I work on both BSDs and Linux boxes and this fact struck me recently: for i in /bin /usr/bin /usr/local/bin; do ls $i|wc -l; done Linux: 124 2155 67 FreeBSD:

I work on both BSDs and Linux boxes and this fact struck me recently: for i in /bin /usr/bin /usr/local/bin; do ls $i|wc -l; done Linux: 124 2155 67 FreeBSD: 44 430 1067 On BSD, you clearly see which programs are essential for your system to be up & well, which are service additions and which are 3rd party stuff (yeah I missed sbin but you see the picture). On Linux there's a big bag of /usr/bin and a beginner can have no clue if some stuff is important or not. And the sources. On BSD, sources of kernel all system programs are at your disposal in /usr/src and that's it; they represent a coherent view of what meat you have running. On Linux of course you can download the sources and most probably your distro will help you with obtaining the right version. But it isn't the same when you hit the problems, esp. on production. Well even without the need of fixing anything or tracking problems, the sources serve a great educational value with an immediate availability. In general, the BSD approach seems to come from a longer experience of establishing best practices. I'd say the principle is the same with Linux and BSD, but the devil (pun intended) is in the details, and BSD details look as better engineered for many. [edited for clarity]