How FreeBSD Compares to Other Operating Systems

When determining how FreeBSD compares to other operating systems, it’s important to consider the mainstream desktop operating systems such as Windows XP and Mac OS X, as well as FreeBSD’s chief open-source rival, Linux. This section explores these comparisons as well as those of other BSD-based operating systems.

Windows XP

Microsoft has done a good job of listening to what its customers want in an operating system. Windows XP doesn’t allow you to “get under the hood” much. It is designed to work reasonably well for a wide variety of tasks without the user having to learn about the internals of the system. It does this, however, at the expense of some raw performance, efficiency, and especially ...

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