Dear DDJ,

I enjoyed reading the April 2001 edition of DDJ. It contains a
well-written and interesting C Programming column titled "A Moving
Target".

This article says the "only viable alternative to using Windows on
the x86 platform is Linux".  I am not sure what the author's exact
definition of "viable" is, but Mr. Stevens does mention some of his
particular needs: a working LAN, high-end sound card support, MIDI
and audio applications, dial-up support, cable modem support, and a
full software development environment for network, driver and kernel
programming.

Although the article briefly mentions BSD, I'd like to remind DDJ
readers that the freely-available FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD operating
systems are alternatives to Windows (and Linux).

In the same DDJ issue, in the letters to the editor, R. Stallman
briefly explains that the operating system commonly called "Linux"
is a combination of the Linux kernel and GNU software. In fact,
the complete operating systems based upon the Linux kernel are made
up of a variety of open source and free software beyond just GNU,
such as Perl, Apache, Tcl/Tk, PostgreSQL and XFree86.

The majority of this software -- considered to be for Linux-based
operating systems -- runs on (and a lot is developed on) BSD
systems.  This includes the same "GUI desktops", a variety of
full-featured development environments, and a full suite of
utilities for networking, including dial-up and cable modem
support.

The average user -- and some admins -- will not even notice any
difference between BSD and Linux.

For those not familiar with BSD, here's a quick summary: The BSDs
have a great lineage with over 20 years of development.  Many
networking technologies and implementations, including the first
(and still the most popular) open source TCP/IP implementation, were
created as part of BSD.  A BSD operating system includes a kernel
and a full set of Unix tools, networking utilities and many other
programs. This BSD-licensed code can be freely modified and used in
proprietary and commercial software.  BSD-based operating systems
and code run on numerous architectures.  The BSDs include a variety
of other freely-available software in the base operating systems,
plus the BSDs offer huge collections of easy-to-install software
packages. BSD is primarily considered for servers (BSD powers the
most popular website and ftp server in the world).  In addition, the
BSDs are great for the desktop user.

I appreciate that DDJ has actively promoted BSD in the past.

And I appreciate that DDJ covers Linux, open source and free
software. But, please be sure to not use catch-all terms or phrases
that may cause misinformation and definitely confusion.  For
example, the column mentions "Linux desktop" and "Linux browser";
most likely this "desktop" and this "browser" are available for
other non-Linux-based operating systems, including commercial
operating systems.

Just as some believe it is wrong to call a complete Linux
kernel-based operating system just "Linux", many feel it is wrong to
imply and assume that Linux is the only or main alternative to
Windows or the only or main operating system built upon open source
and free software.  Please remember that most of the community
that freely provides source code does not develop their software to
just be usable solely for Linux.

Readers can learn more about BSD at www.netbsd.org,
www.freebsd.org, www.openbsd.org and www.bsdnewsletter.com.

As for author's needs for audio: the BSDs do support sound cards and
a variety of audio and some MIDI applications are available. 
Depending on the definition of "high-end", some high-end
sound cards are supported.  Hopefully soon, further support for
high-end sound cards will be available. Due to the nature of
Unix-like operating systems in general, serious MIDI support is
lacking.  I understand that the author is a musician and an audio
application developer, so it is possible his current sound card,
audio and MIDI needs are not currently available in Linux or BSD.

   Jeremy C. Reed
   http://www.reedmedia.net/