snip
> While this might not seem like a big deal, it is actually probably the
> biggest problem with Linux’s ability to compete in the enterprise right
> now. On Windows NT, the network driver write path is serialized by NT's
> NDIS network driver library, and this alone has put an upper ceiling on
> NT's ability to scale and to compete with Solaris. Microsoft is addressing
> this in NT 5 (and NT 4SP4) by deserializing the NIC write path. My point
> is that just serializing the network driver is enough to affect
> scalability - try to imagine what effect serializing the entire read and
> write paths has.
This all may be quite true, but it just doesn't explain to me why the
junk hardware that I get to run Linux on just kicks the crap out of NT
on brand new high end hardware. There's theory and then there's real
world observations.
snip
> Thus, there are a number of critical areas that must be addressed before
> Linux can be considered to have a real (competitive) kernel-mode threads
> implementation and a scalable SMP architecture. And until it has these
> things Linux cannot compete in the enterprise with UNIX rivals or with
> Window NT.
OK, but those are pretty specialized markets. I believe that the "mass
market" Microsoft lesson has been learned quite well and Linux is well
poised to force its way into becoming a "standard" by its virtue of
running well _now_ on hardware that already exists today, all of the old
386's, 486's and low end pentiums that are inadequate for running Windows.
There are tons of these machines out there and they're gonna last for
years. Not to mention all the other architectures...
Add that to all the countries who do not wish to build their computing
infrastructures upon US products and then consider that the Internet is a
_global_ network which will not let MS dictate standards and I'd say Linux
is in great shape, regardless of its current technical status in
specialized areas.
I think a lot of these things are slated for 2.3 anyway and by
the time that tree gets stabilized I'm sure SMP and clustered
machines won't be such a niche market.
> Mark Russinovich, Ph.D.
> Windows NT Internals Columnist, Windows NT Magazine
> http://www.winntmag.com
> The Systems Internals Home Page
> http://www.sysinternals.com
Is he the sort of Ph.D. to whom you listen carefully, but don't
actually let touch anything? ;-)
Thanks for the article, good reading.
Regards,
Eric
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