On 13 Nov 2001, Ben Rosenberg wrote:
Install XP and see monolithic ;)
You don't need to install all of what the little default check box says is default. I am pretty sure if your not that familiar with Linux then you wouldn't need things like Sendmail and many other things which are default. Doing a custom install and reading the discriptions of the packages is a pretty easy thing to do. I have been doing it for years. I started out with Linux around 1995 .. it was a bit more difficult then.
This comment is directed toward the general public, not you specifically Ben. :) Comparing a DOS-based Windows (e.g. Windows 98) to virtually any Linux distro is not much of a comparison. Linux distributions never come with software from a single author or single vendor: the GNU tools were developed over a period of _many_ years. Take a look at the feature set of something like Sendmail and Apache and the differences between these tools and Microsoft ones is very apparent. The Linux ones are free, and the Microsoft ones are shoddy at best. Take a look at a few Windows XP reviews. That's why 3rd party vendors (e.g. Symantec, Powerquest, etc.) are not worried that MS keeps adding features to Windows. The default "firewall" that comes with WIndows XP Home is pure shit. All you can do is basically block ports. Now read the man page for iptables (there's even two friggin ways to reject packets!). The comparison is clear: Linux has more, better, and cheaper server oriented programs than anything MS offers. Doesn't take much to realize why so many companies are switching to Linux instead of Microsoft (e.g. Amazon.com, weather.com, etc.). For Christ's sake, even Samba is a better file server than Windows 2000: lower response time and higher throughput. (Source: PC Magazine benchmarks) -- Karol Pietrzak PGP KeyID: 3A1446A0