But BSD had networking then. Linux didn't. So you had a choice of IDE disks or networking. I guess most people had IDE disks and no network to connect to.
I'm not sure when "then" was, but Linux had TCP/IP by early 1993. Trying to remember why we chose to go with Linux over 386BSD, it's a bit hazy. It wouldn't have been the IDE issue, as the systems we were looking to use with an affordable alternative to SCO initially all had SCSI drives. It wasn't failure to know about 386BSD, as Dave Burgess was right down the hall, gently evangelizing. The only thing that I can think of was the uncertainty of the USL vs BSDI lawsuit. I suppose that by the time that was settled, we had already invested enough into Linux, and showed enough progress with it, that there wasn't any reason at that point to switch horses to one of the BSD branches.
Re:Third Factor, and Addendum (Score:2)
I'm not sure when "then" was, but Linux had TCP/IP by early 1993. Trying to remember why we chose to go with Linux over 386BSD, it's a bit hazy. It wouldn't have been the IDE issue, as the systems we were looking to use with an affordable alternative to SCO initially all had SCSI drives. It wasn't failure to know about 386BSD, as Dave Burgess was right down the hall, gently evangelizing. The only thing that I can think of was the uncertainty of the USL vs BSDI lawsuit. I suppose that by the time that was settled, we had already invested enough into Linux, and showed enough progress with it, that there wasn't any reason at that point to switch horses to one of the BSD branches.