Hello Friends:

If you're an HP 3000 manager forced to defend your system against NT
alternatives which boast more applications, evidence is mounting that NT is
still pretty green. Too green to run really mission-critical applications
without a lot of close management. Everybody knows we believe so.

But how about another point of view? A set of articles in just one week's
Computerworld (Aug. 17) throws a pretty effective net around this market
juggernaut:

1. Computerworld notes that next month's Service Pack 4 for NT 4.0 includes
lots of critical hot-fixes for security problems. Trouble is, Microsoft
leaves you to manage the installation of these yourself. Installing them in
the wrong order can leave your system unstable, according to one user.

http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/CWFlash/98081762EA

2. Then there's the size of Microsoft's best chance to fix NT 4.0, NT 5.0.
Current estimates are between 25 and 40 million lines of code. That's
bigger than anything out there for operating environments, including
mainframe MVS. Why care how big it is? Well, for every line of code,
there's a miniscule chance for a bug. Add up the percentages. Here's a fun
quote:

"When the code is actually hitting the machine, a lot is going on - more
than at any other point in the time, in any other operating system I am
aware of in the history of computing. It's pushing the PC platform very
hard."

http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/980817620E

3. If you need to avoid reboots -- like lots of 3000 sites -- you better
hope 5.0 arrives sooner than its late-99 to Year 2000 delivery date.
Computerworld describes a "reboot frenzy" that's mounted on 4.0. Even
installing a new PC card requires a reboot. 5.0 is supposed to fix this. In
the meantime, one analyst recommends Unix as an alternative in this
Computerworld story. Readers of this list are running better alternatives.

http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/9808176336

We're grateful for publications that pay close enough attention to NT that
they can deliver a clear view of the reality of using it. It usually takes
awhile for new technology to earn the reputation it *really* deserves. NT
is a fact of life, and not the devil's own tool (regardless of how you feel
about Bill Gates). It has its place -- which appears to be removed from
mission-critical applications.



Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
The 3000 NewsWire
Independent Information to Maximize Your HP 3000
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512.331.0075