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Date:      Tue, 7 Dec 1999 02:52:33 -0800
From:      Brent Kearney <brent@kearneys.ca>
To:        wonko@entropy.tmok.com
Cc:        FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>
Subject:   Re: let's get something straight.
Message-ID:  <19991207025233.A4900@kearneys.ca>
In-Reply-To: <199912070508.AAA92241@entropy.tmok.com>; from wonko@users.tmok.com on Tue, Dec 07, 1999 at 12:08:26AM -0500
References:  <199912070508.AAA92241@entropy.tmok.com>

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On Tue, Dec 07, 1999 at 12:08:26AM -0500, Brian Hechinger wrote:
> 
> REASON:  I want documentation about real-world differences.  benchmarks,
>          direct comparisons (i ran FreeBSD and Linux side by side and this is 
>          what happened, whatever)  go search the web for FreeBSD vs. Linux.
>          75% of it is religion, and the other 25% is "it's better because
>          i say so." but no proof.  no documentation.  
> 
> i need to be able to argue this case in front of a very clueful administration.

Brian, I'm sorry that you're not finding what you're looking for. The
fact of the matter may very well be, however, that what you're looking
for does not exist.  Anecdotes are not hard-facts of the sort, say, 
Mindspring's controlled benchmarks produce.  If Mindspring were to do
one of their comparisons between Linux and FreeBSD, my guess is that
Linux would beat FreeBSD for some things, and FreeBSD would beat Linux
for others.  But no such controlled benchmarks have been published.

As many people have said time and again, the situation that the OS
is implemented into determines everything.  In this case, the best you 
can probably do is to inventory all of the subjunctives that are
entailed by the prospect of running FreeBSD at your place of work.
Consider one of your Linux systems - chances are, you could make a
considerable list of the administrative tasks that 'would be' simplified
and improved were that machine running FreeBSD.  

CVSup is an invaluable tool for keeping FreeBSD up todate, in comparison 
with x number of hours spent trying to keep the scattered fragments of a 
linux system updated.  Same case with the FreeBSD ports collection, in 
comparison with hunting down obscure libraries, and the programs 
themselves, for a Linux system. The 'hard facts' are the number of dollars 
saved in time spent.  Log your hours, they add up.

Arguments of this sort are probably your best bet.  Anecdotes might be
more effective if you got them right from the horses mouth - try
contacting Yahoo or the Walnut Creek system admins, and ask them for 
some uptime stats, etc..  Any evidence that you compile might help some
future person in your shoes, if you made it available.  Good luck!

-Brent





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