Why Are You NOT Using FreeBSD ?

[Adam Strohl]

On 6/3/2012 17:51, Mehmet Erol Sanliturk wrote:
> Always I am stressing that to manage FreeBSD,  a fair amount of expertise
> is required which I think this level may be reduced by improving the
> FreeBSD management by transferring knowledge to its managing parts ( for
> example : package management , repair of broken parts , installation steps
> to reach a state like in very easily usable Linux distributions such as
> Fedora , Mageia , Mandriva , and many others , etc. )

Yeah or a GUI to reduce the need for knowledge transfer.

> You know what to do by your expertise gained over use , which such an
> expertise is completely missing in a new comer , and even sometimes in very
> highly experienced computer professionals because a different operating
> system reduces them to a little experienced new starter .
>

I agree and your issue with USB sticks proves my point.  I've never 
tried to mount an NTFS USB stick and I'm OK with that.  But for you it 
is a big hassle (understandably so) and it has definitely negatively 
impacted your view of FreeBSD.

> Compare the cost of a Linux or Windows and personal time , and make a
> decision which one to choose .
>
> Another point frequently mentioned is that FreeBSD is leaned toward servers
> .
> Only I want to say that , "Please , install a CentOS , Debian , or Windows
> Server trial , and see how a server may be ..."

I manage Windows, CentOS and Debian (and RedHat and a few others) 
servers too.   I've found FreeBSD is more reliable on the whole and 
takes less time to maintain (which means less expensive for my clients). 
  This is one area where FreeBSD shines.  And when things do break it is 
possible to recover fairly easily.  That is another.

And yes, in terms of that initial learning curve my experience helps but 
its the OS that is doing the work here.  If I was more experienced with 
Windows or Linux it wouldn't make them any easier to update, either 
though.  So there is a point at which "knowing what to do" stops being 
the limiting issue and its just "ok well this is broken now and it can't 
be cost-effectively fixed".   That crossover point is something that is 
almost never reached with FreeBSD in my experience.

All of this is completely parallel and unrelated to your (or another 
person's) experience as a desktop user though.  What you see is "USB 
thumbdrives don't work" :)   So you decide to use another OS, and 
probably wouldn't advocate for FreeBSD if presented the chance in a 
server context because of that experience.  That is a shame in my book. 
(I know I'm putting words in your mouth but its simply to illustrate my 
thinking on how public perception is formed).