World Wide Web and the Macintosh Louis Slothouber, Ph.D. lpslot@biap.com Chuck Shotton cshotton@biap.com Status - This paper provides information to the Internet community. Distribution of this document is unlimited. Abstract- We describe why a Macintosh running MacHTTP is the preferred hardware and software platform on which to build a World Wide Web site by contrasting the Macintosh platform against the alternatives (UNIX Workstations, and Windows PCs). This Macintosh preference is based upon price-performance, security, reliability, flexibility, and the ability to provide custom solutions. 1. What is the World Wide Web? The World Wide Web (WWW) is a low-cost, low overhead technology that permits almost any information to be published electronically on the Internet ‹today's information super highway. Catalogs, research papers, order forms, data bases, discussion forums, multimedia, software archives, books and periodicals; all can be published electronically and made immediately available to anyone in the world. All it takes is a single computer, connected to the Internet. The possibilities are endless. Organizations of any size can use the WWW to project a global presence by publishing their contact information, background, and product information. Businesses can rapidly publish catalogs and price lists with no paper publishing costs or delays. They can even take orders and perform credit card transactions on-line, via the WWW. Large corporations can use the WWW to connect the data resources of their various sites at a fraction of the conventional cost. Electronic publishing via the WWW has been called the Œ90s equivalent of the Desktop Publishing Revolution, and now is the time to get onboard. Why? Because the WWW has a global audience consisting of over 42,000 connected networks, and over 35 million users (and potential customers) with a 5%-10% monthly growth rate. The tools and infrastructure are in place and mature. Costs are low, and the potential return is high, and growing. 2. Clients and Servers Two kinds of computer software are needed to make the WWW work: clients and servers. A client program allows you to access the published content of the WWW, while a server program allows you to do the publishing. A number of client programs are available today, with new ones in constant development. Fortunately, many of these clients are free to the general public (e.g., Mosaic, MacWeb, NetScape). And many of these programs will run on multiple hardware platforms. So just about anyone with access to a computer can tap into the WWW. On the server side, however, things are much different. There are a relatively small number of server programs available, and each is designed for one of three hardware platforms: UNIX Workstations, Windows PCs, and the Macintosh. 2.1. UNIX Workstation Servers UNIX workstations are typically high performance, high cost machines. Because of the complexity and fragility of the UNIX operating system they require a significant amount of time to set-up and configure by a qualified UNIX system administrator. Usually, this administrator must be a full-time staff person whose sole job is to maintain ‹and certainly to modify‹ the system. UNIX workstations themselves range in price from $10,000 to $30,000. When one adds in the cost of a full-time administrator, they become expensive indeed. The original WWW servers were developed for UNIX workstations, and many commercial UNIX servers are available today. Like the platforms on which they run, these WWW servers typically require a great deal of effort to set-up and maintain. Further, UNIX WWW servers can only interact directly with text stream based applications (e.g., UNIX shell scripts). This means that the server cannot interact with other applications running on that same workstation (e.g., SQL data base, Lotus 1-2-3, etc.) without writing a custom C program to perform every interaction. 2.2. Window PC Servers Windows servers suffer from all of the afflictions of UNIX based servers, because that is what they are: UNIX servers that have been ported to Windows. However, because they do not have access to the facilities provided by UNIX they are even more limited. Windows based servers severely limit the number of simultaneous client connections, so they are not suited to high-volume WWW sites. They have only a vestigial ability to interact with most Windows applications via Perl scripts. And they have only minimal security support. Worst of all, because of known memory allocation problems, no Windows server can remain in continuous use for more than a few days before crashing the host machine. They are not recommended for production use, and will therefore not be considered further in this paper. 2.3. MacHTTP, the Macintosh Server MacHTTP  , the WWW server for the Macintosh provides the full functionality of commercial UNIX servers, and more, without any of the liabilities. MacHTTP was designed to work in the Macintosh environment, and is completely integrated with the Macintosh operating system; it is not a ported product. And, like most Macintosh products, it can be set-up and running in about five minutes by anyone; no systems administration experience is required. MacHTTP can even be installed and set-up remotely, over a network. MacHTTP Specifications € Native for 680x0 and Power Macs € Requires < 1M of memory to run € Implements HTTP/1.0 Standard € Multi-threaded transfers € Compatible with other MacTCP applications. € Completely scriptable and recordable. 3. Macintosh vs. UNIX Once you have decided to publish on the WWW, the next thing you have to decide is: what hardware and software do you want to use? This decision should be made based on: performance, cost, reliability, security, customer support, and flexibility. 3.1. Performance At first glance, one would think that UNIX workstations would be the clear performance winners over Macintosh. After all most UNIX workstations can out-perform most Macintosh models Ŭ. However, comparing the performance of a Macintosh and a workstation is like comparing apples and oranges. Instead, to compare apples to apples, you must compare price and performance together. For example, compare $11,000 worth of Macintoshes to $11,000 worth of UNIX workstations. Today, if you spend $11,000 you can buy either: six Power Mac 6100ıs, three Apple Workgroup Servers, or one low-end UNIX workstation. The multiple Macintoshes, working together, will outperform the single workstation every time. A single Mac Workgroup Server can serve between 6000 and 10,000 connections per hour, depending on the data being served and the network bandwidth. This is far more connections than the average WWW site sees in an entire day. 3.2. Cost Macintosh computers are an order of magnitude less expensive than UNIX workstations. When you consider the additional cost of UNIX systems administration, the Macintosh clearly provides more ³bang for your buck.² 3.3. Reliability For many potential WWW applications (e.g., on-line catalogs) downtime is not just an inconvenience, it costs money! While a Macintosh computer is, in general, no more or less reliable than the typical UNIX workstation, you can buy several Macs for less than the cost of a single workstation. When your one and only Unix workstation decides to bite the dust, youıre off the air until you get it fixed. But, if one of your many Macintosh servers goes down the rest are unaffected. They can continue to publish your information and service your customers. Macintosh computers running as dedicated WWW servers have demonstrated the ability to run unattended for months at a time, while Unix workstations performing the same functions are forced into periodic reboots by O/S bugs, kernel panics, and administrative downtime. A list of some of the most persistently available Mac servers on the Internet can be found at http://www.batnet.com/ape/. Many of these servers have been running since September '94 with NO downtime. 3.4. Security A Macintosh running MacHTTP is much more secure than any UNIX workstation. Because of the many documented security holes in the UNIX operating system, providing even minimal security often requires expensive or proprietary firewall software, and even more experienced UNIX system administrators. But a Macintosh on the Internet is not subject to unauthorized logins (a big UNIX security problem). Further, MacHTTP does not allow random access to the entire document tree. Only those files and documents that you want to publicize are available to the Internet community. 3.5. Support Customer support for most UNIX based WWW servers is limited to a few on-line documentation files. With some commercial servers you can ask questions by e-mail that may be answered a few days later. And, there are a few Internet news groups devoted to the topic, where other users may commiserate together. BIAP Systems, Inc. provides complete on-line support for MacHTTP including on-line documentation, answers to frequently asked questions, examples, tutorials, and personal support to registered users and clients. Usually, e-mail questions are answered within one hour, and always within twenty-four hours. There is a large on-line community of MacHTTP users who share tips and information in a dedicated e-mail forum. 3.6. Flexibility While UNIX based servers can only interact with text stream based applications, MacHTTP has no such limitation. A number of interface utilities already exist to link MacHTTP to data bases, text search engines, and to process credit card sales through the First Virtual Holdings, Inc. system. Furthermore, MacHTTP can use AppleScript (the Macintoshıs built in scripting language) to interact with any application on the Macintosh (i.e., spreadsheets, word processors, data bases), including custom applications. And no formal C programming is required. 4. Conclusion Now is the time to become a part of the World Wide Web, and the way to do it is with the Macintosh and MacHTTP. The desktop publishing revolution that started with the Macintosh will be carried onto the ³information super highway,² with the Macintosh as the platform of choice.