On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 10:37 AM, <za...@gmx.com> wrote: > Hi > > I am new to OpenBSD. In fact, I am a total newbie here. After reading many > posts on this list, I formed the impression that all or most OpenBSD users > are high-end IT professionals. > I was wondering: are there OpenBSD users who are not so advanced in terms of > IT expertise? That is, who are simple computer *users*, not IT > professionals? > I need to know this because I am starting feeling that, as an average > computer user, I might be out of place here. I was attracted to OpenBSD by > its security-by-default philosophy. Admittedly, I don't know much about > security and I would not be able to set the proper security settings on my > own, so I have decided to adopt OpenBSD and use it for simple day-to-day > tasks, as a desktop OS (as I would any popular Linux distribution). Does > this choice of mine, and its underlying reasoning, make sense? > Are there any significant drawbacks to my adoption of OpenBSD (such as > OpenBSD being too technical and too difficult, as compared, say, to Linux > distros)?
You can't lump Linux distros together, in terms of sys-administration difficulty. Some, e.g., Mint or Ubuntu, try to be easy to administer and hide the details from you. Others, such as Slackware or Arch, require more knowledge. OpenBSD is certainly more comparable to the latter than the former. It's not a point-and-shoot camera; it's more like a Leica or a Hasselblad. You have to be willing to focus it yourself (heaven forfend!) and know something about exposure. But if you are willing to learn (and learning will not be impeded by poor documentation; one of the things that is unusual about OpenBSD is the care devoted to the documentation), the results will be gratifying. > > Please, give me some advice. If OpenBSD is not for me, I would rather know > it sooner than later. > > Thanks > > Zaf
