[Solar-general] sobre peleas :) Is Linux For Losers?

[Diego Saravia]

NEW YORK - Theo de Raadt is a pioneer of the open source software movement and
a huge proponent of free software. But he is no fan of the open source Linux
operating system.

"It's terrible," De Raadt says. "Everyone is using it, and they don't realize
how bad it is. And the Linux people will just stick with it and add to it
rather than stepping back and saying, 'This is garbage and we should fix it.'"

De Raadt makes a rival open source operating system called OpenBSD. Unlike
Linux, which is a clone of Unix, OpenBSD is based on an actual Unix variant
called Berkeley Software Distribution. BSD powers two of the best operating
systems in the world--Solaris from Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news -
people ) and OS X from Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ).

There are three open source flavors of BSD--FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD, the
one De Raadt develops, which is best-known for its security features. In a
sort of hacker equivalent of the Ford-versus-Chevy rivalry, BSD guys make fun
of Linux on message boards and Web sites, the gist being that BSD guys are a
lot like Linux guys, except they have kissed girls.

Sour grapes? Maybe. Linux is immensely more popular than all of the open
source BSD versions.

De Raadt says that's partly because Linux gets support from big hardware
makers like Hewlett-Packard (nasdaq: HPQ - news - people ) and IBM (nyse: IBM
- news - people ), which he says have turned Linux hackers into an unpaid
workforce.

"These companies used to have to pay to develop Unix. They had in-house
engineers who wrote new features when customers wanted them. Now they just
allow the user community to do their own little hacks and features, trying to
get to the same functionality level, and they're just putting pennies into
it," De Raadt says.

De Raadt says his crack 60-person team of programmers, working in a tightly
focused fashion and starting with a core of tried-and-true Unix, puts out
better code than the slapdash Linux movement.

"I think our code quality is higher, just because that's really a big focus
for us," De Raadt says. "Linux has never been about quality. There are so many
parts of the system that are just these cheap little hacks, and it happens to
run." As for Linus Torvalds, who created Linux and oversees development De
Raadt says, "I don't know what his focus is at all anymore, but it isn't
quality." There was no immediate response to an e-mail to Torvalds requesting
comment.

De Raadt blames Linux's development structure, in which thousands of coders
feed bits of code to "maintainers," who in turn pass pieces to Torvalds and a
handful of top lieutenants.

The involvement of big companies also creates problems, De Raadt says, since
companies push their own agendas and end up squabbling--as happened recently
when a Red Hat (nasdaq: RHAT - news - people ) coder published an essay
criticizing IBM's Linux programmers.

There's also a difference in motivation. "Linux people do what they do because
they hate Microsoft. We do what we do because we love Unix," De Raadt says.
The irony, however, is that while noisy Linux fanatics make a great deal out
of their hatred for Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), De Raadt says
their beloved program is starting to look a lot like what Microsoft puts out.
"They have the same rapid development cycle, which leads to crap," he says.

De Raadt says BSD could have become the world's most popular open source
operating system, except that a lawsuit over BSD scared away developers, who
went off to work on Linux and stayed there even after BSD was deemed legal.
"It's really very sad," he says. "It is taking a long time for the Linux code
base to get where BSD was ten years ago."

Lok Technologies, a San Jose, Calif.-based maker of networking gear, started
out using Linux in its equipment but switched to OpenBSD four years ago after
company founder Simon Lok, who holds a doctorate in computer science, took a
close look at the Linux source code.

"You know what I found? Right in the kernel, in the heart of the operating
system, I found a developer's comment that said, 'Does this belong here?' "Lok
says. "What kind of confidence does that inspire? Right then I knew it was
time to switch."

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-- 
Diego Saravia 
dsa en unsa.edu.ar