Banyan VINES (and it's related cousins StreetTalk for NT and ENS for NetWare/UNIX) was certainly way better than NetWare (even when 4.x came out) and certainly better than the re-packaged OS/2 LAN Manager, Windows NT and Domains.
I started working with VINES in 1989 and even worked at Banyan Systems (now called ePresense and no longer selling actual networking products) and I can safely say that it was the best NOS around. Best direcroty service and best use of a Directory Service, not to mention the excellent protocol (that IP has now pretty much ripped off) VINES-IP.
The sad part about it was that Banyan Systems never did any marketing (well not much anyway), and when they finally woke up, it was too late and Microsoft was already pushing NT with all the FUD cranked way up, and people switched like lemmings.
Operation Desert Storm was fought entirely on a VINES network, and it was totally secure and used a great directory service way ahead of its time.
Pity Banyan Systems gave up on its original dream and sold out to Microsoft, and turned themselves into another down and out consulting outfit.
Out of the two Directory Services left out there, many speculate that one of Banyan System's founders, Jim Alchin, who is now the NT main man at Microsoft, has slowly worked all the good things about VINES and StreetTalk into Active Directory, and so now at least we get to use StreetTalk under its new name "AD".
Novell, I like to say, is slowly becoming Banyanized. It is following the same death-rattle as Banyan did, but just a few years later.
Didn't Novell see that Banyan already tried eDirectory (Banyan called it StreetTalk for NT and ENS for NetWare and ENS for UNIX) and nobody bought it?
Is that a flame I hear coming on...:-)
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Banyan VINES (and it's related cousins StreetTalk for NT and ENS for NetWare/UNIX) was certainly way better than NetWare (even when 4.x came out) and certainly better than the re-packaged OS/2 LAN Manager, Windows NT and Domains. I started working with VINES in 1989 and even worked at Banyan Systems (now called ePresense and no longer selling actual networking products) and I can safely say that it was the best NOS around. Best direcroty service and best use of a Directory Service, not to mention the excellent protocol (that IP has now pretty much ripped off) VINES-IP. The sad part about it was that Banyan Systems never did any marketing (well not much anyway), and when they finally woke up, it was too late and Microsoft was already pushing NT with all the FUD cranked way up, and people switched like lemmings. Operation Desert Storm was fought entirely on a VINES network, and it was totally secure and used a great directory service way ahead of its time. Pity Banyan Systems gave up on its original dream and sold out to Microsoft, and turned themselves into another down and out consulting outfit. Out of the two Directory Services left out there, many speculate that one of Banyan System's founders, Jim Alchin, who is now the NT main man at Microsoft, has slowly worked all the good things about VINES and StreetTalk into Active Directory, and so now at least we get to use StreetTalk under its new name "AD". Novell, I like to say, is slowly becoming Banyanized. It is following the same death-rattle as Banyan did, but just a few years later. Didn't Novell see that Banyan already tried eDirectory (Banyan called it StreetTalk for NT and ENS for NetWare and ENS for UNIX) and nobody bought it? Is that a flame I hear coming on ... :-)