Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 09:10:54 -0700 From: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@HeadCandy.com> To: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu Cc: Domingo Siliceo <dsiliceo@adam.es>, freebsd-current@freebsd.org, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Opinions? Message-ID: <199607171610.JAA05923@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of Tue, 16 Jul 96 23:45:19 -0700. <Pine.BSI.3.94.960716234040.406G-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu>
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><soapbox>
>I'm still trying to understand why people think they have to run NT.
>There are other options, like FreeBSD and OS/2. A lot cheaper and not
>made by Microsoft.
></soapbox>
Because NT is a very solid server OS. It is tightly integrated with
the most popular application server software, Microsoft BackOffice.
It is *the* most stable OS I have run. It scales well across multiple
CPUs, and has a very solid multi-processor and multi-threaded kernel.
NT 4.0 will have not only dynamically scheduled threads, but user-
scheduled threads called fibers (that are like Sun LWPs). It runs on
Intel, MIPS, DEC Alpha and PowerPC architectures. It is a lot easier
to administer than a Unix box. It is more secure than OS/2 (certified
C2). It runs on more hardware than OS/2 (it runs on the PowerPC chip
-- an IBM processor -- that OS/2 won't even run on). It scales higher
than OS/2. It has a more flexible, more stable, more secure
filesystem than OS/2 (NTFS vs. HPFS). NT will run Windows 95
software. It has OpenGL 3D rendering libraries built in. It comes
bundled with a very capable web browser. It comes bundled with a
decent web server. It comes bundled with complete networking,
including multi-protocol routing. NT 4.0 will come with
Point-To-Point tunneling protocol. NT 4.0 will come with a very cool
and solid CERN-compatible caching firewall and proxy server. I could
go on, but this could get monotonous.... NT is not Windows 95.
You asked.
Sure, *I* love Unix the best, and I'll be running a version of BSD
until they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers. But it's pretty
unrealistic to expect someone who's main job is to run a business, to
learn all the quirkiness of Unix. NT and OS/2 are just better
solutions than Unix for many of these people. And NT is a better
server product in so many ways than OS/2. Plus, NT is a better
business "workstation" OS than Unix because of all the business
applications it runs.
I don't understand why people want to shoot themselves in the foot,
just because they have some religious problem with Microsoft. If
Microsoft makes the best keyboard, and you choose something worse with
a mushy feel or a wrist-crippling legacy design, just because you
can't look at the logo, your loss. If Microsoft makes the best
software product for a certain use, and you insist on using something
inferior just because you just because it says Microsoft on the box,
your loss. What's more, I don't see why people think IBM is so much
better than Microsoft. If you're against big, market-dominating
companies, you might be surprised to learn that IBM is more than five
times the size of Microsoft, by the number of employees. Just because
their marketing sucks doesn't mean they have any less of a desire to
foist their own agenda on the industry. Just look who gave us the
crappy PC architecture to begin with.
Sure, DOS sucks. Sure, Win16 was a model of mediocrity. Sure,
Microsoft doesn't make everything the best. Sure there are many other
alternatives to several of their products out there. But,
specifically, OS/2 vs. NT, OS/2 has already lost the war. And that
keyboard debate: buy what you want; I want the keyboard that is going
to give me the most comfortable touch-typing feel, and by coincidence,
it also happens to have a Microsoft logo on it.
This is clearly outside the focus for freebsd-current. Please direct
followups to freebsd-chat, and/or private mail.
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Michael L. VanLoon michaelv@HeadCandy.com
--< Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x >--
NetBSD working ports: 386+PC, Mac 68k, Amiga, Atari 68k, HP300, Sun3,
Sun4/4c/4m, DEC MIPS, DEC Alpha, PC532, VAX, MVME68k, arm32...
NetBSD ports in progress: PICA, others...
Roll your own Internet access -- Seattle People's Internet cooperative.
If you're in the Seattle area, ask me how.
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