My point was simply that if NT is really that much faster than Linux as a file server and a web server, then there are only two things they could be saying by not running Hotmail exclusively on their own OS:
1) The combination of FreeBSD and Solaris is far superior to both NT and Linux, or
2) NT is superior to FreeBSD, Solaris, and Linux, yet we still won't use it for Hotmail because we promised our mothers we wouldn't.
The first choice would mean an implicit admission that servers should be running FreeBSD and/or Solaris, but not NT or Linux, if they want real speed and performance. This does not sound like something Microsoft would say.
The second choice would mean, well, nothing. It's ridiculous.
Benchmarks, even when they are valid, should not be as important as the ability to achieve real-world results. Maybe it's just me, but I always thought that computers in general were supposed to be used for getting something accomplished as efficiently as possible.
And don't tell me that it was user error which caused Hotmail not to be able to run well on NT, which would mean that MS can't figure out how to use its own flagship OS. That would be pathetic.
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My point was simply that if NT is really that much faster than Linux as a file server and a web server, then there are only two things they could be saying by not running Hotmail exclusively on their own OS:
1) The combination of FreeBSD and Solaris is far superior to both NT and Linux, or
2) NT is superior to FreeBSD, Solaris, and Linux, yet we still won't use it for Hotmail because we promised our mothers we wouldn't.
The first choice would mean an implicit admission that servers should be running FreeBSD and/or Solaris, but not NT or Linux, if they want real speed and performance. This does not sound like something Microsoft would say.
The second choice would mean, well, nothing. It's ridiculous.
Benchmarks, even when they are valid, should not be as important as the ability to achieve real-world results. Maybe it's just me, but I always thought that computers in general were supposed to be used for getting something accomplished as efficiently as possible.
And don't tell me that it was user error which caused Hotmail not to be able to run well on NT, which would mean that MS can't figure out how to use its own flagship OS. That would be pathetic.
So I guess Microsoft should be migrating all of Hotmail's services to NT servers now, right? Well? I'm waiting...
That's what I thought.