Why not FreeBSD

Oko

Oko

I misread the title of one recent posts as "Why not FreeBSD" which gave the really nice idea. Namely I as many of older users consider The UNIX- HATERS Handbook one of the best books ever written about UNIX operating system where the weak point of this beloved OS have been exposed by a competent critiques. I was just thinking how cool would be to have FreeBSD - HATERS Handbook where people familiar with other flavours of BSDs and UNIX/Linux would be able to articulate what corners of FreeBSD are actually really bad. I think probably the best person to write a foreword for such a book would be Matt Dillon the project lead of DragonFly BSD a man who single-handedly forked FreeBSD unhappy with the direction of its development.
 
One only needs to scan the Linux forums to find lots of such opinion but such a request, here, will only bring vitriol and fire up embers which make me leave places to burn on their own.

I also think your thread belongs in off-topic.
 
drhowarddrfine said:
One only needs to scan the Linux forums to find lots of such opinion but such a request,
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I am not interested in opinions and low quality posts which are plentiful not only on Linux forums;). I am interested in high quality document such as The UNIX HATERS Handbook. If you can't distinguish between the two you have nothing to contribute to the discussion.
 
Oko I understand exactly what you want but posting that here will only create the problems you, and I, outlined. I'm surprised there haven't already been some. The Unix Hater's book outlines fundamental problems, iirc, which apply to FreeBSD, I would think, but to make a FreeBSD version can, I presume, only point out bugs and missing features, which isn't the point of that book or one you are interested in. I could be wrong.

You're right, I have nothing to contribute to the topic but that is my contribution to the discussion.
 
Oko said:
I as many of older users consider The UNIX- HATERS Handbook one of the best books ever written about UNIX operating system where the weak point of this beloved OS have been exposed by a competent critiques.
Click to expand...


Are you kidding?

Most of the book is just a collection of angry rants sent to a mailinglist. It can be summed up as a bunch of people who vent their anger because they're unfamiliar with Unix, pick the favourite 3 features of their favourite system, and say that Unix does it worse. What you end up with is a comparison of Unix vs. the the best 20 points of 10 different systems.

Aside from this, it's also out of date and includes some stuff that's not even related to Unix (like C++).

Sure, there are some points being raised that are still valid today, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. The only way to know if a stopped clock is telling the right time is by looking at a working clock, but if you have a working clock, why bother with the stopped clock in the first place?
 
I don't see any creative outcome that can come from such a book. Negative reinforcement offers no new solutions or new improvements. So far, the book doesn't seem original in delivery, humorous or lighthearted, except it's just whining.

Carpetsmoker.703/">Carpetsmoker, It included a forward of someone criticizing the book. Most of it sounds right. At least they included that.
 
I think books on this topic quickly become obsolete and generally books are so last century. I better accept the material from the video courses.
 
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