I think for me, Linux with all the binary-blob stuff removed also removes any reason for me to not just use FreeBSD instead: that's still my choice of server OS, and I did try to use it for desktop stuff too but while it can do it, it's always playing second-fiddle because so much stuff is developed primarily for Linux. Which admittedly isn't all encumbered software but a lot of it is. So I have a separate box for my desktop stuff running Linux Mint: I used to use Gentoo, but life's too short, and if I'm going to do the "sysadmin at home" thing, my server is quite enough work! And also physically on a separate box: I tried running it in a VM but the performance wasn't great. I think the PC architecture is too convoluted to work as well as the actual VM operating system.

I have such mixed feelings about GNU: there's no doubt that they've contributed a great deal of stuff and made so much possible. But they also tend to be extremely dogmatic (not just about licencing but The Correct Way To Do Things: see also their idiosyncratic but often imposed style of formatting; their refusal to convert stuff to regular man pages because Thou Shalt Use Info and so on) and that they also tend to be glory-hounds, such as the whole LiGNUx ludicrousness at the same time the various BSDers, X Consortium and even corporate entities were freely contributing a huge amount of stuff without making the same litany of demands.

It's a shame Hurd never seemed to take off; surely RMS's ire at Linux being called Linux would've been effort better spent on getting his team's own OS off the ground. I find different OSs interesting and actually having more choice would've been better for everyone.


J'aime le fromage.