Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Second tier platform? What are you comparing it to exactly?

SmartOS is an open source operating system that is widely used commercially as a kubernetes node (among others). It has native ZFS and DTrace, in addition to zones, etc.

So is kubernetes second-tier? I don't understand your point.

FreeBSDs success is invalid because its Netflix that heavily use it? Get real...




That Linux has been eating the world (server, mobile, even embedded) whereas SunOS died, Solaris is mostly forgotten.

The SmartOS is just yet another OS with limited adoption. Whether it's "used commercially as a kubernetes node" doesn't mean much. Itself is second-tier, not Kubernetes (an OS doesn't magically adopt the success/adoption rate/etc of the tools it's used with. Most Kubernetes nodes remain Linux).

As for FreeBSD, which I use to run back in the day for a spell, it has hugely declined in use from the late nineties.

>FreeBSDs success is invalid because its Netflix that heavily use it?

You got it backwards. Your argument that "Netflix uses it" as proof for FreeBSD success in 2020 is what is invalid.

One company (however big) using an OS doesn't mean the OS is a success, or hasn't declined in adoption.


Doesn't FreeBSD run the very site you're on? Distrowatch recently switched to it (which IMO is a bit ironic, although they list BSDs as distros too).

There's bunch of companies that use and regularly contribute to the code:

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/n...

Also: https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/donors/ (I would imagine that company that donate have interest too keep it alive because they use it)

Apple doesn't disclose much about their infrastructure, but they did post jobs looking for FreeBSD admins so I would imagine they don't have a negligible number of them.

WhatsApp was running primarily on FreeBSD (not sure how it is now)


>Doesn't FreeBSD run the very site you're on?

So? As a feat is even less impressive that the one we just rejected as some major sign of it being a success (Netflix running FreeBSD).

I'm sure it also runs a lot more of servers. But it's less prevalent that it used to be, and Linux has eaten almost everything in that space.

Enumerating success stories is the first sign of a project with few of them (Linux doesn't have to enumerate how many companies use it). It's the same for language. C or Java don't need a "success stories" page. But niche languages will invariantly have one, and tout it as some proof that they're widely used...


I provided individual examples. There are many others. Go do your own research instead of shitting on other peoples rebuttals to your clearly uninformed position.


Why are you being negative about a particular distro? You clearly have a chip on your shoulder or an ulterior motive. FreeBSD also powers my NAS (FreeNAS) in my house. It also features ZFS as a first-tier filesystem. Use whatever the fsck you want, but stop being a jerk please. People STILL care about these distros and work to improve them in whatever "niche" markets you think they're in, no sense in you being a little beach about it.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: