Yeah, but BSD fabled stability comes at a price: BSD generally
lags Linux development: OpenBSD for example is
JUST NOW getting support for SMP -- I've been running an SMP Linux for what, about
seven years now?? Interestingly enough, as Linux starts to gather steam, the synergy between the two
open source systems Linux and BSD is having interesting spin offs -- for example BSD borrowed the new Linux scheduler from 2.6, improved it, and Linux borrowed back these improvements. I think Linux and BSD are starting to merge...
Don't get me wrong, I was brought up on BSD (4.1 and 4.2 ;) its just that BSD tends to have a slightly more primative GUI (unless you get a MAC and pay for Apple's added value), typically just because there are fewer software folks to port the applications as quickly as they do for Linux (Apple Linux has the same problem -- it tends to run a versions or two behind the main x86 Linux stream).
I find Linux servers stable and secure enough to run our WWW and email, which they have done for years and years, with uptimes in the MONTHS...
That's generally good advise, but since the only people I have to worry about executing this code on my primary systems are myself and my daughters, I'll not be staying up late worrying about it.:-)
HAND