Is *BSD reason enough? ;-) Of course, that's probably not what you were thinking about.. they get dropped into the shadow of Linux too often though.
I've never used BSD so I don't know what benefit there would be. All I can see from *BSD is more work, more difficulty to install, less hardware support, etc etc. *BSD looks from an outside viewer to be like Linux was 4 years ago. While it is commendable that there are other "free" Unix alternatives to Linux I really think it is little more than a sideline curiosity. This doesn't stop it from being useful though. Certainly Sony found NetBSD useful when creating it's Network Game SDK. They just ripped the TCP/IP stack right out, ported it to the PS2 and gave it to developers. Or so I assume from the little note on the PS2 Network starter kit stating "contains portions of NetBSD, see DVD-ROM README for details..."
Unfortunately, that alone won't help.
http://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html
We need more developers with a clue or two, as well.
This is also true.
You will find that the team around Cairo is already working on addressing that. If Keith has his way, vendors will eventually only have to write an OpenGL driver for their chips and everything else will work automatically.
Which is bloody brilliant. More power to them.
Better yet, Cairo might even get ready for prime time long before Longhorn hits the shelves. Maybe we can still their thunder this time..
That would be fun. :) Regards -- Oliver Jones » Director » oliver(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited » +64 (7) 377 3328 » www.deeperdesign.com