Erik,

>Additionally, Win2K web servers have cleaned the floor with Linux boxes in the recent benchmarks.

Some links please? And preferably from a benchmark that wasn't paid for by Microsoft? *smile*

Regardless of the benchmarks, I am sure you are right about Win2000 outperforming Linux on a $20,000 server. But most folks run Linux for things like firewalling or print-serving, and they are doing this on 486s with 32 MB of RAM. Will Win2K even install on such a box? A lot comes down to the fact that Linux can run in command-line mode, meaning it is lean and mean when it comes to resource requirements. Win2K has no such equivalent, and never shall.

Furthermore, kernel 2.4 in Linux will be _much_ better, as it will finally take advantage of more processors and so will work better on the higher-end hardware. Lack of good SMP support made Linux look bad in most recent benchmarks...

I tend not to hold a lot of stock in benchmarks, and will still think that way even when Linux is winning in all of them *grin*.

JoeK