What follows is a copy of a letter I sent to the Editor in Chief of "Windows NT Systems, which they've been sending me at work for awhile. Normally I send it out with the recycling, unread, but today I did look at it. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, but his ignorant biased "editorial" really irritated me. I'm also tired of writers like him, who regurgitate the "party line" from Redmond as if it were fact, instead of what it is....fiction. Fred ______________________________ Nicholas Baran Editor in Chief Windows NT Systems Dear Mr. Baran, I normally "pitch" "Windows NT Systems" when it arrives because we've been planning on throwing NT "out on it's ear," as is being done in so many other places. However, for some unknown reason, I didn't today when I received the May issue. After reading your Editorial and having a good laugh, I decided that a response was indeed needed, even though you more than likely won't publish it. You take the position that just because Oracle and IBM have ported some of their applications to Linux, that it's simply a recompile and therefore shouldn't mean much to the market place at all. As the Editor in Chief of a magazine, no matter how small the circulation, you must be aware that these are only 2 fish in a large pond who have ported their wares to Linux as well, and that is significant. You claim that, "Your choices of graphical user interfaces are the Unix command shell or X-Windows, a primitive windowing system designed more than 15 years ago." First, your ignorance of X-Windows is showing. "X" can be customized by the user to be a very attractive, fast, and functional GUI. Second, there are window managers that load onto "X," like KDE that ships with the SuSE Linux distribution, that make any flavor of 'DOZE look like what you describe for "X!" Further, all of this can be loaded on an "old" '386 that will more than likely out-perform 'DOZE on a '486. KDE in design is so far ahead of anything MickySoft has come up with that even you'd have to "take notice!" Another bogus claim you make is, "Systems administrators are users too, and tools like Microsoft Management Console are of great benefit. The fact is that the Windows interface has improved greatly and makes X-Window a poor substitute." I'm a Systems Admin., my friend, and like a great deal of other Sys. Admins. from one end of the Country to the other, we've dumped NT "like a bad habit," and not just because it's "butt ugly!" Namely, NT is not stable, not even by the stretch of your imagination. "X" is much, much, more functional than NT....period! Further, a user can have a number of "X" terminals up and running at the same time, with windowed apps. running in each one, all in a fraction of the RAM NT would require, and with performance Bill Gates can only dream of! Here again, I prefer KDE, but you wouldn't know about that because you didn't "do your home work" very well. You also said, "The only major office productivity application available on Linux is WordPerfect, which won't get you very far in today's business world." Again, you didn't "do you homework," or you're being a MickySoft apologist. StarOffice puts Office-97 to shame. The Applix office suite is also a fine performer, and the entire Corel Suite will be available before years end....what's your problem? You're concerned about Linux being used as an application server. Really? Most Sys. Admins today have enough brains to know that the most efficient use of software for workstations is loaded locally, not from a server. If that's the way you think people should work, then the only real performance option is to run Linux apps. from X-Terminals. Don't even suggest that NT is capable of serving this function for 'DOZE applications. To do so would prove much more than just ignorance. The only accurate information in your "editorial," is that Linux is more difficult to install than NT, but not my much. I fully expect that installation will become much easier before the end of the year, based on the development being done at SuSE. The SuSE distribution of Linux has replaced NT here in my dept. at Cornell. It is STABLE, FASTER, easier to install, easier to manage, and cost us MUCH less than NT. I will soon replace 'DOZE on some of the workstations as well with SuSE, using the KDE window manager as the GUI. In the future, I'd recommend that you at least do a credible job when reviewing an OS. To have a bias is normal, but to have an agenda is not only obvious, but discredits any valid comments you may make. Sincerely, Fred A. Miller ______________ Disclaimer: Opinions are strictly my own, and may or may not be those of my employer. -- ----/ / _ Fred A. Miller ---/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Systems Administrator --/ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / Cornell Univ. 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