FreeBSD allows me to do everything I want to do except use my MIDI keyboard (the only reason I rate it a 9 instead of a perfect 10)

The installation is all text and menu based, very little GUI. Most services are turned off by default and no third party software is installed without your asking for it. This gives you a clean install upon which to base a very efficient OS. The installer, though, doesn't do as much as the 5.2.1 installer did, so you'll have to manually configure Xorg and a few other things to get a desktop system up and running.

Most of the basics needed to install and maintain a system are covered in the FreeBSD handbook. It's this fact that allows such a sparse system to serve even newbies with little unix experience.

The ports/packages system is great, allowing you to compile and install software on your computer with a single command. The downside is that some of the more obscure software that uses Linux specific code may not be easy to install (such as Rosegarden, libieee1284, and a few other strange things).

I upgraded about two weeks after this product came out. I wanted to make sure it was going to be stable enough for me. I use my desktop as my only computer and having this fail was not an option. 5.2.1 had given me some issues with the Nvidia driver and kernel panics so I was a little hesistent.

There was nothing to be concerned about. I haven't had any issues at all with it and am very pleased. The only times I have needed to reboot was after installing some security patches to the kernel.

Which brings me to the benefits of FreeBSD. Extremely easy upgrading from source. Patches are a breeze when you track the source repository. And the package system is awesome. The majority of my programs are up to date almost all the time.

The system is very reliable and easy to learn. I have heard some people have issues with performance on their computers. Oddly all of these people have been using hardware far beyond the capabilities of my current system and I haven't noticed the same thing. I just mention that as a heads up.

Now... I'm about the shutdown this computer for the 6th time since I installed this version. Not because there is any software need to... but this keyboard is dying... (proof that the computer gets a lot of use and doesn't just sit here) and I am going to replace it.