"The difference I see between BSD and Linux is that Linux has fanfare and BSD is quiet," Gartner research director Mary Hubley told NewsFactor. "The popularity [of Linux] is increasing. I don't see that changing, and I don't see BSD changing. BSD will probably be there in the back room chugging along, mostly with e-mail and Web servers."

Mind Share Matters

Yankee Group senior analyst Laura DiDio agreed, telling NewsFactor that Linux has more applications and more mind share. "We've been hearing about it for four years," she said. "The industry has been primed for Linux."

Although DiDio said BSD does possess some advantageous features geared toward intranets and extranets, she added that enterprises are interested in the "real cost" of open source software. Therefore, they tend to choose Linux because they must take into account the availability of professional service, the IT learning curve, and standards and interoperability.

Application Edge

Giga Information Group analyst Stacey Quandt told NewsFactor that the number of ISVs (independent software vendors) that certify software is growing for Linux -- "more than [for] any BSD. FreeBSD does not have that same force fueling its adoption in different industry segments."

While Quandt said BSD's features may give it an edge over Linux in some networking environments, she added that BSD is inferior to Linux in terms of software support.

Gartner's Hubley agreed, saying that with the advent of service offerings from large vendors, including IBM and Hewlett-Packard, Linux has become "more of a professional system."

"With BSD, you don't have IBM supporting it," Hubley said. "The biggest support [for BSD] is through the online community. Corporate users look for professional support and service agreements. It's kind of uncommon for an IBMer to go to BSD because of that."

Nothing Is Free

Although both BSD and Linux eliminate licensing costs and provide free support through a growing online community, enterprises are likely to incur additional costs to deploy and implement open source software -- and they know it.

Indeed, Quandt said, open source software is "obviously not free" from a corporate perspective.

So far, at least, Linux seems to have proven itself in the eyes of the enterprise. BSD may be equally suitable, in technical terms, but it lacks the third-party support that could vault it to the top.

"We haven't seen the buzz around BSD," DiDio said. "[BSD] still looks like a fringe movement."