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I got it from M$ site. Ha-ha-ha. Half-trillion empire tries to prove that they
could do something compared with product of a bunch of unpaid nerds...
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Linux Myths
Posted: October 4, 1999
With all the recent attention around Linux as an operating system, it's
important to step back from the hype and look at the
reality. First, it's worth noting that Linux is a UNIX-like operating system.
Linux fundamentally relies on 30-year-old operating
system technology and architecture. Linux was not designed from the ground-up to
support symmetrical multiprocessing
(SMP), graphical user interfaces (GUI), asynchronous I/O, fine-grained security
model, and many other important
characteristics of a modern operating system. These architectural limitations
mean that as customers look for a platform to
cost effectively deploy scalable, secure, and robust applications, Linux simply
cannot deliver on the hype.
Myth: Linux performs better than Windows NT
Reality: Windows NT 4.0 Outperforms Linux On Common Customer Workloads
The Linux community claims to have improved performance and scalability in the
latest versions of the Linux Kernel (2.2),
however it's clear that Linux remains inferior to the Windows NT╝ 4.0 operating
system.
For File and Print services, according to independent tests conducted by
PC Week Labs, the Windows NT 4.0
operating system delivers 52 percent better performance on a single
processor system and 110 percent better
performance on a 4-way system than similarly configured single processor
and 4-way Linux/SAMBA systems.
For Web servers, the same PC Week tests showed Windows NT 4.0 with
Internet Information Server 4.0 delivers 41
percent better performance on a single processor system and 125 percent
better performance on a 4-way system
than Linux and Apache.
For e-commerce workloads using secure sockets (SSL), recent PC Magazine
tests showed Windows NT 4.0 with
Internet Information Server 4.0 delivers approximately five times the
performance provided by Linux and Stronghold.
For transaction-orientated Line of Business applications, Windows NT 4.0
has achieved a result of 40,368 tpmC at
a cost of $18.46 per transaction on a Compaq 8-Way Pentium III XEON
processor-based system. This industry
leading price/performance result from the Transaction Processing
Performance Council (TPC) clearly shows how
Windows NT can deliver world-class performance for heavy duty transaction
processing. It's interesting to note that
there is not a single TPC result on any database running on Linux, and
therefore Linux has yet to demonstrate their
capabilities as a database server.
Linux performance and scalability is architecturally limited in the 2.2
Kernel. Linux only supports 2 gigabytes (GB) of
RAM on the x86 architecture,1 compared to 4 GB for Windows NT 4.0. The
largest file size Linux supports is 2 GB
versus 16 terabytes (TB) for Windows NT 4.0. The Linux SWAP file is
limited to 128 MB. In addition, Linux does not
support many of the modern operating system features that Windows NT 4.0
has pioneered such as asynchronous
I/O, completion ports, and fine-grained kernel locks. These architecture
constraints limit the ability of Linux to scale
well past two processors.
The Linux community continues to promise major SMP and performance
improvements. They have been
promising these since the development of the 2.0 Kernel in 1996.
Delivering a scalable system is a complex task
and it's not clear that the Linux community can solve these issues easily
or quickly. As D. H. Brown Associates
noted in a recent technical report,2 the Linux 2.2 Kernel remains in the
early stages of providing a tuned SMP
kernel.
Myth: Linux is more reliable than Windows NT
Reality: Linux Needs Real World Proof Points Rather than Anecdotal Stories
The Linux community likes to talk about Linux as a stable and reliable operating
system, yet there are no real world data or
metrics and very limited customer evidence to back up these claims.
Windows NT 4.0 has been proven in demanding customer environments to be a
reliable operating system.
Customers such as Barnes and Noble, The Boeing Company, Chicago Stock
Exchange, Dell Computer, Nasdaq
and many others run mission-critical applications on Windows NT 4.0.
Linux lacks a commercial quality Journaling File System. This means that
in the event of a system failure (such as
a power outage) data loss or corruption is possible. In any event, the
system must check the integrity of the file
system during system restart, a process that will likely consume an
extended amount of time, especially on large
volumes and may require manual intervention to reconstruct the file
system.
There are no commercially proven clustering technologies to provide High
Availability for Linux. The Linux
community may point to numerous projects and small companies that are
aiming to deliver High Availability
functionality. D. H. Brown recently noted that these offerings remain
immature and largely unproven in the
demanding business world.
There are no OEMs that provide uptime guarantees for Linux, unlike Windows
NT where Compaq, Data General,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Unisys provide 99.9 percent system-level uptime
guarantees for Windows NT-based
servers.
Myth: Linux is Free
Reality: Free Operating System Does Not Mean Low Total Cost of Ownership
The Linux community will talk about the free or low-cost nature of Linux. It's
important to understand that licensing cost is only
a small part of the overall decision-making process for customers.
The cost of the operating system is only a small percentage of the overall
total cost of ownership (TCO). In general
Windows NT has proven to have a lower cost of ownership than UNIX.
Previous studies have shown that Windows
NT has 37 percent lower TCO than UNIX. There is no reason to believe that
Linux is significantly different than other
versions of UNIX when it comes to TCO.
The very definition of Linux as an Open Software effort means that
commercial companies like Red Hat will make
money by charging for services. Therefore, commercial support services for
Linux will be fee-based and will likely
be priced at a premium. These costs have to be factored into the total
cost model.
Linux is a UNIX-like operating system and is therefore complex to
configure and manage. Existing UNIX users may
find the transition to Linux easier but administrators for existing
Windows╝-based or Novell environments will find it
more difficult to handle the complexity of Linux. This retraining will add
significant costs to Linux deployments.
Linux is a higher risk option than Windows NT. For example how many
certified engineers are there for Linux? How
easy is it to find skilled development and support people for Linux? Who
performs end-to-end testing for
Linux-based solutions? These factors and more need to be taken into
account when choosing a platform for your
business.
Myth: Linux is more secure than Windows NT
Reality: Linux Security Model Is Weak
All systems are vulnerable to security issues, however it's important to note
that Linux uses the same security model as the
original UNIX implementations--a model that was not designed from the ground up
to be secure.
Linux only provides access controls for files and directories. In
contrast, every object in Windows NT, from files to
operating system data structures, has an access control list and its use
can be regulated as appropriate.
Linux security is all-or-nothing. Administrators cannot delegate
administrative privileges: a user who needs any
administrative capability must be made a full administrator, which
compromises best security practices. In
contrast, Windows NT allows an administrator to delegate privileges at an
exceptionally fine-grained level.
Linux has not supported key security accreditation standards. Every member
of the Windows NT family since
Windows NT 3.5 has been evaluated at either a C2 level under the U.S.
Government's evaluation process or at a
C2-equivalent level under the British Government's ITSEC process. In
contrast, no Linux products are listed on the
U.S. Government's evaluated product list.
Linux system administrators must spend huge amounts of time understanding
the latest Linux bugs and
determining what to do about them. This is made complex due to the fact
that there isn't a central location for
security issues to be reported and fixed. In contrast Microsoft provides a
single security repository for notification
and fixes of security related issues.
Configuring Linux security requires an administrator to be an expert in
the intricacies of the operating system and
how components interact. Misconfigure any part of the operating system and
the system could be vulnerable to
attack. Windows NT security is easy to set up and administer with tools
such as the Security Configuration Editor.
Myth: Linux can replace Windows on the desktop
Reality: Linux Makes No Sense at the Desktop
Linux as a desktop operating system makes no sense. A user would end up with a
system that has fewer applications, is
more complex to use and manage, and is less intuitive.
Linux does not provide support for the broad range of hardware in use
today; Windows NT 4.0 currently supports
over 39,000 systems and devices on the Hardware Compatibility List. Linux
does not support important
ease-of-use technologies such as Plug and Play, USB, and Power Management
The complexity of the Linux operating system and cumbersome nature of the
existing GUIs would make retraining
end-users a huge undertaking and would add significant cost
Linux application support is very limited, meaning that customers end up
having to build their own horizontal and
vertical applications. A recent report from Forrester Research highlighted
the fact that today 93 percent of enterprise
ISVs develop applications for Windows NT, while only 13 percent develop
for Linux.3
Summary
The Linux operating system is not suitable for mainstream usage by business or
home users. Today with Windows NT 4.0,
customers can be confident in delivering applications that are scalable, secure,
and reliable--yet cost effective to deploy and
manage. Linux clearly has a long way to go to be competitive with Windows NT
4.0. With the release of the Windows 2000
operating system, Microsoft extends the technical superiority of the platform
even further ensuring that customers can deliver
the next generation applications to solve their business challenges.
More information
Customer Testimonials
See how these leading companies and organizations have deployed Windows NT
Server 4.0:
Nasdaq
Barnes & Noble
Dell Computer Corp
The Boeing Company
Chicago Stock Exchange
Performance Data
See Industry Benchmarks Show Windows NT Server 4.0 Outperforms Linux
Footnotes
1. Siemens & SuSE announced a patch in September 1999 to extend to 4 GB,
although this is not part of the 2.2 Kernel or
major distributions.
2. Linux: How Good Is It? D. H. Brown Associates Inc. April 1999
3. Forrester Research, Software Vendors Crown Server OS Kings, Aug. 31, 1999
Last Updated: Monday, November 01, 1999
╘ 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.
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