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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.netspace.net.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.new-york.net!news.way.com!usenet From: "Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed, et. al." <ismaeel@gcsnet.com> Newsgroups: comp.unix.sco.misc,comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc Subject: Re: which Unix to choose? Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 17:54:18 -0500 Organization: JCBM - Java crazed brilliant minds Lines: 35 Message-ID: <327FC59A.6E48@gcsnet.com> References: <327F5727.179F@citynet.net> Reply-To: ismaeel@gcsnet.com NNTP-Posting-Host: port04.gcsnet.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; U) To: wwwplan@citynet.net Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.sco.misc:28572 comp.unix.misc:26081 comp.unix.questions:90567 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:30683 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:4816 I've been very happy with Solaris, now at release 2.5.1. I've had previous experience with SVr4 from Unisys (on a U6065), but sorely regretted it. I needed support for NFS, NIS and pcnfsd, which Unisys never got working right. (I used them because, with NCR, they were the first to port SVr4 to the Intel x86 platform). Since then I have used exclusively SUN software (and hardware for that matter for sparc machines). I also insist on maintaining Silver tier maintenance on software, so I get automatic patches and upgrade releases. The determining factor is, what aspect of Unix is critical to your use? If it is products and protocols pioneered by SUN, I suggest that that fact carry significant weight in your decision. If, on the other hand, all you need is a terminal server for VT100 access with unix login authentication and file permissions, just about any unix variant will do. Another issue is software availablility. When I look for cutting edge software products, what I find is that the initial implementation targets a SUN/Solaris platform. A particular case that comes to mind is the early releases of Object Design's ObjectStore OODBMS. If you survey software companies that are not in marketing partnerships with Microsoft and IBM, I believe that you will find that this Solaris precedence is generally the case. In terms of inexpensive and free, there's alot to be said about free stuff. There's also alot to be said about the accountability a vendor has when you pay for the product, and pay for support. In my mission critical situation, I sleep alot easier knowing I have the entire SUN organization behind me. So what is the value of that sense of security? Well, that's my vote. - ismaeel@gcsnet.com