> I continually say that solaris & opensolaris are designed to be servers, not > desktops. I'd like > to go into the reasons why, and see what other opinions people have about > this.
Your'e way off. >The characteristics that I think make up servers: > > Servers are always on. > Nope. One of the most recent additions to servers is to put them into sleep mode when they're not needed. This, mostly at night when the utilisation is near-to-none. The server may then be awoken on demand when needed. > Servers don't need power management; they never sleep. > Wrong again - both do they sleep, and more so do they spin down idle drives, spin down fans when not needed and lower the CPU frequency when idling. Servers utilise power management _more_ than desktops do, and it also _matters_ more to have it in order on the server side, since it actually does cost a lot of money to have machines running full blast 24/7 when they don't need to. > Servers are used remotely for the most part. > Huh ? I'm not sure what meaning your'e putting into the word "remotely" here, but it's true that servers very rarely exist to serve only themselves. The observation however is really far-fetched. Much like saying that sliding a knife across your finger will leave you with a cut in your finger - pointless and obvious. > The characteristics that I think make up desktops: > > Desktops have features which enhance process management and task switching. > No they don't, and that you actually made this statement shows how little you actually know about the specifics of either one. The kernels of Windows and Windows Server are very similar. Windows Server however has better process management since it's licensed (and built) for larger systems (memory and processor-wise). Mac OS X uses the same kernel for the desktop and workstation. Apple's exception is a different AFP server that goes into each one (the client gets a very limited AFP server). Linux uses the same kernel for desktops and servers. HPUX uses the same kernel for desktops and servers. Digital (while it lasted) used the same kernel for the desktops and servers. And Solaris uses the same kernel for desktops and servers. There's absolutely NO difference (with the sole exception of Windows/Windows Server and the Mac OS AFP server) between server kernels and desktop kernels. And if you didn't know already, the process management is part of the kernel, not a user-space task. > Desktops can easily run and be compatible with random web apps, like dropbox, > skype, flash, silverlight, etc. > This observation is equally thin... Any *machine* that can run moonlight or adobe flash or java can run any of the apps you listed and much more. Wether there are native (non-web) clients has absolutely nothing to do with wether the machine is percieved as a client or server. > Desktops are expected to wake and sleep on a regular basis. > So are servers that utilise sleep&WOD (duh!) > Desktops do your audio/video > And so do my servers. If I need to encode/transcode a movie, I'd rather distribute the job over N machines (regardless wether they're servers or clients) and get my result in a jiffy than sit on my "Oooh-it's-a-desktop!!!!!1!1!!one!!" and finish my job late. Any machine with a soundcard can play audio and any machine which MPlayer or VLC compiles on can play (most) videos. > Desktops need to connect with printers regularly. > Ok, doubleDUH! ANY machine may need to connect *TO* printers (not *with* them, unless your printers are physical persons having a relationship with the computers) Depending on your environment, you may have: SOHO: all machines may need to connect to a printer MEDIUM: machines may connect directly to printers, or, the printer may be connected to a server and all machines print through the server (very much used when you need print accounting) ENTERPRISE: pick any method available and you can be certain that it's being used. > Desktops have external peripherals connected regularly - usb drives, cameras, > webcmas, headphones/headset, etc. > So do servers - external hard drives, external CD/DVD drives, tape drives, flash drives, USB diskette drives, keyboards, mice, displays, etc, etc.. What's connected to a *machine* has nothing to do with wether it's labelled a desktop or server. The usage-area of the machine has all to do with it. > Desktops will run your web browsers, office apps, pdf viewers, etc. Mail > clients, etc. > No they won't - not if you go the way of "Web2.0" (sic). If you can run a browser, then all the rest is run on the server. Your browser is nothing more than a glorified terminal. If however you are talking about native GUI apps, then feel free to go bang your head on any Linux server, Windows server, Digital UNIX server or (Open)Solaris X86 server, for all of them do equally well in desktop mode as in server mode. > Desktops will roam from network to network. You need to do wifi well. You > need to do network security/firewall well. > No, they won't neccessarily roam. My work desktop is very much stationary. And it doesn't do WIFI at all since we DO want secure communications. As for security and firewalls, you want that done correctly on servers more so. > So now, the reasons why I think solaris/opensolaris are well suited to be > servers and not so much as desktops: > gnome etc, the gui of opensolaris is no better at task switching and > application management than windows XP was. This is obsolete compared to > aero, aqua, or compiz. (win7, osx, and ubuntu) These other OSes offer gui's > which are much more powerful and flexible in terms of application management > and task switching. > This comment shows what I stated, how little you really know about this. Window manages don't do task switching. Window managers themselves are applications that adhere to the same rules as all other applications in the system. The GNOME window manager is the same GNOME window manager as that which Ubuntu uses. *EXACTLY* the same. And you *CAN* install Compiz on OpenSolaris. I did so on my laptop (a 5 year old Toshiba with a GeForce Go graphics card) and it worked just fine. What you are apparently after is useless CPU-wasting sugar-candy, and your'e classifying the OS's depending on the sugar-rush they can supply. This is completely daft. > The application availability on sol/osol is not as good as win/mac/linux. For > example: Dropbox and skype are both available win/mac/linux. No solaris. > Flash is available win/mac/linux/solaris. Silverlight is available win/mac. > No linux or solaris. Bittorrent: win/mac/linux. > I'm not going to take these by the numbers, since what your'e essentially doing is complaining about a non-issue. A revese-logic statement would be that Mac OS X and Windows are crappy since they don't provide ZFS, nor do they provide means to virtualise the machine by default in a way that doesn't waste resources, neither do they offer the fine-granular resource management of Solaris. And as for SilverLight, learn to help yourself and use MoonLight - works ANYWHERE. Bittorrent clients are available for ALL platforms (except the iPhone/iPad). Solaris included. Hell.. it was probably DEVELOPED on Solaris... and the whine goes on. You havn't made a SINGLE point that was actually worth following up on. Not ONE correct (not even by attribution) point. You have actually not only wasted MY time (reading and replying), everybody elses time (wasted on reading this thread) but also your OWN time in writing this nonsense. If you truly believe what you have written here, you have a _lot_ of studying to do. I recommend that you start with an Operating Systems class, preferrably where "Operating System Concepts" by Silberchatz et al is taught. Then maybe a class or two in computer graphics and graphical environments to get an understanding of the divide between the GUI and the OS. Then, a few nerdy security classes, systems management and scaling - all classes like that may do good. My conclusion is that either you truly know your stuff and your'e trolling the list for the heck of it, or, what's more likely, your urge to communicate your opinion is stronger than the substance you have to communicate. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
