Advice --> Windows Server or OS X Server?

[flint]

Looking for advice. We are in the final planning stages for launching our FM solution which has both an important IWP component and locally attached FM users. We are running FM Server 8 Advanced and are pleased with the IWP response to most challenges.

I have two idle Windows Servers with plenty of memory of which I would dedicate one. I can submit for budget approval for a MAC server running OS X. Does anyone feel there is a benefit to one platform over the other? I am partial to MAC but need the justification for the budget approval.

[xochi]

(Note: it's "Mac" as in "Macintosh" not "MAC" as an acronym. Most Mac users get all bent out of shape when they see MAC instead of Mac.)

I personally am partial to mac servers running filemaker, and a reading of the forums here for several years leads me to a conclusion that they may be (slightly) more stable than the average windows server for this usage. I'm sure a lot of the real world experiences depend on control -- who is in charge of the server? Your comment about using "idle windows servers" would make me worry that these servers may not be fully dedicated to the task, in which case getting a brand new server (mac or windows) may be best.

A major issue for me is security, and with the real-world viruses, worms, and trojans for windows numbering in the thousands, and the # on mac still (thankfully) at zero, it seems like a powerful argument for mac.

But otherwise, I'm not sure how to justify mac vs.windows...

[Linux on Unix Action Hero]

If we're looking solely at the performance of the OS (as the hardware is, for all intents and purposes, the same), I'd highly recommend -against- OS X. There have been studies done on OSX's ability to handle applications which utilize a large number of threads - such as any database application. Short

This article talks about it more:

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=2436&p=8

I have no idea how Windows compares to OS X with respect to thread handling, but my personal experience is that Windows isn't that much worse than Linux in most instances, but for the cost of an Xserve, I'd say use what you're familiar with, from a vendor you normally use.