FreeBSD tries to compete with GNU/Linux

[borg]

Will FreeBSD enter into a competion with GNU/Linux on the desktop?.


http://news.com.com/2100-1011-6071598.html?tag=tb

[mehulved]

Now, that will be real nice as long as they do not compromise stability of FreeBSD. Projects like PC-BSD and DesktopBSD, will help too. Let's see how far it can go. I for one want to see BSD's coming to the desktops as long as they do not let go of their forte just for gaining more users.

[borg]

the other thing that could happen is that due to internal competion OSS might lose & MS might continue to dominate.

[mehulved]

That can't be outcome because OSS has always been competing with each other and if BSD's rise, MS will be the one which will have to face Doom. Even linux isn't as stable or as secure, by default as BSD's. And, afterall overall development of FreeBSD, is in the hands of the developers at berkley. They are the ones who decide what goes in and what not unlike linux where everything is decided by the ones making the distro.

[borg]

The point that I was trying to make was that if FreeBSD enters the desktop, it will become that much harder for developers. They are already facing the fragmentation & confusion in the linux world. Making a program run on all versions of Linux distros is a nightmare already. What if at this juncture, Free BSD enters & creates even more differences to account for. With so many differences & incompatibilities within the miniscule marketshare that OSS has got (its about 3% of the desktop market), what if developers & PC manufacturers just put up their hands & say- 'we've had enough of this' & go back to the old standard- MS.

[navneeth_snr]

I totally agree with borg. I don't think FreeBsd will be helpful for developers. but if it makes user-friendly for developers, then it can compete other OS.

[mehulved]

But remember FreeBSD and linux programs are never the same i.e. you can never run FreeBSD program on Linux and Linux program on FreeBSD without an emulator. So, actually FreeBSD is a totally different platform than GNU/Linux. So, the question of making programs compatible for differences never arises. It is just as same as porting a windows program to linux. They both are totally different OS's, remember. And moreover, those big companies hardly ever write good programs for BSD. Linux, etc. What they give OSS is s**t just to show that they support OSS. Most of the softwares seen on linux, BSD's, etc is not from big companies. Very few big companies support non-windows platform. They just care for profits, which is BTW what they do exist for.
Just to name a few. Use nero on windows and then use it on linux. It isn't anywhere near the same. Same goes for yahoo messenger. Even biggie like google. which claims to support OSS and is known to use linux on it's server, most of it's commonly used programs don't even exist on platforms other then windows.
So, the question of it becoming difficult to write softwares never arises because best softwares will most probably come from the community and the few companies who really support OSS.
I really feel companies like Yahoo, using FreeBSD on their servers and Google, using linux on their servers should stop making false claims about supporting OSS or come up and show their commitment by developing softwares for them.
So, it will rather make like easier for linux if FreeBSD comes up because both will have to compete and to win both the community will start making better applications to prove the superiority of their platform. And they would never compromise on the functionalities cos both the communities hitherto have been proud of their functional superiority over MS products.

[borg]

The fact is that neither linux nor FreeBSD will ever become mainstream if third parties don't write software for these platforms. People use an OS to run apps, not to run the OS itself. Let us get that clear.

Now arises the problem. Linux is growing slowly & mainstream companies are slowly adopting Linux as a platform (there was no Nero 5 years ago, Google apps are coming for Linux, etc). The effort of the developers is very much compounded by the fact that there is no standardization in Linix as of now. Now if that is not enough, if more OSS OSs jump into the fray, what effect that would have on an already difficult situation is very difficult to predict. If I am a developer, would I like to develop for 300 different distros & on that freeBSD, all occupying less than 4 % of the market? Or would I rather stick to Windows which has 90% of the market?.