Oh my god this lady should be running a pet shop. She's had this role since 2005 and is only now dogfooding the software for 10 minutes a day? Stunning and brave.

Imagine Linus Torvalds or Theo from OpenBSD using Windows out of convenience. Unthinkable.

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ndiddy 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There was a bit of a controversy a few years ago when people realized that the head of the Linux Foundation was using Mac OS to give a presentation at a conference (especially ironic considering the presentation was about using Linux on the desktop). If the FreeBSD Foundation is similar to the Linux Foundation (which seems to be the case from looking at their site), it's mainly intended as a vehicle so large companies can fund aspects of the system they want developed rather than an ideologically driven organization like the FSF. From that perspective, an executive actually trying to run FreeBSD is a nice thing to see. It's been a running joke for years that when you look at a FreeBSD conference you'll see all the developers running it in a VM on their MacBooks, so if they're treating bare metal as more of a priority I think it's a positive development.

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stefan_ 2 hours ago | parent [-]

If only the Linux Foundation was primarily funding development of Linux, it's hard to describe what it is they are doing exactly, but it's a bit like a social club for Middle Managers and other insignificant people, building ecosystems^TM, connections and synergies^TM, and of course the Linux brand. Starting initiatives and such.

Gaze upon a premier Linux Foundation project:

https://www.canton.network/global-synchronizer

	▲	dgellow an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Thanks for pointing that out, I had no idea the Linux foundation was in the blockchain grift. Case studies like this one is such a bad look: https://www.lfdecentralizedtrust.org/case-studies/establishi... Like, seriously, try to read this page content and understand what it is about.

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sedatk 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption 2, Borderlands, NBA2K) doesn't play any games.

https://fortune.com/2026/05/06/ceo-take-two-interactive-soft...

	▲	SoftTalker 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The CEOs of big US tech companies don't let their kids use screens (or curate it to a high degree).
	▲	readthenotes1 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		He looks like he plays a lot of golf

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thayne 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's possible she used it on a server. But yeah...

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866-RON-0-FEZ 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I knew people running FreeBSD on the desktop back in 2003. If it was good enough for them then... Could they not scrounge up enough cash for a Thinkpad in the last 20 years?

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type0 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I tried FreeBSD on tower pc in 2003, it's not that it was completely unusable it but compared to Linux it was like night and day. Now it's still not perfect, more like midnight and evening.

	▲	Milpotel an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I ran it on my desktop at that time and only had to switch to Linux because FreeBSD 5.0 wasn't compatible with my machine anymore.
	▲	TallGuyShort 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I used FreeBSD on a laptop 2008-2010 and it was usable, other than needing a USB Wifi adapter. Definitely not as usable as Linux, but I was able to do 18 credit hours per semester. Quite a lot more than 10 minutes a day. Notably, you and I aren't FreeBSD Foundation Executive Directors.
	▲	3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

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mvanbaak 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

this. I have been running FreeBSD for over a decade, but not on my laptop.

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phendrenad2 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Really setting the bar low there aintcha? If Torvald's Linux use is the benchmark then we're doomed. Aren't there ample quotes from him by now where he basically says he only cares about coding and doesn't have strong opinions about GUIs? Is Theo any better in that aspect?

	▲	gus_massa 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		IIRC, he cares about not breaking userspace, because he is runing the bleeding edge in his main computer and any bacward incompatible change breaks linusspace.

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stackghost 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not to interrupt the predictable HN hates women train but

>she noted in the past every time she tried running FreeBSD on laptops [...]

It's very explicit that she has in fact tried this in the past. She's not some diversity hire, either. She's a former embedded firmware developer at IBM, IIRC.

Have you ever tried running FreeBSD on a laptop? I have. Unless you're using it plugged in at all times and never take it anywhere it has not historically been a very pleasant experience, hence this recent push to bring it into parity with Linux from the 2010s.

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grosswait 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think you’re the one focusing on gender.

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mbreese 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Do you still need to run a Linux VM to get WiFi working? The last time I tried FreeBSD on a laptop, that was a thing. It’s just never been all that focused on laptop/mobile use. I’ve used it as a desktop (okay) and as a server (wonderful). But laptop/daily driver use has just never been a focus. Especially if you are running on a battery or wifi - it’s certainly usable as a desktop/workstation with Ethernet.

I don’t entirely fault FreeBSD for this either - it’s not where they see their niche. So, when you have comparatively limited engineering resources, they shouldn’t be wasting them on areas where their users don’t need them. I personally think that dogfooding your own OS makes for a better OS, but there are already decent laptop OS options.

Focusing on server deployments that don’t need much in terms of graphics or consumer wifi chip support isn’t that big of deal to me.

	▲	866-RON-0-FEZ 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> when you have comparatively limited engineering resources, they shouldn’t be wasting them on areas where their users don’t need them Or they could support one laptop well, and the CEO uses that and not a sexy MacBook because it looks cool.
	▲	SoftTalker 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[dead]

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866-RON-0-FEZ 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Not to interrupt the predictable HN hates women train but

Oh rubbish.

When you're the head of something, you're paid to use their products if not for anything but image purposes.

Do you think the head of GM drives around in a Mustang?

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cperciva 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

the head of something

Note that "FreeBSD Foundation" != "FreeBSD Project".

Obviously they're connected, but the FreeBSD Foundation supports the FreeBSD Project; they don't direct it. Governance of the FreeBSD Project vests in the FreeBSD core team, which is elected by FreeBSD developers; and as a FreeBSD developer I'm far more concerned with what OS members of the core team run than I am with what OS members of the Foundation run.

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28304283409234 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why? Where is this written? Which law is this? Also: should they use 'their products' on every single piece of hardware they own?

This is like that old argument that you can't wear leather belts "if you really are a vegetarian". Ugh.

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__s 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

CEO of Ford drives around in a Xiaomi SU7

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jen20 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The CEO of Ford has been driving a Chinese EV for some time now. Knowing what the competition are doing is pretty critical.

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stackghost 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>Oh rubbish.

Nah, it's not rubbish. The comments on just about any article featuring a woman in a tech leadership position are always the same here.

>When you're the head of something, you're paid to use their products if not for anything but image purposes.

Again you conveniently leave out the "on a laptop" qualifier.

10 minutes a day is about all I could tolerate of BSD on a laptop too.

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866-RON-0-FEZ 3 hours ago | parent [-]

> Again you conveniently leave out the "on a laptop" qualifier.

If your hangup really is "Unless you're using it plugged in at all times" well, she is the Executive Director.

I'm sure they can pay an intern to follow her around at all times with a really long extension cord.

	▲	stackghost 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		No I'm saying that concluding that she doesn't use FreeBSD simply because she doesn't use it on a laptop, especially considering how poor the laptop experience is, is stupid. I have three machines in my basement running freeBSD right now, and if I was the director of the foundation I wouldn't daily drive it on a laptop either.