Re: POSIX subsystem
"Can't recall anything ever wrong with it? It outperformed Linux as an NFS Server last time I tested it!"
Quite the reverse in my experience - a 486DX2-66 with an IDE drive running a 1.2.x kernel spanked the NT 3.51 and NT 4.0 installs on a Pentium Pro with 8x the memory, 4x the clock speed and 4 way striped UltraSCSI drives (Adaptec 3940UW). NT had some serious flaws with respect to file system performance back then.
In fairness I can accept that your mileage varied, we had some fairly extreme use cases - zillions of little files and lots of massive (for the time) files, nothing "average". :)
The POSIX subsystem was a huge disappointment, mainly because the performance conform to a typical POSIX/UNIX coder's experience. Processes were slow to start, context switching was very slow in NT, UNIX apps tend to presume the opposite, Paging & Memory mapped I/O was cripplingly expensive too.
MS have moved NT along over time - but it's been rare that NT has been the quickest or most efficient option. YMMV
Biting the hand that feeds IT
