Linux: Feature Creep In Linux/BSD

Now normally I don't quibble about the types of applications loaded onto a Linux/BSD box, but steadily the average size of a either *nix is growing. Now part of that is to be expected, a larger kernel, more libraries, yet personally I find it interesting that Linux/BSD is just as guilty of feature creep as the Windows world.

Let's face it, with most distributions slapping support for KDE and GNOME, adding multiple desktop managers and several variations of text editors as part of "default" install sets, it's looking a might like the Windows influence. I'll grant you that the basic footprint is still smaller in most cases than a well loaded Windows system but the size delta is shrinking.

Overtime of course I don't doubt that both operating systems will increase in size, unless better, more efficient coding takes place, but it's a little sad to see the general 'minimum' size for Linux/BSD grow. As a tinkerer and SysAd I enjoy being able to fire up a VMWare session and enjoy a distribution or two, but these days the HDD overhead is just getting crazy.

So I tip my hat to the folks like DSL (Damn Small Linux) and other 'live' distributions on a disk. Keep striving to keep it simple, and small.