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InterOffice Memo
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| bet | 18/27 | | Sana | 19.03.2017 | | Hajmi | 3.19 Mb. | | #225 |
Figure 8: Microsoft Internet FTP Server Usage: November 1, 1993-Jan 10,1994
Mind- and Marketshare
The operating system that has received the credit for driving the Internet infostructure is unquestionably Unix. Nearly every FTP, Gopher and WWW server on the Internet is running some variant of Unix15. Initial client and server availability for any of these protocols have been developed exclusively on Unix as well. The “best Internet navigation tools” are the domain of the X Windows system on Unix and to the Apple Macintosh running MacTCP. The word on the Internet is that if you want to bring a server online, buy a Unix. If you want to get a cool Internet client, use Unix or better yet - buy a Macintosh. The industry standardization of the Windows Sockets API16 has increased the availability of the tools for the Windows 3.x platform, but the “Internet==Unix” attitude is still dominant in this community, the quality of the Windows-based tools is very poor. Of the 500 highly technical engineering professionals that attended the last IETF17 meeting, I encountered exactly 2 Sun SparcBooks running SunOS, one Intel/Windows system, and over 40 Macintoshes (oh yes, my laptop was the only one running NT).
The work done by our team position both Daytona and Chicago very well to shatter these Unix-biased perceptions. With built in TCP/IP, dialup connectivity via SLIP18/PPP19 and Windows Sockets support, we will deliver millions of “Internet-ready” systems to the masses in 1994. Assuming that Web, Gopher and FTP systems are being added as information servers at the rate of 100s/month in 1994, there is a clear opportunity to influence mindshare and establish market presence. The “Internet information server” is an specific market where Windows NT falls shy to Unix today. If teachers, journalists, researchers and hobbyists are looking for the best system to connect to the Internet, the answer should be Chicago or Daytona. The “Internet explorer system” is a specific area where Windows falls shy to Macintosh today. By providing the technology to drive these exciting new services and to connect to the Internet easily, we stand to increase mind- and marketshare in areas which we have fallen short in the past. We have the opportunity to start displacing these highly visible Unix systems by adding the power and ease of Windows NT to administrators of current Internet servers.
I should point out that the dominance of Unix and Macintosh in these areas is a direct result of their historical presence in the academic community. With the exception of Apple’s involvement with the WAIS technology, Apple, Novell, and AT&T have contributed near-zero to these efforts that has enhanced the value and presence of their systems on the Internet. Most Internet users are far from married to the Mac or Unix; by taking a leadership approach in the integration of Internet connectivity, messenging and exploration with the Windows family, we will win new users and current users will be more willing to migrate away from these competitive platforms. A title from a recent PC Week article: “Setting up the Web servers: Installing Unix is the toughest part”
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