“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.”
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