Unix Versus NT: Strengths And Weaknesses
		Unix Strengths:
		Scalability	Proven to scale in very large environments Used on various hardware platforms, from workstations to supercomputers
		Mature platform	Forms of Unix have been in place for more than 20 years Offer s a variety of software, development toolkits and utilities Plenty of free software available--particularly Internet services Available on nearly every hardware platform (from PCs and RISC systems to mainframes)
		Management	Managed at a very low level through a character-based interface, making it easy to access all administrative functions remotely X Windows is network-enabled, letting any GUI utilities be accessed remotely Can be implemented in turnkey systems using simple GUI interfaces
		Large-scale directory services	Lacks a standard directory service, but products like NIS, NIS+ and DCE directory services integrate closely with the OS and offer Unix-specific schemas by default
		Unix Weaknesses:
		Not standardized	More Unix vendors and incompatible versions of Unix than can be named in one article Applications written to one environment must be ported to another Most portable Unix apps are not multithreaded
		Cost--capital	Scalable, high-performance RISC solutions are very expensive compared to PC hardware
		Cost--management	C omplex OS requires experienced administrators Most versions have simplified installation processes and each vendor offers different management utilities
		NT Strengths:
		Low cost	Primary mar ket for NT is the PC platform
		Standardization	Controlled by a single vendor (Microsoft)--all versions of NT share the same APIs and system calls; most NT applications are multithreaded
		Multiplatform support	Available on multiple platforms (x86 and Alpha); standardized APIs mean that porting to another NT version means a simple recompilation
		Strong ISV support	Software vendors strongly support NT, resulting in a large software library
		Cost--administration	Driven by relatively easy-to-use GUI utilities Standardized GUI
		Client/Server	Offers both a NOS and application server solution out of the box
		NT Weaknesses:
		Scalability	Tied to PC platform Available for Digital Alpha, but most applications focus on the dominant PC market Scalability is largely driven by the Intel architecture
		Scripting	Lack of solid scripting utilities and character-based apps
		Remote management	Managing an NT server remotely requires specialized GUI utilities Severely restricted functionality, if limited to a character-based interface
		Directory services	Limited to NT domains, which don't tie into non-NT networking

Windows NT Versus Unix: The Chase Is On by Dan Backman For a comparison ofWindows NT and Unix Dial "D" For Directory Service RFP: Nine Solutions for an ATM Upgrade by Joel Conover Updated May 12, 1997