This isn't really my typical bitch session about Microsoft but rather more of
an observation. I'm learning the "wonders" that are Windows 2003 and am going
over remote administration. I noticed a web based administration option that
you can install and thought it was a cool idea. Having been reminded about
Webmin on the
The Linux Link Techshow I had web administration fresh in my
mind. So, I installed it, checked it out, and found that it falls far shot of
being capable of what
Webmin is capable of. Webmin seems to have a module for
just about anything and everything you would typically want to modify remotely.
The list of
standard modules is impressive and then there are the
third party
modules on top of that. So far it seems the Microsoft Web Admin console
only lets you do things like change TCP/IP settings, rename the server,
administer IIS, modify Local Users and Groups (not domain ones), access and
modify event logs, set the date/time and reboot the system. On, you can setup
E-mail alerts too which is actually a very nice addition.
So, I'm not sure just when Windows 2003 Server was released but let's assume it
was released sometime in 2003 as the name suggests. Let's keep in mind that
Webmin was released initially in 1997. That makes Microsoft 6 years behind the
8-ball on this one. Now, granted, the first release of Webmin supposedly only
did DNS and nothing else but at this point it seems to be a very nice mature
product and blows the socks off of the MS equivalent. I saw on the Webmin
site that there is an alpha version of it for Win32, but I'm thinking Microsoft
may get theirs up to snuff before Webmin gets there.
Anyway, that was just my observation, that Microsoft is once again imitating
something else instead of coming up with real innovations of their own. Nothing
that we don't already know really. Even so, I'm glad to see that they are
taking into account the good things of other platforms and making an effort to
improve upon theirs.
As much as love Linux I don't want to see it dominate the world. The
competition between Windows and Linux forces both to improve in ways and at
rates that probably wouldn't be if only the one existed.
Well, enough of my useless babble. Time to study.