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Date:      Sat, 26 Mar 2022 20:50:55 +0000 (UTC)
From:      doug <doug@safeport.com>
To:        Freebsd Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Using a FreeBSD desktop was somehting about dog food
Message-ID:  <38b7f44-6d54-fec6-c1f0-d3609d301687@safeport.com>

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I have long believed that the project would benefit from having one core
team member who uses FreeBSD as a Desktop. I have often stated my reasons
and see no need to repeat them.

I am forced to use Windows to answer user questions and use iPads for the
things FreeBSD does not do well: zoom, webex, playing [some] videos. Most
of my cohorts use Mac.

Getting a new Desktop or laptop is tricker than (I think) it needs to be 
(one of my core team problems) but if you get by that my desktops (usually 
really old Dells for price) function much better than the last couple of 
Mac releases. Boots faster, updates easier (yea pkg guys), and has in my 
opinion better response than Mac. For what we do, web design, hosting, 
email dealing with server and network issues I think is much easier than on 
the Mac and that is relatively impossible on iPads.

I also like the idea that you get to choose your windowing system. I would
probably rather use anything other than KDE, but there is a large group
that like it. That's more than cool to me. As was pointed out while we were
feeding the dogs, developing X11 and desktops is better left to those who
are expert in it and obviously have a passion for that work. FreeBSD IMO
works better than fine as the engine those things run on

Relative to the user base as a whole there seems to be a sizeable
percentage of FreeBSD desktop users. What is problematic is suspend/resume,
sound, worked fine in 9-10, not so much in 11-12 (for me obviously). The
biggie is however trying to log into motel wifi. The last problem area is
video cards. Users who want to come into the Unix world have an easier
path with Ubuntu. I think the FreeBSD project would be well served if we
were slightly more competive in that area

My 2 cents YMMV



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