Re: What About Price vs. Performance?

IMHO, the reason for the strange price/performance ratio of the AS/400 as
a web server is because IBM doesn't recognize the strengths and weaknesses
of the platform.

The AS/400 is a fantastic application server and has (IMHO) the best
database engine known to man.

If you're intending to develop your own applications to run your business
on, the AS/400 is so drastically superior to windows that it's not funny.
Every program I've ever written of reasonable complexity on Windows has at
some point during debugging caused Windows to crash or lock up.  A real
operating system won't let a user application corrupt other programs that
are running...

However, unless you're running an ENORMOUS web site (one that needs to
handle upwards of 6,000 simultaneous connections) it really is only
average as a web server!   And considering what it costs, its really
absurd that IBM continues to promote it as a web/internet server.

FreeBSD (http://www.freebsd.org) running on good (server-class) hardware
will make a better web server than OS/400 and Windows both.  (Unless you
need the really high-end hardware that AS/400 can do, but Intel cant)
It also beats Windows in price/performance -- FreeBSD is free, yet runs on
the same hardware!

The tricky things about FreeBSD are:  1) You need to be proficient with
computers (unlike Windows) to set it up.   2) Professional tech support is
harder to come by (though, it does exist)

Oh well... I should stop rambling before I end up starting yet another
holy war.


On Tue, 3 Apr 2001, Nathan M. Andelin wrote:

> Michael,
> 
> Sure, the AS/400 is easier to manage, more stable, more secure.  But it
> seems that many buyers give significant weight to price vs. performance.
> The new server line helps, but I'd estimate their price vs. performance is
> still 5 times that of today's Intel line.
> 
> On the scalability issue, I just read that IBM will soon release a 64-Way
> xSeries server.
> 
> I'm still hoping for better answers.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Nathan.
> 
> 



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