This is part of The Pile, a partial archive of some open source mailing lists and newsgroups.
To: Rafael <raffi@linwin.com> Subject: Re: [svlug] Maxtor - Crapstor Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 12:12:53 -0800 From: J C Lawrence <claw@kanga.nu> On Mon, 5 Mar 2001 15:54:59 -0800 (PST) Rafael <raffi@linwin.com> wrote: > I know which drives I WILL NOT order for home and office use! > http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-03-05-006-20-NW-MS-BD > "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." > "because of required software features?" DLL? Registry? > That was the only reason? The original MaxAttach boxes (acquired with the CDS acquisition) were FreeBSD based. The code is not pretty. This is not a fault of FreeBSD, but a fault of what CDS did to FreeBSD, and the simple fact of when they did it (FreeBSD, Samba etc were not as mature as they are now, CDS did not keep up with updates in the base products, etc). (I interviewed with CDS at that time) The decision to base the current round of MaxAttach systems on Windows SAK was a marketing decision, not a technical decision. If you consider the audience who buys MaxAttach, this makes sense. MaxAttach does not sell to technologists. The vast majority of MaxAttach sales are to SMB networks, and the marketing studies revealed that being *more friendly* to the Windows world, which encludes things like Active Directory was critically important. >2Gig files, Windows-like PDC/SDC setups. permissions, etc were also significant MARKETING driven aspects. Yeah, I know FreeBSD etc support >2Gig files, and Samba can do PDC/SDC sork etc, but the version of FreeBSD/SAMBA the MaxAttaches were based on is *OLD*, and the effort required to upgrade everything and rebuild the cute admin interfaces came out as being larger than the sales gains from just throwing Windows SAK on there and being able to ship and (more importantly) sell boxes N months earlier. FWIW it was the grimy levels of Linux integration into Windows networks, like Active Directory, that got marketing to kill the Linux project. The story is again simple: Maxtor is primarily selling MaxAttach into a Windows market. Selling a Windows based product is just *easier*, especially when selling to non-technical SOHO accounts. But hope is not lost. Maxtor realises that they have just cut most of the Unix market out of the audience for MaxAttach, not due to any religious fervour over OSes etc, but due to the simple fact of file access permission models and other integration and support issues. The Windows and Unix models are too different. Maxtor is aware that they are losing sales in this space (tho they are also gaining Windows sales). We now enter the space where I have to be careful over what I can and cannot say (Maxtor are my current clients and I'm under NDA etc). In particular I can't talk about future product plans, about research directions, etc. But, without going there, several things are obvious to even casual users: The small storage market (<TB) is well seeded and defined. There is money is in large storage systems (multi-TB). Multi-TB storage systems primarily sell to Unix shops. There is a definite (if smaller) market for Unix-friendly <TB Unix storage systems. Maxtor wants to sell product. (duh!) Now none of the above, encluding the CDS stuff, reveal anything that even casual observation wouldn't reveal, so please don't think you're getting an inside view. Heck, I'm a contractor -- I sure as heck don't have an inside view. It just shines a slightly different light on things than the marketing releases or slashdot coverage did. So what can I say from the inside? I have been successfully working to keep Linux involved in the loop. I've also been working to help make Linux the poster child and initial reference implementation for new technologies that Maxtor is considering. These things are actually happening. There's not much more than that I can say here other than the simple fact that Maxtor is being *VERY* friendly to the Linux community. You don't see that now, and you likely won't see it for a while (this stuff takes time to develop and there are NDA, IP, etc issues), but it is happening. ===