Free software is a sort of misnomer. It is a matter of liberty rather than the price. It is essentially about freedom to users to copy, distribute, change or improve the software. Access to source code is essential to achieve this.This debate on whether Microsoft offers a better and stable operating system or a free operating system developed by Linux, Fedora or Ubuntu would make better option, is being fuelled by growing perception about Microsoft being greedy.

No doubt, for a long time, in mid nineties, when there was no credible substitute for its products, it tried to manipulate the market to the extent possible. It was the first major software company to enhance software upgrade charges to 50% against 20% which was industry norm. Standard practice of Microsoft had been to add features to its software that would put its competitors out of the business and later on selling those as add-on features.

Free open source operating systems were perceived as answer to Microsoft’s perceived greedy attitude. Free software was started as ethical movement as constructive alternative to Microsoft’s growing monopoly.

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BSD is a version of Unix developed at University of California, Berkley. It is compatible for x86, AMD64, ULTRASPARC architectures and compatibility with some additional platforms is in advanced stage of development. It is known for some of its cutting edge features as advanced networking, security, compatibility which are not there even in some of the best commercial operating systems. Its features make it preferable to even commercial Unix workstations. Any one can contribute to BSD through a committer.

However, despite the large number of similarities between BSD and Linux, there are equally large numbers of differences. These differences have resulted into many deep seated disagreements. Principally the differences emerge from disagreement over development methodology.

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