Over-Yonder.net: BSD vs Linux

“I run FreeBSD on my computers. A lot of my friends run Linux,
or at least one of the distributions of it. Naturally, then, we
agree that a Unix-style operating system is the right choice, but
we disagree on which to use.

“It’s been my impression that the BSD communit{y,ies}, in
general, understand Linux far better than the Linux communit{y,ies}
understand BSD. I have a few theories on why that is, but that’s
not really relevant. I think a lot of Linux people get turned off
BSD because they don’t really understand how and why it’s put
together. Thus, this rant; as a BSD person, I want to try to
explain how BSD works in a way that Linux people can absorb.

“While there’s overwhelming similarity between the operating
systems in most cases, there’s a lot of differences. As you probe
more into the differences, you find that they emerge from
deep-seated disagreements. Some are disagreements over development
methodology, some over deployment and usage, some about what’s
important, some about who’s important, and some about which flavor
of ice cream is superior. Just comparing the surface differences
doesn’t tell you anything; it’s the deeper differences that both
explain and justify why each group does things the way they
do…”

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