RE: When is a Windows network not a Windows network

On Tue, 14 May 2002, Walden H. Leverich wrote:

> >From: James Rich [mailto:james@eaerich.com]
> >...Apache is the most popular web server on the planet...
>
> No argument there. However, I wish there was a list of web server usage in
> businesses with, say, greater than 50Mil in revenue. I think you'd find the
> split between Apache and IIS would be very different, I don't know if IIS or
> Apache would be ahead, but I think it would be _very_ close.

As already pointed out, how much money someone makes has nothing to do
with the capabilities of their software.  But I believe (but haven't
looked to back this up) that among fortune 50 companies the most used web
server is Netscape's iPlanet.

But so what?  The point was that software is attacked not because it is
popular, but because it sucks (i.e. it is easy to break).

> Apache is so far ahead, IMHO, because so many static, test, student,
> educational, free, cheap sites use it. Some solid eComm stuff runs on it
> too, no argument, but the "number of sites" statistic is skewed by the
> massive "low-end" usage of Apache.

In fact, one of the main reasons why Apache is so far ahead is because it
is so good at hosting large web hosting sites.  When counted by individual
machine, the numbers are closer.  That means if you went to each physical
computer out there and looked to see what web server it is running, the
numbers would be fairly close between Apache and IIS.  But if you count
all the websites and see what server they are running, Apache blows
everyone away.  That means that big companies running big machines are
hosting a lot of sites.  When big capabilities and power are needed,
Apache gets the call.

And the number of windows desktops is skewed by the massive "low-end"
usage of just about everyone :)

James Rich
james@eaerich.com