FreeBSD is the best OS out there. Linux is got all the devs and "new Flashy stuff" I can stand SystemD so FreeBSD was a great find for me. Like most things I do to little to late..
1. Early on, BSD got tangled up in a law suit which years to clear.
2. Novell had the only widespread capable network operating system. They worked with Microsoft to help them develop NT after the IBM portable OS2 breakup.
3. Microsoft dissed the hand that fed them and their predatory tactics and monopoly made plenty of enemies, include Novell and IBM. Novell bought most of the code that are the foundation of the Linux distros today. IBM contributed to Novell as well. The target was the desktop. The office products of the day, WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3, made versions and Linux focused on the desktop which bred drivers. They also released products on the Windows world. Linus Torvads at the time said it was the best thing to ever happen to Linux. Linux is a desktop operating system with a design to support that role, which may or may not work out from a scheduling perspective on a server.
4. Linux was new and there was lots of press, similar to when Java came out. A lot of people became familiar with it. People were willing to cut off their nose to spite their face and Microsoft, and promote themselves as special and smart.
5. SCO filed lawsuits against IBM, Autozone, and anyone else with money over using Linux without licenses. SCO bagan selling licenses to individuals and companies and took in a lot of money. After the BSD case, crying wolf a second time was met by the market with some degree of skepticism, but SCO's credibility was bolstered by obvious huge risk they would be taking for selling licenses if it fell through to Novell's license. Novell made an equally bold move by stating they would hold harmless users from SCO prosecution, and IBM, who also donated code to Novell, said they would further back Novell. This caused some companies to take a wait-and-see position, which put a hefty dent in SCO's license revenues. SCO failed in their lawsuit against Novell, which left everyone thinking, "What were they thinking?" However, Novell's counter-suit prevailed and Novell was awarded 2.3 billion in 2007 dollars right out of the gate. SCO won precious little of that back on appeal, and it opened up SCO to every utility and application they bundled to the authors of the code from a code licensing perspective and a lost revenue perspective for more.
6. The track record of desktop operating systems becoming servers is better than server operating systems becoming desktop. This is probably due to the narrower focus of the operating system, verses the number of people involved in creating drivers, apps, and utilities for the desktop operating systems. Windows and Linux are desktop operating systems and kernels while Netware and the UNIXes are server operating systems. Windows, Apple, and Linux have borrowed heavily from FreeBSD, and Linux has returned the favor in apps many times over. FreeBSD devs work(ed) extensively with Apple for a long time time.
7. I can understand DirectAdmin's position. What is best is not necessarily what sells. Microsoft's server architecture is laughable compared to eDirectory, but it is the familiarity and tools that were made practical to develop by desktop apps that propelled it to where it is today. If DA is going to leave off supporting FreeBSD, that leaves me in a dilemma between:
a. The flavor-of-the-day from the RHEL line that will be the heir to CENTOS.
b. Windows, which has a lot more flexibility at the OS level, far better development tools, far more and better apps, and intelligent update support of OS and apps, less likely to have trouble during updates, and about a thousand other things it can be used for easily that Linux cannot, which if any are used make paying $1,000 cheaper than free by a lot. The only control panel that I see kept half-way up to date is Plesk, which I'm not wild about, but...
