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[der Mouse]

>>> I find it hard to believe that we would have affordable choice if
>>> it weren't for linux.
>> Why?  4.3BSD predates Linux.  [...]
> I saw no sign of them taking off.  I never heard of any BSD for the
> PC (although I certainly had heard of BSD in general) until long
> after I was using linux.  That suggests to me that BSD was for some
> reason incapable of really cementing unix on the PC as a viable
> alternative to Windows.

At the time, it was.  But this is a classic example of the "post hoc
ergo propter hoc" ("after this therefore because of this") fallacy -
just because BSD became a contender about the time Linux took off does
not mean there is any direct causal relationship between the two.

Indeed, I suspect that the causal relationships are pretty tangled.
Part of it is probably UCB releasing a non-encumbered BSD; part of it
is probably general uptake of computers, and in particular the
availability of cheap and relatively powerful mass-market hardware;
there are doubtless plenty of other parts too.

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