On Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:07:35 +1200, Peter Reutemann quoted:
'... perhaps we should consider that this good news for Linux might not be good news for those running BSD or one of the Unixes ...'
Firstly, no-one cares about the proprietary Unixes any more. Every platform that is legally entitled to call itself “Unix” is either dead or dying. Secondly, the whole development model of the various BSD offshoots just seems designed to make things difficult for themselves. Consider that there are maybe half a dozen BSD variants, versus maybe 50× that number of Linux distros. Yet it is easier to move between Linux distros than it is to move between BSD variants. And further consider that that huge variety of Linux distros covers a much greater range of hardware configurations, usage philosophies, application scenarios, intended audiences and what have you than all the BSDs put together can manage. Look at the difference between Arch versus Gentoo versus Debian versus Red Hat, or consider purpose-built distros like TAILS or SystemRescue or Damn Small Linux, Windows workalikes like Deepin, or downright oddballs like GoboLinux, and of course heavily-customized embedded flavours like Android: as wildly different as they are, they are all built on the same Linux kernel. By contrast, every BSD variant seems to want to go its own way, right down to the kernel. This leads to a lot of duplication of effort, and that in turn limits their reach. In sum: Linux offers a huge variety of choice with minimal fragmentation, while the BSD world offers much less choice with much more fragmentation.