NYC LOCAL: Thursday 26 August 2004 UNIGROUP: Tony Iams on Migrating From Windows NT 4.0: Linux or Windows Server?

<blockquote
  what="official UNIGROUP announcement">

Unigroup's August Meeting is this Thursday, and a Field Trip to
Microsoft...  no kidding... read on...

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UNIGROUP OF NEW YORK - UNIX USERS GROUP - AUGUST 2004 MEETING
=============================================================

   ---------------------------------------------------
1. UNIGROUP'S AUGUST 2004 GENERAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
   ---------------------------------------------------

      When:  THURSDAY, August 26th, 2004        (** SPECIAL DAY/TIME **)

     Where:  <<<< FIELD TRIP LOCATION >>>>
             NYeWin Meeting at Microsoft
             1290 Sixth Avenue   (at 51st Street)
             Midtown, New York City
             ** RSVP Will Be Required for Entry! **

      Time:  6:00 PM - 8:30 PM  Joint Meeting   (** EARLIER MEETING **)

             -------------------------------------------------------
     Topic:  Joint Meeting with NYeWIN (NY Windows Enterprise
             Windows Group):
             Migrating From Windows NT 4.0: Linux or Windows Server?
             -------------------------------------------------------

   Speaker:  Tony Iams, Vice President and Senior Analyst,
             D.H. Brown Associates, Inc.


   INTRODUCTIONS:
   --------------

   Unigroup was invited by our friends at NYeWin, to participate in
   NYeWin's August meeting on "Migrating From Windows NT 4.0".  The
   meeting will specifically discuss and compare migrations from Windows
   to Windows, and from Windows to Linux.  NYeWin is the NY Enterprise
   Windows User Group, and their regular meeting location is at
   Microsoft's Conference Facility in Midtown.

   Why hold a joint meeting?
     - Unigroup members may find the subject matter useful, since it is
       Linux related, will represent a neutral third party analysis, and
       as such, may be reflective of overall industry trends
       (or perceived trends that appear in the trade magazines).
     - Unigroup members will be able to provide practical experience and
       a unique perspective to this meeting, since many regular attendees
       of NYeWin have never used Linux or Unix (ie. they do not know what
       they are missing :-)).
     - Many Unigroup members work in cross-platform environments, and
       migrations of this type may be of paramount concern.  One thing
       is for sure, NT4 is classified as "mostly unsupported".
     - We were invited, and it will be a good way for people from both
       users groups to meet and hopefully learn from each other.

   Attendees of the recent Unigroup Field Trip meeting to IBM will
   remember Tony Iams as the guest speaker who briefed us about the IBM
   AIX User Conference that he had just attended. Tony provided us with
   some insight as to the "feel" of the AIX community, and the operating
   system features that both IBM and their AIX user community were most
   interested in at this conference.  Tony Iams, who works for a neutral
   third party research firm, will be the speaker at our August Joint
   Meeting with NYeWin.

   This joint meeting will be free and open to the public!
   RSVP will be required (see below).

   Other notes: Given a holiday conflict in September, our normal
   3rd Thursday meeting will have to be moved (or canceled).
   We are not yet sure when it will wind up, but we will let you know.
   Other Unigroup Meeting dates to hold open:
     October 21, 2004; November 18, 2004; January 21, 2005.

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   SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
   ---------------------

   To REGISTER for this event, please RSVP by using the Unigroup
   Registration Page:
         http://www.unigroup.org/unigroup-rsvp.html
   This will allow us to automate the registration process.
   (Registration will also add you to our mailing list.)

   Please continue to check the Unigroup web site and meeting page,
   for any last minute updates concerning this meeting.  If you
   registered for this meeting, please check your email for any
   last minute announcements as the meeting approaches.

   Please register as soon as possible.  RSVP deadline is Wednesday,
   25-AUG-2004.

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   Outline of the Main Presentation:
   ---------------------------------

   Extract from the NYeWin announcement, if it sounds windows-centric,
   that is the reason...

   Microsoft will end its full support for Windows NT 4.0 at the end of
   this year, forcing users to migrate to a new platform or risk
   depending on an unsupported platform.  Some vendors are attempting to
   make the case that NT 4.0 users should migrate to a Linux-based
   operating system instead of migrating to Windows Server 2003.  In
   attempting to make this case, the vendors are making claims of
   cost-savings and easy migration paths, which may lead some Windows NT
   4.0 users to consider the Linux alternative.  This session will provide
   an in-depth review of the issues with migrating from Windows NT 4.0 to
   Linux from the perspective of real users experiences, comparing the
   migration from NT 4.0 to Linux with the migration to Windows Server
   2003.

   Some of the questions that will be address include the following:
     - Why are users considering the migration from Windows NT 4.0 to
       Linux?
     - What benefits does the migration from Windows NT 4.0 to Linux
       offer?
     - What benefits does the migration to Windows Server 2003 offer?
     - How easy is the migration from Windows NT 4.0 to Linux?
     - How does it compare with the migration to Windows Server 2003?
     - What experiences have users had who have already made the
       migration from Windows NT 4.0 to Linux? How do they compare with
       the experiences of users who have migrated to Windows Server 2003?

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   Speaker Biography:
   ------------------

   From the D.H. Brown web site
     http://www.dhbrown.com/dhbrown/staffbios2.htm#tonyi:

   Tony Iams is Vice President and Senior Analyst at D.H. Brown
   Associates, Inc., where he manages the Systems Software (SS) and
   Operating Environment for Industry Standard Servers (OEISS) research
   programs. With his team of DHBA analysts, he focuses on evaluating and
   contrasting the features and functions of the leading operating system
   and virtualization technologies in use today. By applying a detailed
   analysis methodology, the team identifies strengths and weaknesses of
   current products and guides IT decision makers on the most effective
   system software technology choices. In addition to building an
   in-depth understanding of the functional tradeoffs between UNIX,
   Windows, and Linux operating systems, the group's research focuses on
   the issues related to decoupling workloads from details about the
   underlying operating system (OS) and hardware (HW) platforms, so that
   resources can be matched with workloads more flexibly. The key
   virtualization technologies covered include logical partitions,
   resource management software, virtual machines, and Grid computing.

   Before joining DHBA in 1992, Tony worked as a software engineer at
   Computer Graphics Laboratories, Inc., where he developed applications
   for UNIX and Windows platforms. During that time, he also served as
   adjunct instructor for introductory programming in the Computer
   Science Department at New York Institute of Technology. Tony graduated
   from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. in Applied
   Mathematics/Computer Science and a double major in German.

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   Company Biography:
   ------------------

   From the D.H. Brown web site
     http://www.dhbrown.com/dhbrown/aboutDHBA.cfm:

   D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. (DHBA) is a leading research and
   consulting firm that provides strategic analysis, assessment, and
   evaluation of technologies, products, and market trends in the
   Information Industry. DHBA concentrates on thoroughly understanding
   and continuously updating its knowledge of the core technologies and
   trends underlying current and future products.

   -------------------------------------------------------------------

   Giveaways:
   ----------

   To be determined.  We have a request for a software giveaway in
   place, but we have not heard back as yet.

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   Fee Schedule:
   -------------

       !! THIS MEETING IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC !!

       Unigroup Membership Information:
       Yearly Membership (includes all meetings):      $ 50.00
       Student Yearly Membership:                      $ 20.00
       Payment Methods: Cash, Check, American Express.

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   Food and Refreshments:

   To be determined.  So far we do NOT expect to have food and
   refreshments at this meeting... Please plan accordingly.

   We will let you know if things change.

   -------------------------------------------------------------------

   Directions:

     ** FIELD TRIP LOCATION **
        NYeWin Meeting at Microsoft
        1290 Avenue of the Americas (aka 6th Avenue)  (at 51st Street)
        Midtown, New York City

     This building is one block south of the Hilton (and across the
     street), and is right across the street from the North side
     of Radio City Music Hall.

     You will have to check in with the guards at the front lobby desk
     before proceeding to the left corridor, taking it to the end,
     and the elevator banks on your right.  Take elevators up to
     Microsoft.

     You'll see the reception main desk beyond the glass doors.  The
     meetings tend to be in the meeting rooms situated behind that
     desk (behind the wall).  Look for signs and/or try the hallway
     to the right of the desk first, otherwise try around towards the
     left.  Doors will open into a large meeting room.

   -------------------------------------------------------------------

   Please mark this meeting on your calendar and join us!
   Please tell your friends about Unigroup!

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   --------------------
2. UNIGROUP INFORMATION
   --------------------

   Unigroup is one of the oldest and largest Unix User's Groups serving
   the Greater New York City Regional Area since the early 1980s.  Unigroup
   is a not-for-profit, vendor-neutral and member funded volunteer
   organization.  Unigroup holds regular and special event meetings
   throughout the year on technical topics relating to Unix and the Unix
   User Community.  Unigroup is also the Greater NYC Regional Area Affiliate
   of UniForum - an International Unix Users Group.

   Unigroup holds regular meetings planned for (at a minimum) the Third
   THURSDAY of Odd Months.  We generally try to hold Field Trip Meetings
   (also known as Vendor Specific Meetings) on the Even Months, although
   we will have the ability to hold monthly meetings at our new downtown
   meeting location.

   Planned meeting dates are: 8/26/2004 (joint), 9/??/2004, 10/21/2004...
   Watch for our Special Event meetings at the various trade shows in NYC
   as well as "Field Trips" to the facilities of local hardware and
   software vendors.

   =========================================================================
   = For Unigroup Information, Events and Meeting Announcements be sure to =
   = visit our World Wide Web Home Page:                                   =
   =       http://www.unigroup.org                                         =
   =========================================================================

   For further information or to get on the Unigroup Electronic Mail Mailing
   List send an EMail message to:
        unilist@xxxxxxxxxxxx

   To contact the Board of Directors of Unigroup, send an EMail message to:
        uniboard@xxxxxxxxxxxx

   To contact the Newsletter Editor, send an EMail message to:
        editor@xxxxxxxxxxxx

   If you have recently attended a meeting and you are not receiving
   Email announcements, please send us an Email and we will make
   corrections to our lists.

   Please Email the Board with any suggestions, especially potential
   meeting topics and speakers.  Unigroup welcomes contributions and
   content suggestions for our newsletter.  Unigroup is a volunteer
   organization and we need your assistance!  Please let us know if you
   can help!

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I hope to see you all at our next meeting!

-Rob Weiner
 Unigroup Executive Director
 unilist@xxxxxxxxxxxx
 http://www.unigroup.org

</blockquote>


Distributed poC TINC:

Jay Sulzberger <secretary@xxxxxxxx>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org