Y'know what?

[peteorrall@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

Y'know what? As an #opensource #advocate and #tech enthusiast, it's genuinely awesome to see increased mainstream coverage of #Linux and #FreeBSD. Unfortunately, a lot of these articles are riddled with mistakes, misinformation, clickbait, and overall low quality. A few minutes ago, while catching up on tech news I came across one #ZDNet author's frequent posts on Linux and FreeBSD.

To emphasize my point, I am only going to focus on one article titled, "After decades on Linux, FreeBSD finally gave me a reason to switch operating systems."

The following passages stuck out like sore thumb:

1.) "FreeBSD is more challenging than Linux."

-But is it really? Subjective, particularly if coming from a GUI-driven Linux distribution. Frankly I find FreeBSD easier because of the excellent documentation and coherent design.

2.) "FreeBSD is Unix-like" but further down he states, "Essentially, FreeBSD is Unix, where Linux is based on Unix."

-Contradictory, incorrect, and confusing for newcomers. FreeBSD is Unix. Linux (neither the kernel nor OS) is based on Unix.

3.) "Think of FreeBSD as a more challenging version of Linux. This operating system doesn't hold your hand, so you might learn a thing or two as you install it and the software you require. Even for a seasoned Linux veteran like me, FreeBSD can often be a head-scratcher."

-Challenging because it's *different than Linux*? FreeBSD doesn't hold your hand? What about #Debian, #Gentoo, #Arch, heck even #RHEL? Since the author didn't mention it, I'm going to assume he did not check the FreeBSD Handbook and his "seasoned Linux" experience has been using a Linux desktop for a couple years. Also, head-scratcher?! Being an experienced Debian user, I'd be scratching my head too if I just decided to use Gentoo on a whim. The trauma of hand-configuring the xorg.conf file was real.

Finally, contrary to the article's title, the author ended up not switching to FreeBSD.

-Clickbait.

I am all for more people exploring FreeBSD and Linux. They are great OSes but it is critical the information being reported is both accurate and consistent. For reference the article is linked below.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/freebsd-linux-review/

[hexorg@techhub.social]

@peteorrall my friend always said gentoo is FreeBSD in the wrong userland. (Not helpful for newcomers but reinforces your point).

[jzb@hachyderm.io]

@peteorrall in fairness: the author may not have chosen the headline.

I also hate the term “clickbait” these days. Yes. The point is to get people to read the article. Blaming publications for “clickbait” is really putting the blame in the wrong place. It’s an arms race for attention.

Why not criticize audiences for their failure to reward less-sensationalist headlines? If you think something is “clickbait” then… don’t click. The problem will go away. Better yet, support publications with more restrained copy/headlines. But that’s harder than the lazy application of “clickbait” that puts all the blame on the authors/publications trying to survive in an ever-more-hostile environment for online publishers and writers.

[peteorrall@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@jzb I didn't know it was clickbait until I clicked on it and read the article.

Typically I don't read ZDNet because it caters to a different audience and their articles lack technical detail. Until today, I honestly can't even remember the last time I even read a ZDNet article. I stumbled across it while looking for other stuff.

My primary tech news source is The Register. While they are more enterprise focused, the site is biased towards #FOSS, the reporting is much better, and consistently accurate.

[samuraisakura@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@peteorrall I dislike these clickbait articles about #Linux and #BSD.

Thanks for saving me a click and my time.

[peteorrall@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@SamuraiSakura Glad I was able to help! 🤣