Is Windows with Cygwin Unix 1144

Karen Hill

"Unix" is not an operating system! It's a family of operating systems. It's the sort of family where your half sister is also your first cousin! AT&T created it. Berkeley got hold of it and did a lot of development. These two versions and their descendants have been exchanging genetic material ever since in ways that would make a stock breeder blush. Something like a dozen different vendors have been involved; among the major ones were Sun (SunOS-Solaris), HP (HPUX), Digital Equipment (since acquired by Compaq and Compaq by HP)(Digital Unix-True-64), Silicon Graphics (IRIX), Novell, SCO, IBM (AIX), etc, etc.

Start by defining just what you want the server to do. File server? Print server? Database? Web server? Application server?

Then decide what application software you want to run on the server.

Finally, list the server and Operating System combinations that support the applications you want to run. Chose one, based on price, performance, total cost of ownership, support, and-or any other metrics you consider important.

Be prepared to hire a geek to install and maintain it. You may need to become a geek yourself.