:CNET News.com: Maxtor picks Windows, dumps open source
CNET News.com: Maxtor picks Windows, dumps open source Mar 5, 2001, 15 :21 UTC (37 Talkback[s]) (12776 reads) (Other stories by Stephen Shankland)
"The company's new MaxAttach 4100 uses a custom version of Windows 2000 that manufacturers can shape to their
own needs when making special-purpose servers called "server appliances." Maxtor chose it over the no-cost,
open-source FreeBSD, the operating system used in the MaxAttach 4000, because of required software features, said
Steve Williams, Maxtor's product marketing director."
"FreeBSD did not support large file sizes, Macintosh and newer Novell file systems, or backup and management
software from companies such as OpenView, Tivoli and Microsoft, Williams said. "
"The news is sour for advocates of
open-source technology, who
argue that their cooperative
development model is more
responsive to customer needs than
the proprietary philosophy that
underlies Microsoft products."
"The Linux operating system is the
highest-profile open-source
project, but FreeBSD has a strong
following as well. There are some
differences between the two
projects, however: Changes to the
heart of Linux must be published
publicly by anyone distributing the
software, but changes to FreeBSD
may be kept secret. This
difference makes FreeBSD popular
for companies that wish to add
their own proprietary code to the
mixture."
