On Tue, Feb 16, 1999 at 09:34:48AM -0800, Jack Killpatrick wrote:
> > That's too bad. NT is not suitable for robust, secure, scalable,
> > efficient, portable, standards-compliant Internet services.
>
> How do you define "portable"?
"portable" means that the service (and therefore its underlying OS) will
run on many different hardware platforms, preferably including SIMD
and MIMD architectures. Unix has been successfully run on everything
from Z-80 8-bit microprocessors to Cray X-MP supercomputers. NT runs
on a handful of machines and is only supported on two. Unix has been
available in multiprocessor implementations for 18 years, MIMD for 12.
NT is still trying to get off the ground.
> Why do you say that NT doesn't allow you to
> build a "standards-compliant" service?
Because the widespread braindamage which pervades the OS and the supporting
applications comes in numerous forms, one of which is failure to comply
fully with numerous Internet standards (as articulated by RFC). And given
that the source code to the OS and the applications is not available, it's
not possible to go in and fix either to achieve compliance.
This shouldn't be any surprise to anyone, for two reasons: first, Microsoft
has a long history of deliberate noncompliance with Internet standards as
part of their attempt to coerce the 'net to do it their way. And second,
no Internet standard has ever originated from Microsoft: nearly all of the
modern ones, like NNTP, HTML, HTTP, WAIS, VRML, IRC, NFS, SNMP, LDAP, MIME,
and PGP etc. have been developed and refined on Unix. Given that they're
consistently struggling to play catch-up, it's no wonder that they get
some of it wrong even if they're trying to get it right.
Frankly, this entire discussion astonishes me. I find it difficult to
believe that anyone who has been paying attention to technical information
sources (e.g. mailing lists like inet-access, web sites like slashdot)
would not be aware of what seems to me to be blindingly obvious: NT is dead.
Only the continued hype from Redmond and its supporters and loyalists
is keeping it from falling over in a heap.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
____________________________________________________________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Join The NEW Web Consultants Association FORUMS and CHAT:
Register Today at: http://just4u.com/forums/
Web Consultants Web Site : http://just4u.com/webconsultants
Give the Gift of Life This Year...
Just4U Stop Smoking Support forum - helping smokers for
over three years-tell a friend: http://just4u.com/forums/
To get 500 Banner Ads for FREE
go to http://www.linkbuddies.com/start.go?id=111261
---------------------------------------------------------------------
