On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 12:31:14PM -0400, Heimdall Imbert wrote: > Hahaha, I wanted to say the same thing but figured that this wouldn't be an > appropriate venue for a discussion of this nature. But since someone else > brought it up, I figure I might as well add my two cents. I currently run > Debian and Windows XP on my laptop and I use it as a learning tool (because > I am nowhere near a guru unlike many of the people here!).
I am nothing like a guru, and nothing approaching a programmer. I cannot write a simple shell script without rereading parts of man pages to remember how it goes; sometimes I cannot even write a simple XHTML file without consulting the definition at w3.org to remember how it goes. I have never used Windows, I used Linux only briefly, and since then I've used nothing but OpenBSD (except where I have a shell account on a machine that belongs to someone else, and then only remotely). In my opinion OpenBSD is the ultimate learning tool, perhaps largely because of the high quality of its documentation. Also because on mailing lists like this one the developers are willing to tell it straight however the rest of us may react (I view that in itself as a form of generosity). You just have to commit to reading carefully and with patience (mainly towards the gradual accumulation of your own understanding). I think the widespread view that OpenBSD is only, or mainly, for gurus is an unfortunate myth. On the other hand, it may be true that OpenBSD is only, or mainly, for people who are willing to read carefully and patiently, and who understand and accept how OpenBSD is offered to the world for free. I believe that the latter point could be better and more widely understood. cheers, -wb (Who's received his copy of 4.4 late last week, and thanks the developers for another job (predictably) well done.)
