Will Linux replace Windows NT as the server OS of choice? "Linux is ready, or at least poised, to take on Windows NT for market dominance of server operating systems", said T. W. Burger Owner, Thomas Wolfgang Burger Consulting June 2000.It is the competitive choice for the user wanting a cheap, versatile, scalable, and reliable server solution. This article examines how Linux is ready to meet or exceed all user requirements that NT provides and why Linux should be the preferred alternative to NT. Included are the steps, requirements, options, and costs involved. Linux will soon surpass NT in most if not all network service applications. It is an open source, multi-vendor, and multi-platform server operating system solution. It is stable, versatile, and powerful, and it can be free. Anything Windows NT can do, it can do as well and often better; and the Justice Department is not trying to break up any Linux shops.When Linux was publicly released in 1991, creator Linus Torvalds and his team had been developing a system they and others could afford and use on the Intel 386 processor. The emphasis was on a networked desktop design that used and promoted Open Source Computing -- the sharing of source code so that others could adapt, adopt, and improve the original product. Open source has caused Linux to be developed into the contender for not only microcomputer OS dominance but for dominance of network server OS software. Presently, Linux is a weak alternative for the desktop market due to the momentum of the installed base of Microsoft Windows 95/98 products and lack of a clear marketing methodology. The dependence on the Windows desktop/workstation OS may be insurmountable. Server OS may yet be another story. Server OSs provide file storage and other network services that the user does not directly interact with. Linux offers the power, functionality, and performance range required of a network server OS to satisfy the needs of users ra...
