GNU/Linux Took Off at the BSDs' Expense (Amid Telecom Lawsuit) and the Rivalry Persists Because Microsoft is Negligible in the Server Space
AT&T litigation is often blamed for BSDs "staying behind" or losing momentum (developers or coding inertia). Lawsuits or not, GNU/Linux (and UNIXes) remaining at the forefront is a shared opportunity for BSDs. UNIX or POSIX is the future.
THIS week there's a lot of FreeBSD coverage in many publications, podcasts, and BSD-centric sites/blogs. That's partly because of an event.
So let's begin by saying or clarifying upfront that we don't perceive FreeBSD to be an opponent or some proprietary UNIX. It's neither of those things and it's a potential ally of 'copyleftheads'. In the year 2001 I used FreeBSD for webhosting and it generally worked. It can still work OK. FreeBSD has long been viable as a server platform, but it faces stiff competition from GNU/Linux, which has more features, better hardware support, and stronger "brand recognition". Understandably, among FreeBSD developers there's some "Linux envy". By now, in 2024, GNU/Linux is so dominant in servers (also in laptops/desktops) that if FreeBSD wants to gain considerable market share, then it needs to take aim at GNU/Linux, not Solaris or some other UNIX. Microsoft was never much of a contender, but decades ago it actually had some market share in servers (even Windows had some). That's no longer the case and we habitually write about Microsoft's falling market share in E-mail, Web and so on. Microsoft just hardly matters in the server space anymore; FreeBSD people know that. Everywhere they look it's either BSD or GNU/Linux and FreeBSD is very small compared to the latter. In some cases, like at Netflix, FreeBSD constantly faces the risk of being replaced by GNU/Linux (remember Hotmail and Yahoo?).
So that's more or less the context of where FreeBSD stands and where it comes from. It's hardly new and nowadays its perceived rival tends to be the 'free UNIX' (not FreeBSD), also known as GNU is Not UNIX (GNU) or GNU/Linux.
"The main bone of contention I have had (and still have) with FreeBSD," an associate said this morning, "is that they are mostly a bunch of Windows(tm) users are see [GNU/]Linux as the competition to defeat rather than their true opponent Microsoft..."
Consider this latest article from the FreeBSD Foundation, entitled "Celebrating FreeBSD Day with Tara Stella: A Journey from Linux to FreeBSD" (to UNIX fans it feels a bit like 'cannibalisation'; there's also no shortage of cheap shots thrown at Linus Torvalds this week).
Dr. Andy Farnell, a longtime UNIXer who published here earlier today, is concerned about the divisive social nature of the Web, not just the technical aspects. It sometimes feels like Social Control Media drives or deliberately promotes a lot of unnecessary division where none is justified.
When it comes to FreeBSD, I know very little about the people in there (I spoke to very few), but I never picked a bone with them. FreeBSD, in my view, is like a friend of GNU/Linux. Just like IBM's UNIXes are like mean cousins but hardly enemies. Nobody compels anybody to be friends with them, but why make enemies? About 16 years ago the Linux Foundation (LF) was picking battles with Solaris and SUN instead of Microsoft. That hardly made sense back then. Nowadays it liaises with Bill Gates and mostly neglects Linux, so the trajectory seems clear. "LF contains up to 2% Linux," someone told us. That number gets smaller each year. Nowadays they're busy openwashing and whitewashing corrupt oligarchs as "charities" that combat corruption. What a gross reversal of narratives! The Mozilla "Foundation" is also heading in the same direction.
"From many of the articles," our associate said, "you can pick up the feeling that many of the FreeBSD users consider Linux and not Windows to be the competition to be poached from. Rather than as an ally or collaborator. There are exceptions but the pro-Windows, anti-Linux user is stereotypical for their community. I wish that would change."
"Devil's advocate," I replied, would say that "on the SERVER, GNU/Linux IS the competition. From Windows there's not much "share" left to take..."
"On the server," the associate replied, "yes, but they aim also for the desktop. The idea is that there should be cooperation there or at worst "coopetition". Microsoft is able to misdirect many of them though, even though 'OSS' as a concept was intended as a stepping stone to full software freedom. [Bruce] Perens wrote about that in detail a while back."
BSDs are widely regarded as extremely stable, but GNU/Linux probably caught up in that regard. GNU/Linux is also very good for gaming, owing in part to this past decade's growing embrace by Valve (many games ported over to GNU/Linux every day).
"That was a salient point to make that Microsoft market share in the server market is negligible and for FreeBSD to gain ground there is really little left to take from Microsoft and Linux becomes the target then," the associate said. "That Microsoft is losing the server space (and has lost the other markets long ago)" is hardly news; but many people remain unaware of it and are under the false impression of persistent gains or market retention by Microsoft. Hardly so! The opposite is true and that's why for 5 years in a row already Azure has had mass layoffs. Even Microsoft as a host of GNU/Linux instances has failed. Windows Server is already a niche player.
I want to emphasise that when crafting this summary I was careful not to unnecessarily offend BSD people because I genuinely and honestly don't consider them to be foes. The intention was only to explain that Microsoft is increasingly irrelevant, so the BSD "vs" GNU/Linux thing is a bit like "sportsmanship". I was cautioned that it is "probably best not to draw much attention to the rivalry some of them have with GNU or Linux," but that's a subject we already explored way back in 2008. █