# Why use Unix...?



## GenosTechServices (Mar 5, 2013)

I was doing some reading and everyone keeps saying that Linux is better. So why the heck are people still using Unix. I'm really green, please fill me in.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_is_better_Linux_or_Unix


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## SirDice (Mar 5, 2013)

That horse has been beaten to death...

[thread=9294]FreeBSD? So, what is it?[/thread]


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## vermaden (Mar 5, 2013)

GenosTechServices said:
			
		

> I was doing some reading and everyone keeps saying that Linux is better. So why the heck are people still using Unix. I'm really green, please fill me in.



These two should give You the idea:
http://www.pappp.net/?p=969
http://data.wxcafe.net/archives/126/


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## SirDice (Mar 5, 2013)

And in case you're wondering where we (FreeBSD) come from:

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.c...ly-tree?rev=1.130.2.6;content-type=text/plain


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## Deleted member 9563 (Mar 5, 2013)

I'm an amateur, although I have had a keen interest for over 35 years now. When I read the 9 precepts of the UNIX philosophy (thanks for the links vermaden!) it becomes obvious why I'm interested in FreeBSD now. I've used DOS for years, and still do daily, completely eschewing the MS-Windows stuff which started to irritate me more and more as it developed. I eventually came to see that UNIX is what DOS came from. It was just a simpler version. I have never really run applications in DOS, I just have a large collection of hand picked utilities that I can string together to make it do what I want. This way of working has made me "own" the system. I can do things my way, and don't have to follow (actually fight) fashionable trends.

Of course I started using Linux when it came out, and I'm glad I did. But in the end, it also moved more and more away from what I could accept. It was just a good way to learn stuff and prepare me for the real thing. To me Linux is not better, because it is going the way of MS-Windows, requiring more and more resources and always changing for reasons that have nothing to do with computing.


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## drhowarddrfine (Mar 5, 2013)

OJ said:
			
		

> To me Linux is not better, because it is going the way of MS-Windows, requiring more and more resources and always changing for reasons that have nothing to do with computing.


Exactly! And I've been saying for quite a while now that I no longer consider Linux a Unix-like system.

More attitude problems.


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## sossego (Mar 5, 2013)

It seems that the majority of the posts to that article are from Linux developers.
If the shift was to go completely to Apple, those same developers would complain about it being unfair.
It is better that one uses more than one system to develop upon.


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## zspider (Mar 6, 2013)

drhowarddrfine said:
			
		

> Exactly! And I've been saying for quite a while now that I no longer consider Linux a Unix-like system.
> 
> More attitude problems.



I agree, they've forsaken a lot of the UNIX philosophy.


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## throAU (Mar 7, 2013)

sossego said:
			
		

> It seems that the majority of the posts to that article are from Linux developers.
> If the shift was to go completely to Apple, those same developers would complain about it being unfair.
> It is better that one uses more than one system to develop upon.




Well, this is to be expected, having been posted to lwn.net, a Linux site.

I'd actually consider OS X to be far closer to Unix than Linux.  The user land CLI tools are the same (BSD not GNU), and the whole concept of Objective-C (message passing between smaller objects that can be extended and manipulated whether or not you have the source code to them or not) seems FAR more UNIX-y to me than the C++ alternative.

Even the GUI apps mostly retain the ability to have data sent to or read from them via AppleScript, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of command-line pipes.

Hell, Apple still even maintain man pages for all their CLI stuff and there is still generally command line tools to do most of what you can do in the GUI.


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## drhowarddrfine (Mar 7, 2013)

throAU said:
			
		

> I'd actually consider OS X to be far closer to Unix than Linux.


Since OSX is certified Unix I think that's a pretty good consideration.


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