And another interesting story that I ran into over the weekend. This one is available only to subscribers of BusinessWeek. You can find it in the "Technology and You" section.
Big Features for Small Networks
New servers can tie home or small-biz computers together at low cost
businessweek.com
It's a brief review of two server offerings for small businesses, one from Compaq, one from a company called Cobalt Networks.
The review's conclusion:
Both of these products sharply lower the cost of having
a secure, server-based network. The minimum hardware and software
cost of the Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server, a simplified
version of Windows NT Server, is around $3,000. More important, both
the NeoServer and Qube 2 are orders of magnitude easier to set up and
administer than even simplified NT.
Notice that "ease of use" claim. What's amazing about it is that both of these machines run versions of Unix rather than Windows. The Compaq uses SCO OpenServer, the other one uses Linux.
Unix software can be scary, but you'll never see it; all
configuration and administration is easily done through a browser.
Services include file and printer sharing, E-mail (on the Internet model only), and automatic backup of data from PCs.
Both of the machines are made for small networks comprising a couple dozen machines at most, but it's certainly an interesting take on the competition in that sector. It's the first review I've seen that suggests any Unix product would win its category in both ease of use and cost. The machines with OS cost from $1,400 to $1,700. |
