We look after 4500 patients using Vision running on Windows 3.11
on top of Netware 3.12 - steady as a rock (Netware that is) and
the only time it has ever fallen over was after a power cut. I
share Midge's admiration for the stability of this operating
system.
My dilemma is as follows:
YK2 issues mean the dedicated server and two workstations need
upgrading. After the hardware upgrade I had planned to keep
Netware but upgrade to Win95 on the workstations so as to network
more efficiently, with a view to moving across to NT5 as a single
platform in the millenium (one hopes!)
My HA are keen to push NHS net. As I do not want a simple stand
alone connection and I want more that one email address, I am
being presenting with only one option. This is NT4 with an MTA
solution mediated through MS exchange. If there are other ways of
doing it the HA will not fund them. We are only two doctors and
my partner is not heavily into IT and I cannot help but think
that MS exchange is overkill. I can manage simple housekeeping
functions with Netware myself, but I dread the thought of trying
to maintain NT exchange (especially after AM's comments).
Notwithstanding that, I can probably include the whole upgrade
(including the hardware) under the umbrella of NHS net connection
at 100% reimbursement rate.
My suppliers are barely able to offer an NT platform for Vision
yet alone an MTA solution and I suspect I will finish up being a
cheap beta site for both of these.
Horses for courses I know, but I would be interested to hear
peoples opinion. What are my alternatives?
Laurie Slater
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Adrian Midgley
Sent: 31 October 1998 12:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Windows 2000
Amazing what MS will do to ensure a higher version number than
Netware
- who have now released version 5, which runs the IP protocol as
its
native networking protocol, is actually here, not in beta, and
builds
on an installed base twice the size of NT.
I had to down my Netware 3.12 server (the 386 machine with 28
MBytes of
RAM) yesterday, after 233 days continuous running...
WHy? To move it so as to give more space in the server kitchen
and
hynotherapy room.
NT servers, I am informed, are rarely 386s and are unlikely to
run for
so long uninterrupted.
Which NT-using clinical systems do we have so far that use the
server
for anything other than file and print services - at which NT is
less
good than Netware?
Only those actually running server processes that minimise the
amount
of data sent over thenetwork have any excuse for either using NT
or
specifying high end server hardware.
"NT - user friendly as a cornered rat" is the tagline I had heard
suggested.
However, Netware have not yet cracked the last hurdle, AFAIK it
is
still not possible to play Solitaire on the server console
without
installing additional software.
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