Re: Using a FreeBSD desktop was somehting about dog food

On Mon, 28 Mar 2022 05:54:49 +0100
"Steve O'Hara-Smith" <steve@sohara.org> wrote:
> 	To those of us who once despaired of saving up the thousand[1] or so
> a *binary* unix license without networking, compilers or text processing
> suites (throw in another couple of hundred each for those) or spent weeks
> getting X11R5 to work on an unsupported platform (you may imagine how good
> it was to see that X move on a black screen for the first time after weeks
> of fighting library, compiler and make limitations) complaints that what's
> available for free lacks the gloss and polish of commercial software seem
> churlish and ungrateful. 

Using FreeBSD on a server grants you very measurable benefits in terms of
reliability, security, and surprises. Thus, it is logical to expect the same
ideas on a desktop. I've been on a FreeBSD desktop for easily 25 years (I'm not
counting, but I started this journey in the 90s.)

So over these years, what many call "Gloss and polish" has turned into
"acceleration and usability". There's an entire generation for whom saying
"emacs is my IDE" is met with hidden laughter and scorn, as this generation has
fancy tools that (for example) allow one to refactor an entire code base with
the flick of a button so you can change that function name to something more
readable than "doTheThing". Expose features on the desktop are another example. 

I understand being grateful for what does work, and I truly am. :)

What I don't understand is the implication that we are somehow ungrateful and
rude if we have to settle for what sometimes is -far- less. By "settle" I mean
the idea of "we should just shut up and take what we are given". 

Worse, these expressions are often sharing threadspace with the idea of "Why
don't more people use FreeBSD?". Irony, anyone? 

To be clear, my intent in this message is not an advocacy of Linux or other
commercial OSes, or a dis-advocacy of FreeBSD. This is an appeal to
tolerance. Those who bitterly complain about some missing feature might
actually have a point or they are truly frustrated. Would it really cost so
much for developers to -at the very least- acknowledge some of this
frustration, to say nothing of -addressing- these issues?  

Just my USD $0.02. Thanks for reading. 
-- 
Dave Hayes - Consultant - LA CA, USA - dave@dream-tech.com
>>>> *The opinions expressed above are entirely my own* <<<<

A "No" uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater
than a "Yes" merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to
avoid trouble.
                                           -- Mahatma Ghandi