Nacho-BSD

[Steve Bergman]

Bill Campbell wrote:
> I see Macs as the primary desktop system replacing Windows, not Linux,
> FreeBSD, or others.
It's hard to see anything replacing Windows on the *home* desktop right 
now.  I completely agree that OSX is easier and has more appeal to the 
home user.  But that class of user is cost conscious and Windows boxes 
are cheaper and have more mind share.  (And besides, the neighbor boy 
down the street is a computer whiz and he told me Windows was best.)

On corporate desktops, I can't really see Mac competing.  It's 
advantages are less significant in that environment.  But its costs are 
still there.  To me, this is the domain of Linux.

Of course all this is subject to change.  At this time, the shortcomings 
of Linux on the home desktop are greatly due to a lack of 3rd party 
vendor support.  When you sign up for internet service, you don't get a 
CD to mindlessly shove into the drive and click OK until you are 
connected and your email is set up.  Don't get me wrong.  There are 
still a few egregiously embarrassing things that are completely within 
the control of Linux developers/distributors.  But more and more it is 
coming down to the 3rd party mind-share thing.

And that is where the relative anarchy that prevails in the Linux bazaar 
comes at a cost.  ISVs, ISP's, etc. *like* the monolithic nature of 
proprietary platforms.  And that's where the *BSD's actually do somewhat 
better than Linux.  At least there is only 1 distribution of the latest 
FreeBSD to target.  (Do the BSD's have a stable driver api, BTW?)

One thing that I am noticing is that Linux's desktop has developed to 
the point that you don't need to be on the bleeding edge to have all the 
features you need.  I used to run Fedora.  Now I primarily run CentOS 
(RHEL) on my desktop servers and am about 1.5 years behind the cutting 
edge.  And I don't miss a thing.

I believe that in the future there is going to be less need to change 
things all the time, and Linux may come to be perceived as supportable 
by more 3rd party commercial vendors.  And, as always, the need for 3rd 
party commercial vendors is lessening all the time.  Which is not to say 
that they will not always be needed.  There is nothing fun or glamorous 
about pushing our payroll tax table updates, after all.