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                    *          DB/C Newsletter          *
                    *           February 2005           *
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                              News and Comments

     The choice of operating system is very important.  Choosing well
will result in happy users and reduced costs.

     For the desktop, most will choose Windows.  Choosing your server
operating system is not that easy.  There are real differences between
Windows Server products and the various UNIX/LINUX options.  There are
pros and cons on both sides of the Windows vs. UNIX decision.  Some of
the complexity of choosing a UNIX or LINUX is to figure out which one to
use.  That's what this month's article is about - which UNIX system to
choose for your server.

                                                     don.wills@dbcsoftware.com

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                                  Which UNIX?

     So you've decided to go with a UNIX or LINUX server for your DB/C DX
based application.  Which UNIX or LINUX should you choose?  There are lots
of choices.  Here is a list of some of the choices:

     LINUX (various distributions for x86, AMD64, Itanium, and PowerPC)
     Solaris (for SPARC and x86)
     AIX (for PowerPC)
     HPUX (for PA-RISC and Itanium)
     Tru64 UNIX (for Alpha and Itanium)
     SCO OpenServer (for x86)
     SCO UNIXWARE (for x86)
     Mac OS X (for PowerPC)
     FreeBSD (x86, AMD64)

     There are various criteria that you might use in making your decision.
Some of your evaluation criteria might be:

     Technical features, capabilities and performance
     Cost of purchase
     Cost of maintenance and support
     Cost/performance ratio
     Availability of third party software and hardware products
     Confidence in vendor
     Future availability of software and/or hardware

     Here are several points to consider.

1. SCO's products might not be a good choice.  The company's primary
   focus today is suing IBM and others, not technical advancement of their
   software products.  The company also recently announced that it faces
   de-listing from the NASDAQ for failure to file certain financial
   statements in a timely manner.

2. HP's PA-RISC chip and Alpha chip are being discontinued, so choosing
   those platforms might not be a good choice.  Printers still provide
   HP with 80% of its profits.  There is a real possibility that future
   leaders of HP will scale back their foray into areas where they
   shouldn't be.

3. IBM is putting a lot of resources into LINUX on the same hardware that
   runs AIX.  One implication is that AIX might not be available in a few
   years.  Another implication is that LINUX is a good choice, regardless
   of hardware platform.  Also, IBM is in the process of selling its
   commodity x86 business (ThinkPads, etc.) to a Chinese company.

4. Sun has tried to keep its SPARC chip competitive, but because of
   vastly smaller numbers, from a price-performance perspective it
   hasn't been able to compete with x86 and PowerPC based computers.
   Solaris on SPARC continues to compete well in the larger systems
   space (8 or more processors per box), but below that level, Sun
   has come to the recognition that it must offer Solaris for other
   chips.
    
5. Mac OS X is technically advanced and runs on the PowerPC architecture.
   Although the press has been focused on Apple's success with its iPod,
   the Apple Xserve G5 and Xserve RAID rack-mounted server products have
   good performance and are very cost competitive.  And many hard-core
   computer techies are now buying Apple Powerbooks for their own use.
   The combination of a rock-solid UNIX operating system, a really good
   graphical interface, and the absence of worms, viruses, etc. is very
   attractive for those who aren't locked into Windows for other reasons.

6. For some, the myriad of LINUX distributions and options is a negative.
   So far, OSDL, IBM, Redhat, Novell and others have been successful in
   keeping the various LINUX distributions binary compatible with each
   other.

     LINUX on x86 would appear to be a good choice for many.  However,
special considerations may bring you to a different conclusion as to what
is the best for your organization.

     If you do choose LINUX, you will still have to decide which LINUX
distribution to use, where to get it, and whether or not you want to pay
RedHat, Novell, IBM or another company for support.  We will look into
these choices in a future newsletter.


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                          DB/C DX Class Schedule

   Class:     DB/C DX Fundamentals
   Date:      May, 2005
   Location:  to be determined

For information, send email to admin@dbcsoftware.com.


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