Thousands of businesses in the United States and other parts of the world run the Unix operating system on their mission critical fileservers. They run Unix so that they can keep their critical information secure and to make sure that their systems run day in and day out without problems. Although the Windows operating system is very popular, here are some reasons why you should consider running it on Unix.

1. Reliability — If you are like most people, you have had problems keeping your PC running for an entire day; and this is just running some common applications like word processing, spreadsheets and e-mail. Why would you want your business reliant on an operating system that can't stay running for long periods of time? Unix systems have no problem running for months or sometimes even years without needing to be shut down. Try going to ‘www.google.com’ and typing in ‘Windows problems,’ and you will see almost 8 million hits associated with those two words.

2. Security — In February, Microsoft disclosed that there was a massive hole in its Windows operating system that it had known about for more than six months, but hadn't fixed until it was discovered and compromised by several hackers. We have had customers running their businesses on Unix for more than 13 years and we have yet to have even one security breach at one site. It is very hard, if not impossible, to “hack” into a Unix server.

3. Viruses — It seems that everyone knows somebody who has had their PC messed up because they unknowingly downloaded a virus to their computer. Many of these viruses are capable of spreading themselves to other Windows machines either on your network or through e-mail to anyone you have ever sent e-mail to in the past. Several of these viruses have caused businesses to lose millions of dollars of productivity and take days and/or weeks to fix and eradicate.

4. Networking — Unix servers plug right into existing networks and allow you to keep your invaluable information secure, while allowing you to mix and match dumb terminals, PC's, and thin client architecture any way you want. Windows cannot do this without adding additional software packages, if at all. Unix is also well suited to Wide Area Networking, which is addressed more in No. 5.

5. Scalability — With Unix, it is not uncommon to have a system with more than 1,000 workstations running more than 250 locations that has not had to reboot or shut down in 12 months. How many systems based on Windows can say that? If you put any value on “system uptime” then Unix becomes the hands down winner.

6. Cost of ownership — Unix systems can run the same version of the operating system for three to five years (or longer) with no additional investment in the operating system during that period of time. A typical 15 workstation Unix license costs about $1,500 (only $100 per workstation). Assuming five years of use from that license, that is only $20 per workstation per year; with no additional investment of time or money needed. Compare that to the upfront cost of a 15 workstation Windows network and then add the cost of additional software annually for virus protection, firewall protection, upgrades to the operating system; and then add time spent (wasted) downloading updates to the operating system, virus protection, and firewalls; and it ends up being a major amount of “hidden” overhead for your business.

Many companies (including Microsoft) spend millions of dollars each year trying to convince you to run your business on the Windows operating system. There are many reasons why this might not be the best option for your business, and it might be a good idea to look at other options.

Ray Bonestroo is president and founder of Minneapolis, Minn.-based Genisys Software, a developer of inventory management software for the rental industry. He can be reached at (800) 233-4095. www.genisys-software.com.