FreeBSD 4.2 is a great addition to the series, but it may not be an essential upgrade for users running 4.0 or higher. If you haven't tried FreeBSD yet, there's no better time to try, as it is gaining momentum, which this release indicates.

To tell you the truth, QNX (pronounced Que-nix) isn't exactly open source software. The QNX company does not want to

give the source away. But it does come with some open source GNU programming tools. You can even port Linux programs

to QNX easily.

If you're an experienced Linux user, QNX will delight you. QNX RTP uses a Linux-compatible command-driven "shell" for many operations, and its file hierarchy is almost the same. But what makes QNX visibly different from Linux is its beautifully designed graphical user interface.

Is OS X just another fancy GUI-based operating desktop system like Windows or is it a more industrially useful server-centric operating system like FreeBSD or Linux-based OS's?