Because one size doesn't fit all, we didn't select an Editor's Choice award winner. One company's dream NOS is likely to be another's nightmare because of different goals, technical expertise and existing infrastructure. Reliability isn't on the list, though it may be the most important consideration. Reliability is more like a personality trait than a feature. Time will tell the reliability story, but keep in mind that the best feature set in the world is useless if the ISOS isn't reliable.
Core services consist of file, print, security, authentication and directory services.
This category provides a lot to swallow in one bite, but these items represent the basic services necessary to enable an ISOS in the enterprise. Including directory services in this list may raise some eyebrows, but we are convinced that directories are critical and that vendors need to articulate strategies that map their services into a company's directory service. Novell's NetWare 5.1 dominates the core-services space, and Novell's vision and product maturity are compelling. Marketplace predictions continue to point to Windows 2000 as the next dominant player, but Microsoft's single-platform concentration needs to be expanded to attract serious enterprise attention. We aren't too excited about the core-services offerings from Red Hat Linux Professional 6.2 or Solaris 8.