Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:38:12 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: Andrew Gould <andrewlylegould@gmail.com> Cc: Sabeeh Baig <sbaig1@jhu.edu>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Desktop Install Option Message-ID: <4A8C0E54.3080607@infracaninophile.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <d356c5630908190640x15d2b7bbw4cfd7fa2a7246baf@mail.gmail.com> References: <de2964020908182254l591f3561o9e36399c1820bd7f@mail.gmail.com> <d356c5630908190640x15d2b7bbw4cfd7fa2a7246baf@mail.gmail.com>
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[-- Attachment #1 --] Andrew Gould wrote: > On Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 12:54 AM, Sabeeh Baig<sbaig1@jhu.edu> wrote: >> So, I've been wondering about something. FreeBSD is a general purpose >> operating system, even though it has historically only heavily been used on >> servers. Why is it that FreeBSD doesn't provide a desktop installation, >> something similar to say Debian's option of "Standard Desktop"? For those >> who need it, it'd be great. >> >> -- >> >> Sabeeh Ahmed Baig > > I am of the opinion that specializing in everything is the same thing > as specializing in nothing. (Said another way: If everything is a > priority, nothing is.) Every operating system has its strengths and > weaknesses. The more an operating system becomes > all-things-to-all-users, the more it tends to lose its comparative > edge in any one area. > > All of that being said, PC-BSD is a desktop solution on FreeBSD. You > can download it for free or purchase it with support: > http://www.pcbsd.org/ That's true, but the FreeBSD "thing" is performance[*] which, curiously enough is at the core of a good desktop system as well as the core of a good server system. In fact, the missing parts required to make a good desktop out of FreeBSD are more to do with graphics hardware support -- much of which comes out of the Xorg project now -- and support for various proprietary data formats and software packages like flash, and, of course, a really well written user interface. Or to put it another way, you can build a good desktop system based on a good server OS, but it's pretty hard to build a good desktop system based on a bad server OS. Cheers, Matthew [*] and for completeness, the NetBSD "thing" is portability, and the OpenBSD "thing" is security. Not that the big three *BSDs are entirely lacking in any of those departments. -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. Flat 3 7 Priory Courtyard PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW, UK [-- Attachment #2 --] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.12 (FreeBSD) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkqMDloACgkQ3jDkPpsZ+VZbvACgwyHE27gL7sc32LESIjiaI4cs WGoAoInU9XdJ6I6exFTP27eW3RtK0CSb =fP41 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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