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Linux vs FreeBSD

1 points by kraemate ↗ HN
Linux is the de-facto OS on servers and mobile devices these days — but i was wondering about why it is so far ahead of other OSes like FreeBSD. As far as i know, FreeBSD has equal(better in some cases) performance, matches linux feature for feature, and has some of the greatest technologies : dtrace and ZFS. Why then, is Linux deployed on almost all servers, when other operating systems are a very compelling alternative?

6 comments

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cperciva
Lots of servers run FreeBSD. You don't hear about them as much because the servers:sysadmin ratio is higher.
kraemate
Is there any info about the percentage of servers running FreeBSD? I think FreeBSD provides better software management (ports/packages) than most linux distros, along with dtrace+ZFS.
stonemetal
I think there are several reasons. First home use, Linux has a (comparatively) good desktop experience. PCBSD is relatively new, rough around the edges, and is perhaps the most important thing for the healthy future of FreeBSD. It gets people exposed to the OS. If I have used Linux before and I am going to set up a server I am much more likely to pick Linux for that server than I am FreeBSD.

Second strong corporate support, IBM and several other big corporations are behind Linux development and help get it in to the field. FreeBSD doesn't have a large IT services company installing Linux on servers as a part of their consulting business.

kraemate
Is this really a chicken and egg kind of situation? Linux is more widely used because it's more popular because BigCorp supports it? If so, i find the situation a bit depressing. After all, it should be the merits of a software that warrant it's success, not the other way around.
stonemetal
It is but that is not the problem I describe. Basically the problem as I see it is there is no good way for me, the home user, to play around with FreeBSD. The PCBSD installer crashes, and I haven't quite figured out how to configure everything with a vanilla FreeBSD install. I didn't spend long trying because I know Ubuntu just works, and while I would like to try FreeBSD out I don't care enough to figure out all of the hoops I have to jump through to get it to work.

So now when I go to look for a server I am going look for a Linux server because I have had better\more experience with it. Basically that which is easiest to use by people without experience will come to dominate. Not through network effects or anything hard to reverse like that but by simple fact that people will start using the tool that makes their job easy. After they have experience with that tool they are less likely to change to a harder to use tool even if it is better(the Mysql effect as it were.)

nodata
The same reason people don't enjoy using Solaris?

For me, the _default_ command-line tools are not a joy to use.