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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msuinfo!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!mp.cs.niu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!superdec.uni.uiuc.edu!mbandy From: mbandy@superdec.uni.uiuc.edu (Harf) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: Why *BSD's have smaller user base ? [WAS: Can we quit with "Linux Sucks" ?] Date: 18 Nov 1994 02:11:10 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 44 Message-ID: <3ah2fu$s2c@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> References: <3ah170$n5o@mall.sinica.edu.tw> NNTP-Posting-Host: superdec.uni.uiuc.edu ywliu@beta.wsl.sinica.edu.tw () writes: I have used Linux for almost a year now, and switched over only last week. I, for one, disagree with your statements. > 1) They are new to Unix. I wasn't. > 2) They don't have access to a Unix workstation or other expensive PC Unices. This is a Personal DECstation I am using, and I am a sysadmin. I still like Linux. > 3) They just want to learn Unix rather than to write programs. My whole purpose in having a UNIX system on my desktop is to program, but Linux was just fine for me. > 4) They happen to know there is a beautiful Slackware 2.0 distribution, > which looks like a typical MS-DOS installation program. So they think > Linux is another MS-DOS. > 5) They love the huge HOW-TOs. They don't want to go to bookstore to > find BSD books on the large bookshelves. Well, the HOWTO's are generally: a) easy to understand b) FREE. > As for *BSD, the users are somewhat advanced. This is true. In some cases, though, I would say it was simply because beginning UNIX users can't get through the install, because they don't understand things like the disklabels. *BSD is generally somewhat harder to install and use, but it is more familiar to those who have used some BSDish UNIX before. BSD is good because of its consistency; Linux is good because it tries to take the best of everything. -- Matt Bandy <mbandy@uni.uiuc.edu>