If people don't want to buy the separate one, they can use Microsoft Exchange as their mailing service. The cost for a Microsoft Exchange Server Enterprise Edition with 25 Client Access Licenses is about $3600.00. On the other hand, Unix comes with a program called sendmail. It's the most widely used software for the Unix users because it's free and it's very easy to use. Other than sendmail, there are also some other mail server software packages available for Unix such as exim and qmail. These programs are also free but not very user friendly. What about the labour cost and the maintenance fee for supporting the Window NT? Window NT requires a lot of administrators to manage it. Unix based networks require lesser labour to maintain than the Window NT. The estimated cost for setting up a Window NT network in a 10 users environment, including hardware, software and network management, would be about $9000. Annual cost of management and maintenance for Window NT Server network would be about $6700.
How reliable is the system? It is a concern for administrators. Although Window NT rarely crashes with entire system, it crashes with individual programs and subsystems often. Also, after installing every program or changing every setting, Window NT has to be rebooted. However, Unix servers are rebooted lesser than Window NT. Unix users have reported that it can run over one year without rebooting. Finding problems can be a very timely procedure. In Window NT, if there are errors, a blue screen with error messages will be shown up. It is often difficult to find the problems with either mystery or non-existent errors. In addition, virus tends to attack on Window NT's Intel-based hardware. For operating systems, like Window NT, that have to be booted from a hard-drive on Intel-based hardware, the Master Boot Record of a hard drive can be a one of the fatal problems of the operating systems. In comparison, Unix can load a compressed kernel from a boot floppy to avoid this problem.
