From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 17 01:29:19 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6B83C10657CC for ; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:29:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from atom@smasher.org) Received: from atom.smasher.org (atom.smasher.org [69.55.237.145]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 4BF1A8FC1D for ; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:29:19 +0000 (UTC) Received: (qmail 55195 invoked by uid 1000); 17 Jan 2012 01:02:37 -0000 X-POM: The Moon is Waning Crescent (43% of Full) Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:03:34 +1300 (NZDT) From: Atom Smasher To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: OpenPGP: id=0xB88D52E4D9F57808; algo=1 (RSA); size=4096; url=http://atom.smasher.org/pgp.txt MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII Subject: Re: FreeBSD has serious problems with focus, longevity, and lifecycle X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:29:19 -0000 thanks john. i've been a long-time (10+ years) freeBSD user (desktops, laptops, servers, and anywhere else i can run it) and advocate (encouraging others to at least check it out) and also a long-time satisfied johnco customer. my freeBSD days seem to be coming to an end. i bought myself a LENOVO T510 when it first came out, around early 2010. it's got an i5 CPU and Arrandale GPU. it's two years old and on freeBSD i STILL can't run xorg properly with it. linux has run fine with it since i opened the box. last i checked, freeBSD will be support this GPU in R9... or maybe R10...? i really like freeBSD's robustness, especially compared to linux, among other things. i like that freeBSD is genetically a "real" unix... what's the real difference between BSD and linux? BSD was developed by unix hackers porting the OS to PC hardware; linux was developed by PC hackers trying to make their own version of unix. these origins are still very apparent, if one knows where to look. i like that i can set up a freeBSD bare-bones (eg secure) mail-server or web-server in an afternoon. but none of that matters if the damn thing just doesn't work. over the last two years, and it pains me to say this, i've been running linux on that T510. but it gets worse... i've been finding that i'm simply more productive on that machine, and spending more time in front of it, and more time getting useful things done. i understand that it's ultimately a matter of manpower and resources, and linux seems to have more momentum and "sex appeal", but i'm finding myself in a real crisis of faith... the OS that i've been using and loving for 10+ years seems to be dying, from any real usability perspective. and for now, i'm slowly and reluctantly migrating towards linux. -- ...atom ________________________ http://atom.smasher.org/ 762A 3B98 A3C3 96C9 C6B7 582A B88D 52E4 D9F5 7808 ------------------------------------------------- "We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." -- Dick Cheney, 16 March 2003