In fact I think it is the best OS M$ has available. Win/WfWG is flaky at
best, and Win95 is the bastard offspring of WfWG and WinNT. Even M$ people
admit Win95 is meant to wean DOS/Win users onto NT in the end.
For Non-UNIX PC operating systems, I feel OS/2 is the best thing going.
However, it is handicapped by IBMs complete inability to market, they
couldn't sell water in the saharra. And IBMs constant shifting in their
relationships with software vendors and peripherial makers makes for a
small pool of available native apps and drivers for add-ons. If IBM pulled
its head out of its ass and either developed the drivers themselves or
funded the development by the other firms, things would be much better.
As it is I already own too many PCMCIA peripherials for my laptop that I
can't support under OS/2. I had it on a minitower in my old apt, but that
remained with my roommate when I moved out. If I could pound the drivers
into shape I'd run it on the laptop. I'll give it some more time and maybe
there will eventually be some drivers.
After OS/2, WinNT is the best IMHO. And it has the distinct advantage of
being made by M$ - the nigh-monopoly in the software marker. Which means
just about every piece of software or hardware you care to use with it will
work. WinNT had the same driver problems for quite a while, still does
to a degree, but that is improving quickly.
If I ditch DOS/WfWG on my PC (I need to interact with the rest of the world,
I can't afford to ditch everything for UNIX) I'll probably go to WinNT.
It's a great PC OS.
However, I wouldn't use it to run a network. There are literally thousands
of applications for UNIX, hundreds of thousands, available on the nets. And
millions of machines and admins which form a readily available pool of
knowledge. UNIX is proven, and solid, and has an assured future for the
forseeable future. WinNT has *never* lived up to the billing from M$, they
keep lowering their expectations and it still doesn't make it. This is the
OS that was going to overtake UNIX in just a few years!
Another thing, UNIX is more powerful and FREE! FreeBSD and Linux are quite
capable operating systems. You can already run DOS apps on Linux and the
Windows emulator was in alpha last I checked. With the fine hacker community
we have online I expect Win95 and WinNT emulators available within a couple
of years if there is any demand.
All the programmers I know have said the same thing - programming in UNIX
and X is beautiful. Progamming in any Windows environment is a trip through
hell.
I expect WinNT to remain a niche market in the server community for many
years. Funny thing is, the number of UNIX systems is growing faster than
the number of NT systems, NTs market share in that regard is actually
shrinking as time goes on.
Personally if I felt an employee couldn't administer a site without a
cute Windows interface, I wouldn't hire them in the first place. A couple
of compitent people have more value than a roomful of mouse-clickers.
-MZ
-- Livingston Enterprises Technical Support Phone: 800-458-9966 FAX: 510-426-8951 support@livingston.com <http://www.livingston.com/> 6920 Koll Center Parkway #220, Pleasanton, CA 94566