BYTE (to SunSoft): Why do you think Solaris Unix is better than Windows NT?
MACKAY: Scalability, reliability, and performance. Solaris has demonstrated linear scalability to 64 processors in a system, has databases larger than 5 terabytes, and lets thousands of users connect. NT does not come close. Solaris systems stay on-line for months, handling transaction after transaction. This defines mission-critical enterprise and Internet computing. And that is why the largest relational databases run on Solaris, not on NT.
BYTE (to Microsoft): Why do you think NT Server is better than Unix?
NASH: NT Server is the only true multipurpose OS. It combines the performance of file and print servers and the power of Unix application servers with the ease of use of Windows.
A single cross-platform API lets developers write code once and target many platforms. Users benefit from the easy-to-use Windows environment. Administrators [can] learn, use, and manage one system with powerful file and print services plus robust and reliable applications services.
NT Server is interoperable with other systems such as NetWare; it integrates with legacy systems while offering a smooth migration. And NT Server supports up to 32 processors.
MACKAY: Will NT survive in a transaction environment where hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users are hitting thousands of applications in a network of servers? Market-share leadership is a tenuous thing. Just ask IBM and Novell.
If the network is the computer, then we're talking about what it will take in this new paradigm: computing on the Internet.
Microsoft's story holds together as long as the picture is monolithic: Windows dominates the desktop, NT is the application server, and everything is tied together with OLE. This isn't modular, flexible, or easily customizable. Application code to update could be on thousands of desktops, leading to high administration costs.
NT does not have the reliability and scalability required to run business-critical applications on networked servers that may have hundreds of thousands of users hitting on it every day, which is where we are with Internet-based applications.