FilePro running on Unix vs Windows

[Dan Snyder]

Cindy,

Kudos to you for asking a question that could start a religious flame war
like the old "coke vs. pepsi" or "chevy vs. ford" opinion battles.  The
responses you receive on this list will tend to favor UNIX/LINUX because
that's where filePro started, where it is the most optimized and where the
people on the list have the most experience.  In the past I would have
agreed with those statements, but Windows Server 2003 has made huge advances
over Win2K and WinNT.  The reality is that they both have their own
strengths and weaknesses, either one could do a fine job for you.  You'll
just need to evalute your own capabilities and requirements before making a
final decision.

For whatever it's worth, below, I've added my 2 cents to the comments made
by everyone that has responded so far.  However, your original question only
asked about filePro performance so most of all our comments don't directly
address your question.


> UNIX/LINUX vs. Windows security
I believe UNIX has a better security history than Windows.  However, my
opinion is that security depends more on the skills of the network and
server admin than on the platform being used.  Therefore, I consider call
this a draw.

Here's a example from today's news that shows UNIX/LINUX have their own
security problems. 
http://news.com.com/Students+uncover+dozens+of+Unix+software+flaws/2100-1002
_3-5492969.html?tag=nefd.top


> UNIX/LINUX vs. Windows reliability
Reliability depends on hardware, software installed and the skills of the
administrator.  I've had both good and bad experiences with both platforms.
Therefore, I consider this a draw.

Many people have mentioned client stability and other client issues, even
though that had nothing to do with your question.  We keep our Windows XP
workstations locked down (no users have administrator privs) and current on
patches. We have had 0 lockup issues, 0 hacked/hijacked computers and only 1
virus infection in the past 2 years (and that was my fault due to a poor
configuration setting in the virus software and it was easily fixed with 2
hours).  IE/OE have their problems, but SP2 addresses many of those problems
and they are much easier and more cost effective to use in a corporate
environment than the alternatives.


> UNIX/LINUX vs. Windows performance
Your assumption is correct.  Although Windows Server 2003 has made big
performance improvements over previous versions, UNIX wins this one as it
still has greater performance/scalabilty.  In the 250 user range, a Windows
server in general would certainly require more hardware than a UNIX
solution, but I don't know how filePro performs on Windows servers to tell
you what specific hardware would be required.  Maybe you should give some
more info on usage so someone can tell you what hardware would be required
for filePro to support that on Windows.


> Furthermore, with 1.6gb already, you're not too far from
> the 2gb limit in Windows (I might suggest Apple's OS X
> Server, but I don't think FilePro runs on it :-).
This limit is long since gone.  Apple's OS X would be GREAT (I'm typing this
message on OS X), but it's harder to find off-the-shelf software for it.
Only 2 of the 35 ERP packages we looked at could be run on OS X.


> One thing that's changing is the number of worms that
> attack the Microsoft virus, Windows.  They've been
> steadily increasing in number and destructive power,
> at least if one counts the amount of spam sent through
> zombified Windows machines destructive.
This has nothing to do with Windows Server 2003 vs. UNIX.  Hackers target
the weakest link and that tends to change.  For example, most SPAM used to
come from poorly configured web server CGI's and mail servers (which were
UNIX based).  Admins and developers have since fixed those security holes,
so now the hackers target unpatched, unprotected client workstations that
have clueless owners/operators.


> Other considerations
As Walter said, a CIO will take some other considerations to take into
account when selecting a technology platform for business, such as
availability of personnel skilled in the technology, training materials and
software availability.  We are currently in the process of replacing our SCO
UNIX/filePro system with a Windows Server2003 based ERP package.  I have
UNIX experience, so why go with a Windows server when the application we
chose does run on LINUX?  25 out of 35 off-the-shelf ERP packages that we
looked at ran only on Windows.  Additionally, of the packages that do run on
UNIX many of the 3rd party add-ons that we would be interested in only run
on Windows servers and we don't see the need/benefit of running multiple
server platforms.  All of the ERP apps that did run on UNIX also ran on
Windows and the majority of the customers using those apps were running them
on Windows servers.  And finally, there are far more training and consulting
resources available to us in the Windows environment.

I suspect the company managers that asked you to look into filePro on
windows are heading down this road.  Home Depot is a big company, they
probably want to standardize on one hardware and software platform to save
licensing, support and development costs.  Moving your filePro apps to a
Windows server would get them part of the way there.

Good luck and hope that helps,
Dan Snyder



>> Hi all,
>> 
>> My company, Floors, Inc. has asked me to research the
>> possibility of us moving our system to a Windows based
>> network platform. We are currently running under Unix
>> 4.8 with 256 users (bumping our limit).  We have data
>> files up to 1.6 gigs large (6.5 million records).
>> 
>> I would like to hear from some developers out there who
>> are running systems on both platforms who can give me
>> information on performance.  I would assume that Unix
>> would perform much better than the Windows platform but
>> I need confirmation from developers running on both
>> platforms.
>> 
>> Thanks a bunch,
>> Cindy Youngman
>> Systems Developer for Floors Inc
>> (Division of Home Depot)
>> 
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