“Here’s a great idea to put to your CIO: Why not run the company using a server operating system made by Mattel? It’s the company behind Barbie and Hot Wheels (not to mention Tumblin’ Monkeys), so it certainly knows a thing or two about toys. Maybe its designers have enough time to put together an enterprise OS,” Paul Rubens opines for ServerWatch.
“Yeah, right,” Rubens writes. “The idea is plain ridiculous, but is it any more ridiculous than using Apple’s OS X Server or letting end users work on Macs in the enterprise?”
“Because the truth is, Apple is not really a computer company. It makes toys. It used to be a computer company called Apple Computer, but it dropped the “Computer” bit from its name in January 2007 as a tacit admission that it was now a consumer gadget maker, not to mention an online music retailer. Following the introduction of the iPhone and iPod Touch, two very pretty ‘boy’s toys,’ the company’s latest caper is the launch of its App Store,” Rubens writes.
Rubens explains, “The top-selling applications as I write are Band, Crash Bandicoot and Super Monkey Ball, which sounds uncomfortably similar — in name at least — to the aforementioned and very wonderful Tumblin’ Monkeys.”
“So why shouldn’t enterprises take Apple seriously? Here’s the problem: It can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Microsoft is huge, and it is quite capable of doing more than one thing at a time,” Rubens explains. “During the past two years, it worked on Vista, Windows Server 2008, the Hyper-V virtualization system and the Zune — all at the very same time.”
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Besides being a hit-whore of the worst variety, this ignoramus is an amalgam of just about every anti-Apple, know-nothing, world-has-passed-him-by, should’ve-retired-long-ago IT doofus in the world today.
Apple’s current Mac OS X Server v10.5 is built on a fully compliant UNIX foundation. This battle-tested core provides stability, performance, and security for the enterprise. And full UNIX conformance ensures compatibility with existing server and application software. Apple’s extremely cost-effective Mac OS X Server is actually the ideal platform for deploying enterprise applications and services, Paul.
Apple’s Xserve features a fast 1600MHz system bus and 800MHz memory, resulting in higher memory bandwidth. Xserve provides up to 8-core processing power, 3TB of internal storage, and 32GB of 800MHz memory. Find out more about Apple’s Xserve here. There’s nothing toylike about it.
For business-critical server deployments, Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server will soon add read and write support for the high-performance, 128-bit ZFS file system, which includes advanced features such as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Microsoft to offer a comparable file system, Paul. On second thought, do.
Contact: Jupitermedia, publisher of ServerWatch via: http://feedback.jupiterweb.com/weblog.html
We’ll leave the Nurse Nancy jokes for you, dear readers.
This is the dumbest IT pundit in the fucking universe.
Wasn’t this the guy who played Pee Wee Herman? He should be.
As always, no one is more ignorant and clueless than MDN for single-handedly handing these guys hits, readers, numbers, and ultimately, cash. Why in the WORLD is this worth covering? I’ll never understand MDN’s editorial “direction.”
@Me In LA
How about you sit on your black friends giant cock and spin since you didn’t take my post at all as it was blatantly intended.
Now if Paul Rubens the comedian, who’s also infamous for jacking off in public, had written this article, I could have seen the point and laughed. But this non-amusing ‘Paul Rubens’ is a total waste case M$ shill with no experience with or comprehension of Mac OS X Server. Here we go with yet-another incompetent boob, ala Dvorak, vomiting his lunch on us just to get some attention. Pull his string and he spews the M$ corporate line. What he’s really saying is something more along the lines of Barbie:
“Computer Science is hard!”
Go wash your hair Paul. Maybe it’ll unclog a couple neurons. Then perhaps you’ll have enough reading comprehension to realize Mac OS X is UNIX, which has always been THE server OS of choice of top corporate professionals. NOT Windows. In fact the very best way to get your server hacked is to run it on Windows Server. Maybe you’ll be able to comprehend that as well.
Hey PeeWee! Lend Paul here one of your shoe mirrors so he can see what a rectum he’s made of himself.
:-Q*************
Now if our moron ‘technical journalist’ had noted that many enterprise users are trapped using Windows-only company data management solutions, he’d have had a valid point. AND YET, what is the computer that can run both Mac OS X AND Windows at the same time via virtualization? That ‘toy’ Paul dunderhead reviles.
Are you the IT Director of a company running on Oracle or PeopleSoft? Forced to run them on Windows? Guess what computer the IT Director friend of mine use for this specific purpose:
A MacBook Pro.
Welcome to the NEW and IMPROVED Enterprise.
MDN sez: “For business-critical server deployments, Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server will soon add read and write support for the high-performance, 128-bit ZFS file system, which includes advanced features such as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots.”
Very naughty MDN. I already lectured you on this subject. Users can already use these ZFS features on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.
Caveats:
1) You have to do it from the command line.
2) For writing ability you have to install a solution Apple give away for free at their developer site called the “ZFS Beta Seed v1.1.” Apple sez: “This seed requires installation on systems running Leopard9A559 or later.” But reportedly it only works on 10.5.0. (I haven’t tried it).
3) Apple sez: “Please note that some functionality has not been ported. For example, while snapshots can be taken and operated upon via zfs send|recv, they are not currently browseable with this version of the preview.”
What Snow Leopard will hopefully offer is a GUI solution with the usual Finder access features. What Snow Leopard might NOT offer is the ability to use ZFS on a bootable volume. You can thank Sun Microsystems for that oversight. They dumped the project in Apple’s lap. Thankfully, the ZFS Boot Project has made OpenSolaris bootable on ZFS using the x86 platform, so there is hope. However, a pile of other significant problems with ZFS remain, and not just for Mac OS X.
Face it folks. ZFS is still Not Ready For Prime Time. Think hype. Think Java. It could happen! Lots of promise! Just not yet.
Wikipedia is your pal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS
– Rubens explains. “During the past two years, it worked on Vista, Windows Server 2008, the Hyper-V virtualization system and the Zune — all at the very same time.”
That alone spells out that this HAS to be a joke…
If not, someone call the local drug addiction hotline for this “expert” – he needs to get off the crack!
“@MDN Take,
“OS X should be a stable and mature OS by now and it isn’t.”
So what Dell model are you using, bud?”
20″ iMac Core 2 Duo, MacBook Core 2 Duo, iMac 20″ Core Duo, Mac Mini G4 1.25 Ghz. Take your pick. My first Mac was in 1984 and my first Apple was an Apple ][ back in the day, when I was learning how to program Basic as part of the University core curriculum.
I have never owned a Dell and never plan to. I only use Windoze when paid to (at work) or when helping the clueless fix their PeeCees.
The simple truth of the matter is that OS X is not a finished OS.
For example, explain why iTunes syncing properly through Airport will not properly sync the same setup on ethernet without opening up the firewall- over and over. This would be the dumbed down firewall control introduced with OS 10.5. All Apple equipment and software, all up to date, all set up according to Apple’s own guidelines and it stumbles on something as basic as this.
Explain the fact that iTools, dotMac and now MobileMe have been a train wreck as far as consistently syncing properly. That goes back through numerous versions of the OS and numerous patches and security updates. The fact that it’s still effed up after all this time indicates that Apple is either clueless, careless or unable to make it work as advertised.
Also explain why the original OS 10.5 update left the Firewall OPEN regardless of which path you took (Archive/Clean/Upgrade) and didn’t inform the user it was doing this. This is a huge breach of basic network security and is titanically stupid.
The list could go on and on. The point is that Mac OS X is good- just not as good as it could, or should, be. Apple is not the struggling company of the late 1990’s, trying hard just to keep the lights on. They have the money to be able to afford the software engineers necessary to do much better than they have done. They also need to stop shipping what is essentially beta software at retail.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Paul Rubens is actually very representative of a very large part of the BRITISH IT community.
The believe, to this day that:
– Microsoft is the only software maker for business
– Microsoft is a towering monument to enterprise and innovation
– That Bill Gates deserves his New-Labour ass-lick Knighthood
– That Apple, literally, only makes toys
These things are so sad, but true. British IT is running in the 1990’s.
For evidence, the best examples have to be the appalling Government projects which run years late, billions over budget, and then don’t work. All with very very close working relationships with Microsoft.
Heaven help Britain.
And Rubens, you really are an ass.
“During the past two years, it worked on Vista, Windows Server 2008, the Hyper-V virtualization system and the Zune — all at the very same time.”
Let’s see –
Vista = FAIL
Zune = FAIL
Server 2008 = ?
Hyper V = Yet another stolen idea
Multitasking is not necessarily a good thing…at least for Microsuck.
Re Infinitum,
“The simple truth of the matter is that OS X is not a finished OS.”
You are correct, it’s not finished. That is why we have had versions 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5. Soon we will have 10.6.
Every one of these has added new features and/or improved on the existing ones. This is called progress.
Apparently you think Apple shouldn’t have come out with OS X until it was absolutely perfect and met every one of your expectations. So if that was the case, what operating system would you be using now?
Apple can be arrogant, obstinate and seemingly just plain stupid at times. As an example: the DNS flaw that they finally patched. I have no idea what that was all about.
Apple isn’t perfect and OS X isn’t perfect. That’s a fact.
But it’s the best damn thing that’s out there now.
“Apple’s Xserve features a fast 1600MHz system bus and 800MHz memory, resulting in higher memory bandwidth. Xserve provides up to 8-core processing power, 3TB of internal storage, and 32GB of 800MHz memory. Find out more about Apple’s Xserve here. There’s nothing toylike about it.”
Until you compare it to a real enterprise grade server. The guy is right, an XServe has more in common with a desktop PC than a real server.
“Absolutely right. Only stupid people keep buying the same old crap year after year and decade after decade, whether it works properly or not, when there is clearly a better alternative. “
Funny. It’s Apple fanboys who do that. Crashes, overheating, whining, bad screens, power supplies blowing up, discoloring, catching fire, cracking, the list goes on. Yet Apple’s still the best? Right? There is a better alternative, that’s why 95% of the world use it.
“for all mission critical applications, you see a lot more Unix in the server room than you do Windows. “
That’s like saying because I can run Linux on my desktop, it suddenly became an enterprise grade server. There are no Mac OS X servers doing the things you mention. At best an XServe is a low end departmental or small business server.
Romeodawg,
” Why in the WORLD is this worth covering? I’ll never understand MDN’s editorial “direction.” “
This is worth covering because it is controversial. This site is for information, but it’s also for entertainment. These are the kind of articles that gets everyone worked up. The Mac people get pissed and go on a rant, then the jerkwad trolls and flamers come in to mock and ridicule us. It’s all great fun.
I guess MDN could just stick to telling us about software updates, after which the site would be bombarded by the usual “it’s snappier” comments. How exciting.
MDN knows exactly what they are doing. Their “editorial direction” is exactly what you see. If it really bothers you, then please move along.
@Get Real
“That’s like saying because I can run Linux on my desktop, it suddenly became an enterprise grade server…”
No, it’s still a Linux desktop.
When someone figures out what Get Real means, please let Get Real know.
This guy’s head is so far up his butt he has to unzip his pants to brush his teeth!
“This guy’s head is so far up his butt he has to unzip his pants to brush his teeth!”
10 to 1 he DOESN”T brush his teeth.
Better Alternative sez:
” “Absolutely right. Only stupid people keep buying the same old crap year after year and decade after decade, whether it works properly or not, when there is clearly a better alternative. ” “
“Funny. It’s Apple fanboys who do that. Crashes, overheating, whining, bad screens, power supplies blowing up, discoloring, catching fire, cracking, the list goes on. Yet Apple’s still the best? Right? There is a better alternative, that’s why 95% of the world use it.”
BWAHAHAHAHA! That is the funniest insubstantial FUD I have read so far this year. Bravo BA! Even a child could knock over that pile of desiccated feces. You should work for the Neo-Con-Jobs here in the USA! They’re the scammers who write McCain’s campaign ads. Those guys are in exactly the same groove you are. And they’re just as downright moronic! You have a friend in the Bush League.
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heehee
A couple quotes from the vacuous:
Proving his own point,
Ignorance Abounds sez:
” “Apple’s Xserve …. There’s nothing toylike about it.” “
“Until you compare it to a real enterprise grade server. The guy is right, an XServe has more in common with a desktop PC than a real server.”
BZZZZZZZT! Next!
Get Real gets lost and sez:
” “for all mission critical applications, you see a lot more Unix in the server room than you do Windows. ” “
“That’s like saying because I can run Linux on my desktop, it suddenly became an enterprise grade server. There are no Mac OS X servers doing the things you mention. At best an XServe is a low end departmental or small business server.”
BZZZZZZZZZT! Flush it! It smells!
Rather than address the stupid, here are some useful facts, all of which any literate reader of English could find out from themselves at Apple’s website within 5 minutes:
1) Apple Marketing at this point in time don’t focus on the Enterprise. They focus on small business.
2) The XServe, however, is specifically designed to scale perfectly within even the largest Enterprise business. That is why it is used in the Enterprise, despite Apple Marketing’s other focus.
3) If you compare the hardware of the XServe with other contemporary solutions for the Enterprise you will find that Apple’s not only competes in hardware capability, it’s less expensive. And I’m not talking about the price after considering Cost Of Ownership (COO) and Return On Investment (ROI), where Apple has always beaten out the alternatives. I am talking about plain old dumdum shelf price.
4) XServe is a 1U rack box.
5) XServe does 32 GB of 800 MHz RAM per box.
6) XServe does 3 TB of disk space per box.
7) XServe does 8 CPU cores per box.
8) XServe has a 1600 MHz bus.
9) XServe does XSan, including MultiSAN.
10) XServe does hardware RAID.
11) XServe is designed to work with the Promise VTrak E-Class RAID Subsystem box. That’s up to 12 TB of storage per connected 3U rack enclosure.
12) XServe does Xgrid, resulting in scalable, low-cost distributed supercomputing with easy configuration, monitoring and administration. Xgrid is commonly used as the supercomputer solution in education institutions across the world.
13) XServe has 2 PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots per box.
14) XServe has built in UPS monitoring.
15) XServe can be monitored and managed off site.
16) XServe runs quiet.
17) XServe exceeds Energy Star efficiency guidelines.
18) XServe is 100% UNIX. It’s core UNIX OS is based on the single most secure version of UNIX available. UNIX is the preferred server solution on the Internet and in the Enterprise when Windows-only compatible software is not required and the IT department is run by competent professionals.
19) XServe is 100% compatible with all UNIX, Linux and Windows systems.
20) XServe is 64 bit.
21) XServe offers redundant power supplies.
22) XServe does Mac OS X Server, which is easier to configure, maintain and monitor than any competing server OS.
23) All Macs, including the XServe, are consistently found to require as little as 10% of the IT staff and maintenance time as an equivalent Windows PC solution. (This is one reason many anti-Mac trolls in Windows IT fear for their jobs).
And there’s plenty more, if you bother to look.
Conclusions:
– XServe is the Enterprise Server Mac. It’s already there. It works better and costs less than most of the competition.
– Trolls are lazy fools who don’t do their homework because they enjoy looking stupid and enjoy making others as miserable and ignorant as they are. It’s called sadomasochism. It requires professional treatment.
Sanity has been restored. ;-D
Crashes, overheating, whining, bad screens, power supplies blowing up, discoloring, catching fire, cracking, the list goes on…
Yes, of course and none of that has ever happened to your Pee Cee, right?
These are manufacturing and design flaws and are easily corrected. Apple enjoys the highest scores for customer satisfaction so they have a good track record for fixing problems, something Dell used to enjoy.
As for market share, you’re being intellectually dishonest here, when you say 95%. The breakdown actually looks like this:
71% —Windows XP
16% —Windows Vista
2% — Windows 2000
.4% — Windows 98
.7% — Windows 2003
.7% — WIndows NT
.2% — Windows ME
.01% —Windows 95
71 percent of the world is using XP?! That’s a far cry from 95 percent.
So it’s safe to assume most PC users who come here are using XP but, there is a possibility that you could be using NT or ME. You could even be one of those four-million people who refuse to leave Win 95, because they can’t live without MS-DOS.
And what percentage of XP users are STILL using 32-bit? Most likely all of them.
Sure, a few of them grabbed a copy of x64 editions of Windows and a their favorite KEYGEN off Pirate Bay just to see what the fuss was all about, but probably reverted back because it broke their toys. Their favorite GAMES no longer worked, nor did their printers, or their sound cards. Maybe they found out that 64-bit is too costly an upgrade. You like ’em cheap and when you start shelling out the bucks for a true x64 system, you realize your about to spend a thousand dollars for a computer! Man, that’s gotta’ hurt, right?
XP is holding Microsoft back in the very same way the parallel port held the whole platform back. Look at Intel. They want nothing to do with Vista and THAT speaks volumes. They’re holding out for Win7, and even then Microsoft has really got to crank up the marketing (astroturf) machine to win XP users over. By the time W7 hits the streets, Vista users will be content to stay right where they are.
When Microsoft threatened to pull the plug on XP, users, including professional groups and enterprise, came out of the woodwork demanding Microsoft keep the dream alive. So, unless Microsoft can change your perceptions by tricking you into upgrading to Vista (Mohave), you’re content to stay right where you are; using a limited OS.
PC users are always lambasting Mac users for buying into a limited platform with no upgrade path, no user-serviceable features and yet you fail to see the limitations of your OS; limited to 3GBs of RAM, tops. 1 for the kernel, providing you add the /3g switch, and 3 for your apps. Tsk, tsk. Imagine 6GBs for Crysis or UT3!
Manufacturing and design flaws can be overcome, but you can’t fix stupid.
derekcurrie ,
“Sanity has been restored.”
It won’t last long. Not here.
“I have to learn the OS, and learn its issues, and do the bloody job I’m paid to do. “
Hello I am being ChrissyOne can I be helping you with your Vista a problem now? Oh my golly gosh, many Thank Yous for calling our call center.
For the record, being a phone answering monkey in a call center doesn’t actually qualify as “IT Support”.
“1) Apple Marketing at this point in time don’t focus on the Enterprise. They focus on small business.”
For the simple reason that they have no enterprise grade products to sell.
“XServe is the Enterprise Server Mac.”
Sorry, all those specs still make it a small business grade server.
“XP is holding Microsoft back in the very same way the parallel port held the whole platform back”
Which is to say, not at all.
“limited to 3GBs of RAM, tops”
Huh? Windows tops out at 128GB RAM.
“you can’t fix stupid.”
I bet you know that because many people have tried to fix you?
“Huh? Windows tops out at 128GB RAM.”
Yeah, the 64 bit version. How many of those do you think they sell, Einstein? And good luck finding software for it.
” good luck finding software for it.”
32 bit software runs on 64 bit Windows. it’s 32 bit drivers that don’t. So you can find all the software you need in any computer store, Einstein. Perhaps you shouldn’t even comment on things you’re totally ignorant of, but why change your ways?
A second point is not how many they sell but that you can have it if you want it. If it’s not selling, that would back an argument that most people don’t see they need > 3Gig memory today.