[ On Friday, October 29, 1999 at 19:08:41 (-0400), Jason Bucata wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: [Exim] Compiling Exim With Cygwin?
>
> Because we've had these boxen for a good while now, and we've used NT
> for this job for a while (don't even ask)..., and I'd need some BIG
> justification to switch.
Hold on a minute here -- NT is *NOT* good enough for this job,
especially since you'd have to port a Unix mailer to NT even just to get
started!
Further if these boxes are just running e-mail (which if they were doing
so under NT would be practically a requirement anyway), then where the
heck is the need for justification in switching their OS' come from?!?!?
If you move them off NT then the NT admin doesn't have as much work to
do and should be happy.
If you still only use these machines only for e-mail then there's very
little Unix admin to do on them. If you have CD-ROM installation media
then you wouldn't even really have to back them up (just the few config
files for the mailer, and those can be copied to another host that is
backed up with a simply rsync script).
It'll cost you 1/1000'th the effort to switch the OS to NetBSD, FreeBSD
or Linux or even Solaris/x86 than it will to port a Unix MTA to NT, even
if you are an expert at porting Unix code to NT.
If NT were the only OS on which some application ran, and if porting
that application would require more than a few hours, then yes, I'd run
it on NT.
However e-mail is an application that runs best on Unix (at least I'd be
everyone in this mailing list will agree with that), and indeed the
apparent mailer software of choice for you is a *UNIX* mailer --
switching your OS to Unix is the *ONLY* logical choice you have.
Finally there are a zillion ways to show that running Unix, especially a
free one, is far more cost-effective for generic tried&true applications
than it is to run NT. The the price of the NT software alone will pay
for training an NT guy to install and run FreeBSD, for example. Well,
maybe half the training cost -- first you have to clue-by-4 the NT guy
so that the Unix stuff will sink into him! ;-)
Besides, I'll bet it'll take less time for a unix admin to install a
unix on one of these boxes than it will to install and get running
smoothly an NT MTA even if you already have NT installed and running!
(Keep in mind that the NT MTA will *not* be configured by default for
ideal operation on the Internet!)
(As you can probably tell I do not stand for anyone trying to force me
to give them any justification beyond the logical for what OS should be
running under any given application!)
--
Greg A. Woods
+1 416 218-0098 VE3TCP <gwoods@???> <robohack!woods>
Planix, Inc. <woods@???>; Secrets of the Weird <woods@???>
