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144 lines
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<title>Twisting in the Wind LG #41</title>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0000AF"
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ALINK="#FF0000">
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">Will Microsoft leave Mindcraft twisting slowly, slowly in the wind?</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:esr@snark.thyrsus.com">Eric S. Raymond</a></H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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Microsoft's latest FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) tactic may be backfiring.
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<P>
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A 21 April ITWeb story [1] reported results by a benchmarking shop
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called Mindcraft that supposedly showed NT to be faster than Linux at
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SMB and Web service. The story also claimed that technical support
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for tuning the Linux system had been impossible to find.
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<P>
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Previous independent benchmarks (such as [2]) have found Linux and
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other Unixes to be dramatically faster and more efficient than NT, and
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independent observers (beginning with a celebrated InfoWorld article in
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1998 [3]) have lauded the Linux community's responsiveness to support
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problems. Linux fans smelled a rat somewhere (uttering responses
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typfied by [4]), and amidst the ensuing storm of protest some
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interesting facts came to light.
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<P>
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1. The benchmark had been paid for by Microsoft. The Mindcraft press
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release failed to mention this fact.
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<P>
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2. Mindcraft did in fact get a useful answer [5] to its request for
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help tuning the Linux system. But they did not answer the request for
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more information, neither did they follow the tuning suggestions given
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Also, they forged the reply email address to conceal themselves --
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the connection was made after the fact by a Usenetter who noticed that
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the unusual machine configuration described in the request exactly matched
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that of the test system in the Mindcraft results.
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<P>
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3. Red Hat, the Linux distributor Mindcraft says it asked for help,
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reports that it got one phone call from them on the installation-help
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line, which isn't supposed to answer post-installation questions about
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things like advanced server tuning. Evidently Mindcraft's efforts to
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get help tuning the system were feeble -- at best incompetent, at
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worst cynical gestures.
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<P>
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4. An entertainingly-written article [6] by the head of the
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development team for Samba (one of the key pieces of Linux software
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involved in the benchmark) described how Mindcraft could have done a
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better job of tuning. The article revealed that one of Mindcraft's
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Samba tweaks had the effect of slowing their Linux down quite drastically.
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<P>
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5. Another Usenet article [7] independently pointed out that Mindcraft had
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deliberately chosen a logging format that imposed a lot of overhead on
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Apache (the web sever used for the Linux tests).
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<P>
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So far, so sordid -- a fairly standard tale of Microsoft paying to get
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exactly the FUD it wants from a nominally independent third party.
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But the story took a strange turn today (22 Mar) when Microsoft
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spokesperson Ian Hatton effectively admitted [8] that the test had
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been rigged! "A very highly-tuned NT server" Mr. Hatton said "was
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pitted against a very poorly tuned Linux server".
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<P>
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He then attempted to spin the whole episode around by complaining that
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Microsoft and its PR company had received "malicious and obscene"
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email from Linux fans and slamming this supposed "unprofessionalism".
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One wonders if Hatton believes it would be "unprofessional" to address
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strong language to a burglar caught in the act of nipping the family
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silver.
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<P>
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In any case, Microsoft's underhanded tactics seem (as with its clumsy
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"astroturf" campaign against the DOJ lawsuit) likely to come back to
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haunt it. The trade press had largely greeted the Mindcraft results with
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yawns and skepticism even before Hatton's admission. And it's hard to
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see how Microsoft will be able to credibly quote anti-Linux benchmarks
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in the future after this fiasco.
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<P>
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[1] "Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 out performs Linux"<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/1999/9904211045.asp">
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http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/computing/1999/9904211045.asp</A>
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<P>
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[2] "Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX"<BR>
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<A
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HREF="http://www.kirch.net/unix-nt.html">http://www.kirch.net/unix-nt.html</A>
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<P>
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[3] "1997 Product of the Year"<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayTC.pl?/97poy.supp.htm">
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http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayTC.pl?/97poy.supp.htm</A>
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<P>
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[4] "Mindcraft Reality Check"<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.linux-hw.com/~eric/mindcraft.html">
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http://www.linux-hw.com/~eric/mindcraft.html</A>
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<P>
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[5] "Re: Need help with performance"<BR>
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<A HREF="http://x14.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=453900037&CONTEXT=924792680.312 147973&hitnum=7">
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http://x14.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=453900037&CONTEXT=924792680.312 147973&hitnum=7</A>
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<P>
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[6] "Trust no one: How Mindcraft could have made a better Linux file
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server"<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-1999-04/lw-04-mindcraft.html">
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http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-1999-04/lw-04-mindcraft.html</A>
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<P>
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[7] "It's the old DNS logging trick, Re: Is NT really 3.7 times faster than
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Linux?"<BR>
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<A HREF="http://x13.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=qs]/getdoc.xp?AN=469420638&CONTEXT=924804285.163 6696091&hitnum=6">
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http://x13.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=qs]/getdoc.xp?AN=469420638&CONTEXT=924804285.163 6696091&hitnum=6</A>
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<P>
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[8] "Outrage at Microsoft's independent, yet sponsored NT 4.0/Linux
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research"<BR>
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<A HREF="http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/enterprise/1999/9904221410.asp">
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http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/enterprise/1999/9904221410.asp</A>
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<P>
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<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr">Eric S. Raymond</a>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1999, Eric S. Raymond <BR>
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Published in Issue 41 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, May 1999</H5></center>
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