Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Why Apple compare Apache on OS X with IIS on NT

Author:Chuck Shotton
Posted:3/19/1999; 7:01:24 AM
Topic:Why Apple compare Apache on OS X with IIS on NT
Msg #:4280 (In response to 4276)
Prev/Next:4278 / 4281

This is the Apache that Apple would make? It runs on Mac hardware, supports Mac users, but it is not Mac. Also a little advance leaking would have helped them here too. And they could have let developers know that their products are still welcome, assuming they still are. We still don't know the answer to that question.

That assumes that the thought even crossed someone's mind at Apple. It's been clear for years and years that Apple cares nothing about competing with their developer community. If someone inside Apple becomes enamoured with a technology from outside the company, you can rest assured that their aversion to paying for outside technology will ensure an Apple-funded development effort to reinvent a version that they own. Even if it means cannibalizing their own developers to the point that they walk away from the platform.

"Apache" is just a buzzword that some marketing guy inside Apple decided they had to have on their feature checklist. It's certainly not the best server solution that they could have come up with by any stretch.

But I think the most telling aspect of this whole Mac OS X Server "event" is the fact that they open sourced the bulk of its code. While it makes for great press release fodder, I have to believe that the true reason follows Netscape's rationale for open sourcing Navigator. They want out of the business of developing and supporting that code. It's ironic (but not unexpected) that they appear to have made the decision to kill that platform at the same time they released the first version of it. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves, IMO.

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