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4. Stability

While most certainly more stable than Windows, Linux is not as stable as BSD. There are a number of reasons for this, but the most compelling is that you are not likely to hose your desktop installation with one update gone bad. This happens with Linux distributions such as Ubuntu often, even if it is rare with other Linux desktops.

Perhaps the biggest argument for stability is that the BSD are essentially Unix at the core, where as Linux is "based on" Unix. And as most of you may already know, Unix code has been tried and true for decades, not just a few years.

5. Software packaging

One of the largest hassles with Linux on the desktop is wanting to try a later version of new software, only to find that you may face dependency issues. Now, before everyone begins going on about how dependency issues are a thing of the past, let's be honest. Many software packages are bound in very tightly with specific code released with specific Linux distros. And thus, updating to software designed for new releases of other code means that all sorts of stuff needs to be updated as well. This can be rather frustrating.

The BSDs on the other hand, most specifically FreeBSD (or its cousin, PC-BSD), provide a software installation system that make this much easier to deal with. The FreeBSD ports software management system remains unmatched for its ease of concept, with the possible exception of Portage on Gentoo Linux. FreeBSD's ports system of package management uses directories to ensure things are kept nice and orderly. PC-BSD (based on FreeBSD) for instance, keeps the programs out of your system folders.

6. Security

Here is an area that is going to get plenty of hate mail sent my way for sure. Being as I am not, nor do I pretend to be, a BSD expert, allow me to say this on BSD security. Out of the box, without heavy administration, BSD tends to be more secure for server use. On the desktop front, it is less important, perhaps as both Linux and the BSDs are quite secure by nature.

7. Suitability for intellectual property (IP)

Despite not being a tremendous fan of IP myself, the fact remains that there are business situations where adhering to IP does make sense in the long run. The BSDs provide a much more suitable environment for this as neither the developers nor the user community really care if IP is used in conjunction with BSD code.

ON THE OTHER HAND ...

Now that I covered the reasons why the BSDs are better, I am going to take aim at some areas that simply must improve in order for the BSDs to be taken seriously on the desktop.

1. Not Flashy enough

The BSDs taking aim at the desktop really need to figure out a way to get on board with something newer than Flash 7.

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