*BSD News Article 68625


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From: cdhudson@ihug.co.nz (Clive Hudson)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc
Subject: Re: Netbsd and that other operating system
Date: 16 May 1996 01:46:04 GMT
Organization: The Internet Group
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Excerpts from Alex R. N. Wetmore 10 May 1996. In regards to article Netbsd and 
that other operating system.


	Win95, WinNT, NetBSD, FreeBSD, and Linux all have their places in
	the world.  I happily run NetBSD on my server box (phred.org), and
	I also happily run Win95 and NT on my home box.  I don't expect
	Win95 to do what my NetBSD box does (handle email for 50 or so
	users, run my web server, and run an internet bbs) and I don't
	expect NetBSD to do what my Win95/NT box does (word processing,
	internet "client", most of my software development).  Yes, I can
	do all of these things on NetBSD, but the software available for
	Win32 platforms makes them more appealing.  My Win32 system never
	crashes, so stability isn't an issue for me.

I like you have two machines , one running netbsd/linux and another machine 
running windows for word processing and internet. I would find it a lot less 
hassle if I could do it all on the one machine. 

	
	Most of my friends seem to feel the same way.  At home my parents have
	4 machines - 2 Win95, 1 NT, 1 Unix, all doing different things.  Many 
	of my friends have multiple machines as well, one running NetBSD as an 
	server and one running Win95 as a client box/work environment.

	Its a big market, there is no reason to argue about what the best
	system is.  The best system is the one that allows you to get the
	most work done.
>
>

There is one important differnce between Netbsd and Win95/NT etc. For 
starters Netbsd can run on multiple platforms , which helps create a 
consistent standard. But more importantly Netbsd is  FREE. For the likes of 
you and me win95 costs less than a days wages, but in other places in the 
world the cost of win95 is more than a week or months wages. What is a person 
to do if they want win95, either they pirate a copy or go without. When I was 
a university student  ( In other words poor) the cost of software was 
prohibative. So either I pirated the software which I hate doing, or go 
without. Which in the end is what I decided to do. 

Surely I cant be hard to provide the graphical shell and applications for 
Netbsd that make it a truely free operating system for the basic computer 
users out there.