*BSD News Article 23431


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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
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From: g89r4222@kudu.ru.ac.za (Geoff Rehmet)
Subject: Re: I wish people would just STOP ASKING about FreeBSD vs NetBSD!
Message-ID: <g89r4222.752667606@kudu>
Sender: news@hippo.ru.ac.za (Usenet News Admin)
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
References: <CFxx11.Cos@cnsnews.colorado.edu> <2bh245$fq1@news.cerf.net> 	<MYCROFT.93Nov6172318@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu> <JKH.93Nov7014656@whisker.lotus.ie>
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1993 10:20:06 GMT
Lines: 68

In <JKH.93Nov7014656@whisker.lotus.ie> jkh@whisker.lotus.ie (Jordan K. Hubbard) writes:

>In article <MYCROFT.93Nov6172318@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu> mycroft@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Charles Hannum) writes:

>   2) I would hardly say that FreeBSD is `more stable'.  I can think of
>   many bugs right off the top of my head that are still in FreeBSD that
>   have been fixed for quite a while in NetBSD.


>I've said this before and I'll say it again - if anyone from the
>"core" of *either* group says "xxxBSD is more stable / better
>supported / more wonderful" than the other, then you should ignore
>that opinion completely as it is both biased and, in your particular
>case, very possibly WRONG.
I wouldn't ignore what they say __completely__ .  Rather take
note of how much "horse exhaust" (sorry Jordan) the person
concerned is talking, and what the level of arrogance of the
members of the core team of xxxBSD or yyyBSD is. ;-)
I am getting sick and tired of the course of events which occurs
each time I post about a problem with xxxBSD, and a core team
member of yyyBSD posts up an article to the effect of "that
problem was solved in yyyBSD AGES ago, are you so blind that you
can't see that yyyBSD is better than xxxBSD"  .... and so on.

I am also sickened by email replies from certain core member(s)
of one of the BSD teams, slating the other as a bunch of
"patchers", who aren't capable of fixing a kernel, and that he
wouldn't let them near his source tree, and then basically
implying that I was a twit if I was using the other group's
product.  (It's sad that someone who has made such a great
contribution to *BSD should act so childishly.)

Whether I use NetBSD or FreeBSD is a choice of my own, which I
will make, regardless of what any core member of either team
says.  Mostly, I want to get my work done, and don't want to
spend my life installing and reinstalling.
The product which has the most whizz-bang features in it isn't
necessarily the best.  There are other factors, like upgrade
policies etc.


>1.  Listen to the various USER testimonials in this group about
>    how good/bad each offering is.  The users generally don't have
>    any preconceptions, or overt sensitivities, and will most likely
>    state, in no uncertain terms, whether they liked or hated one of
>    the available offerings.  Ignore anything from a NetBSD/FreeBSD
>    core team member telling you to run their offering in preference
>    to the other.
Interestingly - I see about the same number of posts saying that
either of the systems is good/crap - so, on average, either will
probably give the same mileage.  One of the two systems may have
some feature that you need, while the other doesn't - if you have
the luxury of not having a running system installed - go for the
one with the features you need.


Geoff.

DISCLAIMER:
I am not claiming that FreeBSD is better than NetBSD (or vice
versa).  If you want to find out which is better TRY BOTH.

(flames to /dev/null)
--
===========================csgr@alpha.ru.ac.za================================
 Geoff Rehmet, Parallel Processing Group, |  ____   _ o         /\
 Computer Science Department,             | ___  _-\_<,        /\/\/\
 Rhodes University, RSA.                  |     (*)/'(*)    /\/\/\/\/\