[Peter Risdon]

wendy wrote:

>Easy to install
>FreeBSD can be installed from a variety of media including CD-ROM, DVD-ROM,
>floppy disk, magnetic tape, an MS-DOS® partition, or if you have a network
>connection, you can install it directly over anonymous FTP or NFS. All you
>need is a couple of formatted 1.44MB floppies and these directions.
>
>
>
>THIS IS NOT TRUE! - the installation actually is very difficult and so this
>"Superior" OS is not for 99.9% computer users - I'll probably kill my time
>only if I lost my job and stay home having nothing to do to configure how to
>install it.
>  
>

It is incredibly frustrating when you're trying to install an operating 
system like FreeBSD and are unfamiliar with the process.

>Comparing to Windows, this BSD is very dumb- want to me to tell it
>everything. No wonder it's Free.
>  
>

It's not so much dumb as polite: it asks what you want to do - after 
all, it's your computer. Reflect on the fact that Microsoft use it 
themselves, for firewalls and development here in Cambridge, UK, last I 
heard, for HotMail, and in some other situations. Mac OS X is deeply 
influenced by it. But it isn't meant to be an automatic install, so 
you're really criticising an apple for not being an orange. FreeBSD is 
really a server OS that can be used as a desktop.

If you were to get used to it, you might find it is very much to your 
taste. But you might not (the Unix Haters' Handbook is out of print, but 
still very funny in parts). Using a Unix type OS helps you learn about 
computing, rather than about one company's terminology, and that's 
really useful with all operating systems and in all situations. You'd 
also find that the responsiveness and helpfulness of users and 
developers in the FreeBSD world is incomparable. For example, if you had 
posted a specific question about your problems with the install to this 
list, you'd have got really excellent and well-informed help, perhaps 
within minutes of posting.

But using FreeBSD isn't compulsory. Do what suits you best.

PWR.