Ron posts an interesting article. I am not defending MS or Windows NT, but
I feel some further comments are needed to present a true picture.
Remember Ron, was quoting ComputerWorld, a shaky source at best.
Issue 1: SP4. When SP3 was release way back in the dark ages of 1997, it
fixed some very real and critical problems. Some dealt with NTFS, others
with security. SP3 is now installed on virtually any NT box running NT4.0.
In fact, if you are running NT 4.0 and you do not have SP3 installed, you
are open to all sorts of disturbing problems.
Since SP3 was released, a lot of people have tried, and succeeded in
crashing NT servers (and workstations) with attacks over the Internet.
Each time this occurred, MS promptly released a HotFix to address the
issue. There have been about 20 HotFixes. You can look at them in the
requisite order at http://www.worldowindows.com/ntfix.html.
If your computer is behind a firewall, most of these hot fixes are
unnecessary. In fact, MS will be the first to tell you to only install the
hot fix if you have experienced the problem. Yes, there is a logical
progression to follow if you really want to install all the hotfixes, and
it is not readily apparent, but the link above has the proper order. Some
of the fixes deal with very specific hardware issues, one is a Y2K fix and
another adds the Euro currency symbol.
I believe there are a number of patches you can apply to MPE 5.5 PP4. Does
this mean you need to go out and get them all and install them? No, of
course not. You would apply only the ones that address a situation you
have encountered.
I have not installed a single HotFix to NT4.0 SP3 on either the office
server or my laptop. The reliability of these systems has always been
exemplary. I will install SP4 a few months after its release and get all
the patches in one shot. Just like I would do on MPE.
Issue 2, the size of the code. What can I say? People want more
functionality in their OS. MS also thinks several packages need to be part
of the OS. Bloatware is rampant!
Issue 3, the reboot frenzy. Well, the last time I added a disk drive to my
917, I had to shut it down and reboot it. Maybe I did it wrong. The story
Ron refers to, has a user adding disk space on the NT server and thus has
shut it down. It does not explain why it had to be done in the middle of
the day, nor does it explain why the NT server did not have a disk array
for hot-pluggable disk drives. Then again, it is a ComputerWorld story,
'nuff said.
Indeed with NT 4.0 when the system comes up, it wants to know about all the
devices that are on the system. NT 4.0 is not a Plug and Play system, and
has never been billed as such. I have NT 4.0 on my laptop. I am fully
aware of the PnP issues. Sometimes I miss not having 95 on my laptop so
that I could just insert or remove a PC-card without having to shut down.
On the other hand, I chose NT over 95, because of the superior performance
and reliability. My NT just doesn't go down! If I really wanted to swap
card without rebooting, I could install CardWare or other such products,
but this is not a critical issue for me. I like reliability.
The story refers to a user being unable to stop a misbehaving application
and having to bring the entire system down. There are several utilities in
the NT resource kit that will do this for you, thus precluding a reboot.
Why they were not used is not explained in the story. ComputerWorld!
MPE also suffers from the same problem. If a job or session cannot be
aborted, you have no choice but to reboot. You cannot blow out a single
process in MPE, whereas in UNIX (and NT) you can, but at your peril, of
course.
Yes, NT 5.0 is supposed to address many of these reboot issues, because 5.0
is billed as a PnP OS. Will it live up to its claim? Probably not
completely until SP2 or 3 for NT 5.0. I have tested 5.0 a while back, on
my laptop. The PnP concept was definitely there, but more work was
required.
Even now, there are vendors who sell NT Servers with redundant hot
swappable power supplies and expansion cards. The disk drives have been
hot-swappable for a long time. Shortly, you will be able to hot swap the
CPU and memory (if it's not done already).
Kind regards,
Denys. . .
Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP America, Inc.
(800) 323-8863 (281) 288-7438 Fax: (281) 355-6879
denys at hicomp.com www.hicomp.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Seybold [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, 18 August, 1998 4:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Why not NT? Here's why...
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
[log in to unmask] http://www.3000newswire.com/newswire
512.331.0075
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