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I am trying to think of valid reasons why someone would use FreeBSD in this day and age as a desktop. I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious. I used FreeB

I am trying to think of valid reasons why someone would use FreeBSD in this day and age as a desktop. I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious. I used FreeBSD a TON from around 1998-2004 or so. I did it because I could configure an environment to develop in that ran fast on the hardware. At some point the type of development I do (Web) really took off on Linux and OSX so I drifted that way. I'm going to spin up a VM of FreeBSD just to check it out, but why are folks using it as a Desktop these days?

crististm 7y ago
Speculating, I think the reasons are the same as 20 years ago when people were installing Linux instead of Windows.
- tmalsburg2 7y ago
  Namely?
  - sfifs 7y ago
    Not GP but in my experience - Curiosity and to gain a certain techy reputation among nerdy circles. About 15-20 years ago when I was in engineering school, my seniors used to ask me to install Linux on their PCs back when installing it was a bit more hairy than today (text based installer that asked you lots of questions) so they could pretend to themselves they were keeping up with the cutting edge if tech :-)
    - JeremyMorgan 7y ago
      Kind of a simplistic view in my opinion. I installed Linux and BSD out of pure curiosity and enjoyed the configurability and newness of it all. I was in a rural area, wasn't in college yet and didn't have anyone to brag to about it at the time. I used it because I wanted to. I know there are many like me.
asveikau 7y ago
I think the reason to use it over desktop Linux is pretty similar to the time range you talk about. It has a different feel and some people are more comfortable with the *BSD way. The difference in personality has widened a bit as Linux comes up with things like systemd. If you just want a light Unix workstation that isn't trying to imitate Windows or Mac, the BSDs will get in your way less. That or a very conservative Linux distro.
- JeremyMorgan 7y ago
  I'm an Arch user right now, for the last 8 or 9 years. I've gotten very comfortable in that ecosystem. I don't imagine things would be much different doing what I do now in BSD I would just need a good reason to switch. In the past, much of it was based on performance and being able to script everything, which I still get with Arch.
  - asveikau 7y ago
    In my limited use of arch it does seem to be one of the distros that someone with *BSD type aesthetics wouldn't mind.
heathjohns 7y ago
I switched to desktop Linux in 1999, and then to FreeBSD around 2014. For me it's about culture. When you use software you're interacting with hundreds of decisions that the devs made, and the more they think like you the more they will have made the same calls that you would have. Linux's success ended up bringing in a distinctly different crowd than it had when I first started using it, and when the software decisions started to reflect that evolving culture I just found myself going against the grain for a lot of common tasks. Switching to FreeBSD was like coming back to your home country after being abroad - there were definitely nice things about the place you were travelling in, but it's still a relief to be back in your own culture. When you travel there's lots of random surprises because everything's built on a different set of values and assumptions - that's part of the charm of being abroad - but eventually you want to get things done and it's great to be back home where you can devote your whole brain to the task at hand.
- JeremyMorgan 7y ago
  That's an interesting viewpoint. I did enjoy the "culture" of BSD as you describe it. After a couple of years using it as a daily driver, there were things I came to expect from the system and seemed very intuitive. I may go back to it and find it just like riding a bike. A seat with my butt print already embedded in it.
dddddaviddddd 7y ago
First-class ZFS, the ports system, jails, and general simplicity and quality of documentation.
carc1n0gen 7y ago
I personally run freebsd as a desktop just for the experience of something different. I run have machines running Ubuntu, freebsd, and macOS and use all of them daily

crististm 7y ago

Speculating, I think the reasons are the same as 20 years ago when people were installing Linux instead of Windows.

tmalsburg2 7y ago
Namely?
- sfifs 7y ago
  Not GP but in my experience - Curiosity and to gain a certain techy reputation among nerdy circles. About 15-20 years ago when I was in engineering school, my seniors used to ask me to install Linux on their PCs back when installing it was a bit more hairy than today (text based installer that asked you lots of questions) so they could pretend to themselves they were keeping up with the cutting edge if tech :-)
  - JeremyMorgan 7y ago
    Kind of a simplistic view in my opinion. I installed Linux and BSD out of pure curiosity and enjoyed the configurability and newness of it all. I was in a rural area, wasn't in college yet and didn't have anyone to brag to about it at the time. I used it because I wanted to. I know there are many like me.

asveikau 7y ago

I think the reason to use it over desktop Linux is pretty similar to the time range you talk about. It has a different feel and some people are more comfortable with the *BSD way. The difference in personality has widened a bit as Linux comes up with things like systemd. If you just want a light Unix workstation that isn't trying to imitate Windows or Mac, the BSDs will get in your way less. That or a very conservative Linux distro.

JeremyMorgan 7y ago
I'm an Arch user right now, for the last 8 or 9 years. I've gotten very comfortable in that ecosystem. I don't imagine things would be much different doing what I do now in BSD I would just need a good reason to switch. In the past, much of it was based on performance and being able to script everything, which I still get with Arch.
- asveikau 7y ago
  In my limited use of arch it does seem to be one of the distros that someone with *BSD type aesthetics wouldn't mind.

heathjohns 7y ago

I switched to desktop Linux in 1999, and then to FreeBSD around 2014. For me it's about culture. When you use software you're interacting with hundreds of decisions that the devs made, and the more they think like you the more they will have made the same calls that you would have. Linux's success ended up bringing in a distinctly different crowd than it had when I first started using it, and when the software decisions started to reflect that evolving culture I just found myself going against the grain for a lot of common tasks. Switching to FreeBSD was like coming back to your home country after being abroad - there were definitely nice things about the place you were travelling in, but it's still a relief to be back in your own culture. When you travel there's lots of random surprises because everything's built on a different set of values and assumptions - that's part of the charm of being abroad - but eventually you want to get things done and it's great to be back home where you can devote your whole brain to the task at hand.

JeremyMorgan 7y ago
That's an interesting viewpoint. I did enjoy the "culture" of BSD as you describe it. After a couple of years using it as a daily driver, there were things I came to expect from the system and seemed very intuitive. I may go back to it and find it just like riding a bike. A seat with my butt print already embedded in it.

dddddaviddddd 7y ago

First-class ZFS, the ports system, jails, and general simplicity and quality of documentation.

carc1n0gen 7y ago

I personally run freebsd as a desktop just for the experience of something different. I run have machines running Ubuntu, freebsd, and macOS and use all of them daily