RE: Windows BSOD vs. AS/400

(BTW, bringing up V3R1, the black stain of OS/400 releases, is a low blow!)

"low blow" ?   Funny - I thought "sucks" was the official term for V3R1 !
:-)






"M. Lazarus" <mlazarus@ttec.com>@midrange.com on 2000/08/01 13:01:41

Please respond to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com

Sent by:  owner-midrange-l@midrange.com


To:   MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
cc:

Subject:  RE: Windows BSOD vs. AS/400


Dave,

At 8/1/00 08:54 AM -0400, you wrote:
It isn't as simple as Microsoft unilaterally
defining Windows API's - many of the hardware interfaces are _below_ the OS
level, and naturally when you have multiple manufacturers defining and
interpreting such interfaces you get huge opportunities for mismatches.
 OK, maybe I was oversimplifying it somewhat.  I was trying to make a
point; we are being too excusing of Windows' shortcomings in a real
production environment. I'm familiar w/ many of the hardware / driver
issues, since I've worked w/ PC's since 1983.  If we waited until API's
came out for everything (even on the /400) innovation would be stifled.


Could Windows protect itself better?  Of course - consider that NT/2000
(and
the OS/2 design they're based on) handle these issues a lot more gracefully
than Win 95 and 98.
 That in itself proves that M$ could handle the reliability issues better.


  The OS/400 protection model is even better, but still
not perfect.  I had a machine down twice on V3R1 because of workstation
controller LIC issues.  Certainly OS/400 didn't crash, but just as
certainly
the machine was unavailable to the users and therefor nearly useless, just
as a Wintel machine with video driver problems would be.
 Ah, but here's a difference.  Were you able to get in via passthru or
Telnet or some other emulator?  Probably.  Which means that the machine is
still alive and you could apply patches, right?  Most importantly, you
could end jobs or start recovery far more gracefully than any PC hard
crash.  (BTW, bringing up V3R1, the black stain of OS/400 releases, is a
low blow!)  :-)


 -mark



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