Tolliver says that ports for all platforms should ship within 90 days of a major release, but the iPlanet Web site tells a very different story. The Sun platform is the alpha operating system, followed by NT, AIX, HP and Linux, in that order. Here the parentage of iPlanet becomes apparent. An independent iPlanet probably would apportion its development resources differently, but since much of the company's sales are generated through Sun Microsystems' sales staff, the priorities are what they are. To give iPlanet credit, however, we should note that when a software port is completed, it is done very well.
Ported products are feature-complete and fully tuned pieces of software.
That's not always the case with products delivered by iPlanet's competitors, which often support other platforms primarily in hopes of converting customers to the vendor's native platform. The entire staff of Network Computing extends their thoughts and prayers to the victims of this nationwide tragedy, their families and friends. Our support also goes to everyone working in the recovery efforts. If you wish to get involved through donations and volunteer work, we've compiled a list of government agencies and relief organizations. Let our Solution Center help you find everything from the physical layer to the application layer.