On Nov 8, 2010, at 6:09 PM, Dan wrote:
At 12:08 AM +0000 11/9/2010, Wallace Adrian D'Alessio wrote:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/apple-xserve-is-gone-is-os-x-server-next/4321
No. The world is not about to change due to this.
I don't agree with that article's off-the-wall speculation that Mac
OS X Server is on the chopping block. After all, aside from Apple
providing dumbed-down interfaces, the real difference between the
two OS releases is basically added open-source stuff.
If it's just the open source parts we're talking about, you can
install those yourself, either on stock Mac OS X or any other Unix
system. Apple's GUI front ends are essentially an application suite,
and they could be packaged as such instead of bundled as a separate
operating system.
As far as Apple's killing the XServe hardware, well, that's pretty
much the nail in the coffin wrt to keeping Macs in many businesses.
The trust is waning fast.
The business model of branded product as status symbol doesn't apply
to businesses. Sure, they might advertise using only Acme-certified,
dolphin-safe, home-grown organic widgets if that's what they already
use, but they're not going to pay extra just so they can make that
claim. Likewise, a business isn't going to pride itself on using
Apple-branded systems -- they tend to use the cheapest thing that works.
Frankly, if you have a rack of servers, what are you doing running on
each one a window server, much less a compositing window server? You
can get better performance running a stripped-down OS like Linux or
BSD, as well as much better value (since the hardware is cheaper and
the OS is free). And if you need just one OS X server, then using a
tower instead will have minimal impact, assuming you even had a rack
in the first place.
Apple's "recommendation" of using Mac Mini or Mac Pro are ok if you
just need a one-off server for a small business and don't care about
serious hardware/server features.
Agreed.
But for anything else, especially the enterprise? It's insulting!
Replacing a 1U blade with a 6U that has NO hardware server features
- no monitoring, no redundant power supply, and no hot swappable
anything ???!!! That just doesn't even come close to cutting it.
So, the only thing that cuts it is a blade? :-) Then use blades.
Run an open-source server OS and hire some decent server admins who
don't need GUI crutches. Or commission the development of some nice
administration tools.
I saw today that Jobs gave one his crapo terse email replies, to the
effect that the XServe just wasn't selling well.
That's a risk that you have to manage. If you rely on non-
commoditized products, you're liable to have the rug pulled out from
under you. You can't blame Apple for cutting their losses.
Dude, you got a Dell!
I do have a Dell, running Debian GNU/Linux. With a free OS, the logo
on the box becomes unimportant.
My clients are budgeted to upgrade their grids in 7 or 8 months.
Since there will be no Mac hardware appropriate... we're now
starting the conversion off Mac OS X to FreeBSD, so we'll be able to
switch to non-Mac blades easily.
Sounds like a happy ending to me. :-)
Looks like Dell is working with ARM; good potential there for some
multi-core Cortex based blades! The new ARM processors will
reportedly do 40-bit addressing too. Or maybe we'll go POWER. I
donno; haven't really started looking yet.
Uncertainty is normal for the recently emancipated. ;-)
Josh
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