Introducing FreeBSD

As a person inclined towards computer science, an open source solution to any problem has always been my choice. To be frank, it gives me great pleasure to look into the source code of any software and if needed modify it or hack it simply for the 'fun' of it. You can call me a 'fanatic', if you want, but any proprietery software no matter how good can never stand up to its open source alternative (if any). FreeBSD is my choice when it comes to selecting an OS for my PC and I simply love it.

FreeBSD is a free/open source operating system available for download at http://www.freebsd.org/ (in case you are thinking of giving it a try). It is, technically speaking, the best open source UNIX available in the world. It is derived from BSD (Berkely Software Distribution), the version of UNIX developed at the University of California, Berkely. BSD is the most research oriented version of UNIX. And so you'll find that a lot work has been put into the development of highly optimized algorithms. The system is so robust that it is used as a server os in massive websites like Yahoo.com. Until recently even Hotmail used FreeBSD.

Like most UNIX (or UNIX like) operating systems, FreeBSD is most suited for developers, programmers or hackers in general; for people who like ultimate computing power in their hands with the freedom to use it. FreeBSD comes bundled with loads of programming languages, libraries, debuggers, tools like cvs, network utilities, Desktop Managers like GNOME, KDE etc etc. The ports collection which is a part of FreeBSD contains more than 8000 ported applications. More than that, being Open Source, FreeBSD sources are also bundled along with it; so you have the freedom of modifying the kernel. You can customize it according to your needs and optimize it for your requirements or just play around with it =).

These were more-than-enough reasons for me to get my own copy of FreeBSD. I recommend, you go get yours too.