Right now with the case, everyone involved needs to think of sensible solutions, not knee-jerk ones.
In general terms, it would be an awful precedent to give the government the power to dictate what software companies can do as a whole.
How would such a precedent affect the other software companies such as Sun, for example, and OSS movement?
Now, there are valid points to the case. For example, I would not mind a lowering of the price for software in the consumer arena to more competitive or affordable levels (look at the price for hardware...).
Possible solutions would be to lower the pricing of Windows (for consumers - W9x) and perhaps restructure the pricing for W2K. This is all speculation mind you. One person commented a while ago, that perhaps restructuring or completing removing the client access licenses aspect of Window Servers would a benefit. Another possibility is to have an even price that every OS manufacturer charges to OEMs. That way, everyone has an equal shot at the consumer who calls in to request a machine.
Whatever the decision may be, it needs to be fair to Microsoft and to the industry as a whole. For example, if the option to limit the cost of the OS (taking into account inflation and what not) were to be chosen then no one company can charge higher than a certain amount. Disclaimer: I don't know if even such an idea would work, but the example illustrates my point.
All in all, the decisions and outcomes of the case should benefit all consumers. This includes the mindless masses who want to use the internet to increase the quality of their lives, not just MS-bashers. =P Mob mentality usually means the end for everyone involved.
I don't know why some people become so zealous. Maybe I'm just too passive.;P
What I advocate is to use what's best for the situation at hand. I have both NT 4 and Slackware 4 (2.2.6) running in my home. The NT box is my primary workstation whereas the Slackware box is an ADSL router.
(If you must know, it hasn't bluescreen on me unless I was mucking with the registry or hardware.)
The router is a lowly 486/66 w/20MB RAM and has 400MB harddrive space and is hums along quite nicely. The only complaint I have is that for the box to recognize the second ISA NIC, I had to compile the hex address directly into the kernel. -.- Sure, you say buy better hardware so that passing the address isn't necessary, but Linux is supposed to run great on old hardware. =P Lets just say that compiling on a 486 is just, um, slow. ^_^
So after about a weekend of compiling, configuring, reading how-tos, etc., my router is up and running happily.
Now, if I had NT as the router, then install would have taken less time, but I would have to spend a little more for the hardware. But, it wouldn't have taken the whole weekend, nor would I have to compile the hex address into the kernel (as if I could if I wanted to. =P).
Moral of the story? Time is money saved or money could save you time. YMMV though, so use what's best for the job.
That's what I was told. The one server was performing the following jobs:
* print spooling (eventually printing the jobs to the 3 HP LaserJet 5si printers - the ones that look like xerox machines) * File sharing (individual files and apps that are not stored locally on the W95 client) * Authentication with a Kerberos server upstream * Re-Imaging of the W95 clients (essentially, when a user logs off on the client, an app would query the server to do a comparison of the harddrive image stored on the server with the W95 client harddrive. If they differ, the server would re-image the client drive to match the image on the server. This was done to keep the machines in stable working order.)
This was all done on a dual Pentium II PowerEdge Server from Dell. I don't really remember the specs beyond that, other than the system only had only 2 scsi drives, 2 NICs, and a like 128 or 256 MB of RAM.
What basically happened was that the server would spool an average of 20-30 print jobs, closer to 60+ at peak usage, constantly through the day; several machines would be authenticating; several machines would be re-imaging; and several would be asking for apps off the server. In the end, all of the disk I/O (from the print spooling, imaging) would bring the system to grinding halt. Mind you, there were about 200 workstations hitting this guy.
Eventually, the managers of the lab procured another server to handle printing and let the other server handle everything else.
So, yes, the hardware wasn't up to par for the workload causing the system to crash. From what I recall, the printer spool eating up the harddrive was a major issue.
Frankly, if management insisted on only using one server, I wonder if using a RAID of Cheetah drives would have helped at all. More RAM wouldn't have hurt as well.
Curious, has anyone ever had a Linux box perform a similar job?
Has anyone ever sat down and read the two NT books? The ones I'm referring to are "Inside Windows NT" by Helen Custer and "Inside Windows NT: 2nd Edition" by David Solomon.
The first one is more of a layman's book, but it does describe the goals of the NT team in the beginning whereas the second book is more in depth to the inner workings of NT and things you can prod it with to, I don't know..., make you say, "Hey, that's kinda neat!":)
I have them both and trying to get through both. ^_^; Anyone have any reccomendations for good general Linux books? Thanks in advance!
FeiYen
P.S. I still wonder about those of you who have BSODs with NT. The only time I ever have those is if I'm using non-HCL approved drivers for video or some other peripheral. So what are you guys running in your boxes?
Frankly, I trust AnandTech's reviews more than I do Tom's. Tom's reviews tend to be a little too soapbox'ish for my taste. Whereas Anand and his staff have a happy go lucky, say it like it is approach to testing.
From what I understand from the Microsoft website, WinCE will be used for those games requiring DirectX for either graphics or network play. Sega Rally 2 is an example where WinCE is being used. The Developers for WinCE did a pretty good job considering they were able to shrink the whole WinCE package to less than 1MB, IIRC. Here's a link to the core components of the WinCE package on Dreamcast.
Hihi!:) This is in reference to WindowsNT Workstation, since I have never really used the Server version... Concerning stability of WindowsNT, in my experience, NT has been very stable. The only time where it has been unstable was when my video card was failing causing weird things to happen to the video drivers. Since video is in kernal mode for NT, the instability didn't really surprise me then.;P But, besides that one incident, NT has been very stable. I'm usually known to stress computers by having a lot of apps running at the same time (gotta love those virtual desktops! ^.^ eDesk is my fav!) - just ask my roommate.:) To give you an idea, I have ran Outlook, Word, MSMoney, IE, Kinetix 3D Studio Max R2.5, and PhotoShop 4.0.1 all at the same time without a hitch. All this, in addition to the stuff in the background, but they're mostly idle. My only gripe is that I need more processing power and RAM.:( Apparently a Pentium II 300MHz w/192MB RAM doesn't cut it for me anymore.;P Anyways, just wanted to say that you don't need to knock NT too much. ^.^ Take care!
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Right now with the case, everyone involved needs to think of sensible solutions, not knee-jerk ones.
In general terms, it would be an awful precedent to give the government the power to dictate what software companies can do as a whole.
How would such a precedent affect the other software companies such as Sun, for example, and OSS movement?
Now, there are valid points to the case. For example, I would not mind a lowering of the price for software in the consumer arena to more competitive or affordable levels (look at the price for hardware...).
Possible solutions would be to lower the pricing of Windows (for consumers - W9x) and perhaps restructure the pricing for W2K. This is all speculation mind you. One person commented a while ago, that perhaps restructuring or completing removing the client access licenses aspect of Window Servers would a benefit. Another possibility is to have an even price that every OS manufacturer charges to OEMs. That way, everyone has an equal shot at the consumer who calls in to request a machine.
Whatever the decision may be, it needs to be fair to Microsoft and to the industry as a whole. For example, if the option to limit the cost of the OS (taking into account inflation and what not) were to be chosen then no one company can charge higher than a certain amount. Disclaimer: I don't know if even such an idea would work, but the example illustrates my point.
All in all, the decisions and outcomes of the case should benefit all consumers . This includes the mindless masses who want to use the internet to increase the quality of their lives, not just MS-bashers. =P Mob mentality usually means the end for everyone involved.
Just my 2 bits...
Tata!
FeiYen
I don't know why some people become so zealous. Maybe I'm just too passive. ;P
What I advocate is to use what's best for the situation at hand. I have both NT 4 and Slackware 4 (2.2.6) running in my home. The NT box is my primary workstation whereas the Slackware box is an ADSL router.
(If you must know, it hasn't bluescreen on me unless I was mucking with the registry or hardware.)
The router is a lowly 486/66 w/20MB RAM and has 400MB harddrive space and is hums along quite nicely. The only complaint I have is that for the box to recognize the second ISA NIC, I had to compile the hex address directly into the kernel. -.- Sure, you say buy better hardware so that passing the address isn't necessary, but Linux is supposed to run great on old hardware. =P Lets just say that compiling on a 486 is just, um, slow. ^_^
So after about a weekend of compiling, configuring, reading how-tos, etc., my router is up and running happily.
Now, if I had NT as the router, then install would have taken less time, but I would have to spend a little more for the hardware. But, it wouldn't have taken the whole weekend, nor would I have to compile the hex address into the kernel (as if I could if I wanted to. =P).
Moral of the story? Time is money saved or money could save you time. YMMV though, so use what's best for the job.
FeiYen
That's what I was told. The one server was performing the following jobs:
* print spooling (eventually printing the jobs to the 3 HP LaserJet 5si printers - the ones that look like xerox machines)
* File sharing (individual files and apps that are not stored locally on the W95 client)
* Authentication with a Kerberos server upstream
* Re-Imaging of the W95 clients (essentially, when a user logs off on the client, an app would query the server to do a comparison of the harddrive image stored on the server with the W95 client harddrive. If they differ, the server would re-image the client drive to match the image on the server. This was done to keep the machines in stable working order.)
This was all done on a dual Pentium II PowerEdge Server from Dell. I don't really remember the specs beyond that, other than the system only had only 2 scsi drives, 2 NICs, and a like 128 or 256 MB of RAM.
What basically happened was that the server would spool an average of 20-30 print jobs, closer to 60+ at peak usage, constantly through the day; several machines would be authenticating; several machines would be re-imaging; and several would be asking for apps off the server. In the end, all of the disk I/O (from the print spooling, imaging) would bring the system to grinding halt. Mind you, there were about 200 workstations hitting this guy.
Eventually, the managers of the lab procured another server to handle printing and let the other server handle everything else.
So, yes, the hardware wasn't up to par for the workload causing the system to crash. From what I recall, the printer spool eating up the harddrive was a major issue.
Frankly, if management insisted on only using one server, I wonder if using a RAID of Cheetah drives would have helped at all. More RAM wouldn't have hurt as well.
Curious, has anyone ever had a Linux box perform a similar job?
FeiYen
For the un-informed, non-approved drivers are drivers that have not passed the MS Hardware Compatibility Labs tests.
Since video is taken into kernel space under NT, bad video drivers can bring the system down, hence the question about the drivers.
The three programs listed, should not bring a properly configured NT system down unless the user load out paces the hardware being used.
I remember one setup at my school where the hardware couldn't keep up with the load.
FeiYen
Yes, I bought both because the 2nd Edition had more excercises/experiments with NT that you can try out.
I like both. =)
FeiYen
So pray tell, how would _you_ respond if you were to meet up with Mr. Torvalds in a coffee shop?
Wouldn't you even be in awe for a split second? Or would you just ignore your opportunity to thank the man behind the kernel?
Ta ta for now,
FeiYen
"Judge not others, lest you be judged."
Has anyone ever sat down and read the two NT books? The ones I'm referring to are "Inside Windows NT" by Helen Custer and "Inside Windows NT: 2nd Edition" by David Solomon.
:)
The first one is more of a layman's book, but it does describe the goals of the NT team in the beginning whereas the second book is more in depth to the inner workings of NT and things you can prod it with to, I don't know..., make you say, "Hey, that's kinda neat!"
I have them both and trying to get through both. ^_^; Anyone have any reccomendations for good general Linux books? Thanks in advance!
FeiYen
P.S. I still wonder about those of you who have BSODs with NT. The only time I ever have those is if I'm using non-HCL approved drivers for video or some other peripheral. So what are you guys running in your boxes?
Frankly, I trust AnandTech's reviews more than I do Tom's. Tom's reviews tend to be a little too soapbox'ish for my taste. Whereas Anand and his staff have a happy go lucky, say it like it is approach to testing.
Just my 2yen.
FeiYen
From what I understand from the Microsoft website, WinCE will be used for those games requiring DirectX for either graphics or network play. Sega Rally 2 is an example where WinCE is being used. The Developers for WinCE did a pretty good job considering they were able to shrink the whole WinCE package to less than 1MB, IIRC. Here's a link to the core components of the WinCE package on Dreamcast.
Hihi! :) This is in reference to WindowsNT Workstation, since I have never really used the Server version... Concerning stability of WindowsNT, in my experience, NT has been very stable. The only time where it has been unstable was when my video card was failing causing weird things to happen to the video drivers. Since video is in kernal mode for NT, the instability didn't really surprise me then. ;P But, besides that one incident, NT has been very stable. I'm usually known to stress computers by having a lot of apps running at the same time (gotta love those virtual desktops! ^.^ eDesk is my fav!) - just ask my roommate. :) To give you an idea, I have ran Outlook, Word, MSMoney, IE, Kinetix 3D Studio Max R2.5, and PhotoShop 4.0.1 all at the same time without a hitch. All this, in addition to the stuff in the background, but they're mostly idle. My only gripe is that I need more processing power and RAM. :( Apparently a Pentium II 300MHz w/192MB RAM doesn't cut it for me anymore. ;P Anyways, just wanted to say that you don't need to knock NT too much. ^.^ Take care!