Both Microsoft and Apple have a Server product out there for you to use on your network. It has to said that Microsoft’s Server product offering is far bigger and more mature than Apples but then you’d expect that for a business trying to lead in all areas of the primary commercial IT space.
Also just to be clear. The Products I’m talking about here are Apple’s Leopard Server and Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008. Both run on intel CPU based hardware and both are designed to be suitable for the SME market and upwards. I’ll try and focus on significant differences and what they mean.
Licensing
Licensing is dealt with in a very different way be each company. Microsoft’s licensing model is notoriusly complex and they approach licensing in several different ways each with their own benefits and pitfalls. For example: User CALs are requried for each user and these are available as user or device CALs, There are academic versions, Enterprise versions, product specific versions.. I could go on.. but you get the idea. Apple (possibly quite sensibly) have only a single version of MAC OSX Server that makes all features of the product available to the owner and one other smaller option. For OSX Server these are the 2 basic types of license, one being a 10 user version and the other being unlimited. Its really that simple, no extra user or device CALs, easy!
Who wins out here.. Apple. A more basic licensing option but certainly easier for the end users and much less hassle.
Directory Services
Both products look wildly different and usually come at you from opposing perspectives but have many underlying similarities to their name. Both operate heavily on a directory service for servicing clients, authentication and security etc. Microsoft have their well known Active Directory and Apple have their lesser known Open directory. Both run their own version of something called a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) database.
This servces as the key repository for much of the systems information and both use the kerberos protocol for security. Both products offer a comprehensive toolset for managing client computers connected to the server, Mcirsooft with their Group Policy and Apple with their Managed Preferences – both allowing many of the client settings to be controlled from one single point (Neither offering any real cross platform support). Microsoft Directory Service is by far more advanced and allows for much more complex network environments and replication (forests, multiple domains, unique namespaces etc), its a true Enterprise solution scalable to a global level. Apples just isn’t as advanced.. its making inroads but has some way to go yet.
who wins out here.. Microsoft. Better in just about every way but does require a competant engineer to plan it for you.
File & Print Services
Both Server systems come with their own services for providing file and print services. By default windows Server 2008 supports SMB/CIFS file sharing aimed fairly and squarley at Windows clients. But does come with optional support for Services for Unix/Linux and Services for MAC.. both of these are ok but failry basic and do have some limitations. Mac OSX Server however is a different story.. it comes with support for SMB, FP, NFS (Unix/Linux) and even FTP. It does it all out of the box. Because it ships with this ready to go it is of course arguably easier to setup than the Windows equivalent – certainly more intuitive from a users perspective. In Windows services for Mac has never had a brilliant reputation and if your serious you should look at a third party product like ExtremeZ-IP.
who wins out here.. Apple. personally I’d argue that the Microsoft code is better for what it does but there is no denying the user experience so Apple nick it.
Internet Services and Web Technology
Both windows Server and Mac OSX Server have both come with built in web servers for years now. Microsoft have their product IIS (Internet Information Services) and Apple have Apache. There has been much debate over the years as to which one was best which is plastered all over the web. I think generally Apache was clear leader in terms of web based hosting and only recently (last 12 -18 months) have Microsoft really caught up. As of today I think it’d be very difficult to say which one is better, the only clear fact to differentiate the two is that most of the firtune 500 do use Microsofts product – go figure. Microsoft also include Windows Sharepoint services with their Operating system which is widely regarded as ‘Pretty good’.
who wins out here.. Microsoft. They just did it quicker and better.
Email, Messaging & collaberation
Both products come with basic email functionality but it does get a bit murky now as really with Windows Server you have to invest either Small Business Server or Exchange Server, both having their own price and cost implications. Apple ship OSX Server with a mail server, a chat server (iChat), a calender server (iCal) and also a way to manage contacts etc. This is most of the functionality of Exchange Server for free.. built in! This makes OSX Server very attractive from a value perspective. The only problem with this though is the quality of the applications and the support and integration factors. Exchange is now the industry standard email server and offers amazing flexibility with Outlook Web Access, Activeysnc, PUSH email (throw your blackberry out) and more.
who wins out here.. Microsoft. Their product is much better and more mature – just costs a few quid.
Virtualization
Apple OSX Server doesnt really have a robust virtualization platform. You can install third party tools to run client Operating Systems like Windows XP or Windows Vista (although in that case you should probably have a PC!) but it doesn’t have anything that you could call a serious hypervisor. Windows on the other hand.. Microsft crashed the virtualization party with HYPER-V and its already up there as one of the best and sits happily in the SME/Enterprise space for mission critical use. Apple are building their toolset and i’m sure will make an offering soon but as it stands, they simply cannot touch Microsft on virtualization.
who wins out here.. Microsoft. Not even a comparison really.
Security
Such a hot topic these days. Once upon a time we all looked own on windows as its was a bit patchy in places and wasn’t known for being the most secure platform. Apple fans would explain how they are immune from Viruses and malware – no longer the case by the way – and windows users would be scratching their heads wondering how to de-worm their re-booting computers. However.. while Apple were sleeping Microsoft snook in and hit them in face with a shovel. Mcirosoft’s commitment to secure code and regular patch schedule means their issues are less and when they have them do seem to be very quick to fix things. Apple.. Not so much and they have a very closed process. Perhaps its all about srutiny and perspective. I guess ford have more problems with their cars than Porsche do.. but then there are alot more Fords on the road right. The figures just don’t lie and Microsoft have a much better record in recent years than most. See the figures below for Vulnerabilies exposed in various Operatings System products in 2008.
What would you run your business on?
