FreeBSD is my preferred OS thanks to ZFS, disk encryption, the wholly-owned base system, ports/packages, jails for securing network services, and the community.

A few years ago, I found myself looking for a new OS for day-to-day use. I'd been using Mac OS X for several years because my employer provided a MacBook Pro and I really loved the nice, clean Aqua UI on top of a POSIX compliant core. However, I was setting up a desktop, didn't want to spend a fortune on Apple hardware, and wasn't sure I liked the direction Apple was heading with OS X by making it more like iOS. My requirements pretty much boiled down to security (including support for full-disk encryption), stability, flexibility, software freedom, and a thriving community for those inevitable times when I would need some wisdom. If you're reading this blog, I probably don't need to tell you why Windows was ruled out before the competition started.

I had years of experience with Linux, but it had been long enough since I used it for a desktop OS that I was able to justify taking a fresh look at the leading distros. I compared the "market leaders" at the time including Red Hat, Ubuntu/Kubuntu, Mint, Debian, and others. I had almost settled on the old classic, Debian, when I saw that it now supported 2 kernels: Linux and kFreeBSD. Since OS X also had BSD roots, I decided to research it a little. Why was Debian bothering to support another kernel? Why had NeXT chosen to use BSD code for what later became OS X? In my research, I found that many other companies had chosen to use BSD code or BSD in whole either for their servers or as a base for their products including The Apache Software Foundation, Netflix, Juniper, NetApp, Sony (for the PS3 and PS4), and Experts Exchange. Among the BSD information I read was Matt Fuller's BSD for Linux Users, which is a great read that caught my attention right off the bat with this common BSD adage:

A reflection on my accomplishments and failures in 2014. Of course, I touch on what I'd like to change and how I'd like to improve in 2015.

Many people use the new year as a time to make resolutions or set goals. Before doing that, I like to review the goals I had set for the previous year, see how well I did (or didn't do), and use that insight to help set the next round of goals. One reason for creating a blog is for personal accountability, so that starts with making at least some of my accomplishments and failures public. It may seem odd for my first blog entry to be a "year in review" since the blog hasn't been around for a year, but I've been around all year and this process would take place with or without the blog. However, there's a good reason for making this my first entry and I'll address that below. My personal goals for 2014 mostly focused on developing better habits for reading and fitness as well as a few other items.

Happy new year!