System i Addict

More on what iXsystems is doing to unify the BSD market place. I spend a good 30 minutes on the phone with Brett Davis from iXsystems. You know when two very passonate people get into a conversation and could go on for hours talkaing about things you love, well that was what the conversation with Brett was like. Thanks Brett I was great to talk to you and use up some of your time.

I didn’t want to hang up and I didn’t want to stop talking. He is very much in love with BSD and what iXsystems is doing and I would like to add a little of my take, so am I.

Being and iSeries Admin you learn to apprechaite a good OS, like a fine wine. BSD has always been one of those great smelling OSes that will just run for years and years without problems. I have a FreeBSD Server that has been up for a good long while just running on a quiet little server not bothering anyone doing little things here and there but not failing. Maybe that is why it’s still up. Cause I only tinker with it, but I do know Yahoo is all over OpenBSD and they run lots and lots all day long so there is your pudding that the proof may be found in.

So back to what iXsystems is doing and where they are going. The acquired PCBSD a few weeks back and now have acquired FressBSD Mall and BSD Mall. They plan to merge them and in the end give back 10% of every purchase to BSD. Wow that is just great. I sure hope to see some really great shirts and outerwear from them in the next few months. I told Brett what I wanted to see in a golf shirt.

He also mentioned that there maybe a BSDCON in the US on the 15th anniversary at Berkley. Now that would be an event no one should miss who loves BSD. I think anyone at BSDCan heard the very same thing and I might be repeating old news but I would pack up the VW Bus and head out to Berkley for a good old BSD time.

I would encourage all of you out there to start considering these guys for servers and other devices. They will load BSD and most any Linux on their hardware for you and ship it out the door. I can’t imagine a better way to run your IT needs than from FreeBSD. I am big on the UNIX platform and prefer it on a server vs. Linux in some cases. BSD has always been really stable and the community and commiters have worked all the time to make it better.

So what comes next for iXsystems? Laptops? Desktops? End to end solutions? Who know we all will just have  to wait and see.  Good luck guys!