.gmail.com> <20100301114445.GB26935@apollo.podro.com> <9d972bed1003011013w33c09017te962078be7768406@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <9d972bed1003011013w33c09017te962078be7768406@mail.gmail.com> X-Mailer: Mutt 1.5.20 X-Composer: VIM 7.2 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-06-14) Subject: Re: FreeBSD Popularity X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:23:18 -0000 On Mon 01 Mar 2010 at 10:13:42 PST Roger wrote: > >I have also been guilty of being influenced by the popular choice. > When it comes to popularity, the question should always be "Popular with whom?" Popularity with the masses is a very unreliable indicator of quality or fitness to the task at hand. On the other hand, if the experts in the field all express a preference for one thing over another, that's definitely a good argument for using it yourself. The trick is in learning who the experts are and what they think about the matter. Even better is learning *why* they think thhe way they do -- how they approach the matter and how they reach their decisions. Then learn to do that yourself, so you can be your own expert. I wish I could say my decision to use FreeBSD was based on a process like that, but it wasn't. For me, it was mostly about aesthetics: I like my Unix neat, with no chaser.