I’ve used 10.4 Server quite a bit over the last year, and I have to admit it wasn’t my favourite thing to do. It seemed like there were all these little tweaks, and hacks needed to do things that any linux server did in one command. I got suckered into buying it because I assumed that it’d be just as simple to use as OS X was.
Well, in hindsight that argument is partially true, but at the time I wanted to throw my web development server box out the freakin window. An article by John C. Welch over at macworld pretty much summed it up in one line, “if you’re an experienced administrator, you’ll likely be frustrated by the limitations in Apple’s GUI server tools; fortunately, OS X Server is based on Unix, so you can have all the control you want via the command line”. Thankfully, I just read this, because I’ve been seriously considering getting 10.5, and now I realize that it’s a cup of the same old crap that 10.4 server had going for it.
I wouldn’t call my self a unix guru by any strech of the imagination; however, I know my way around the command line. Unless, 10.5 Server fixed all the crappy “fake” *nix configurations that 10.4 had in place, I don’t see myself buying the upgrade. Things aren’t as they seem with Apple’s Server software; all their screenshots of the tools they “ship” with the software bundle provide anything “but” the apple experience. Ask anyone who tried to setup an OS X server as a DNS/nameserver and you’ll probably hear the same arguments. You better be ready to invest a lot of time, because it’s nothing like real *nix server distros. I think this is one apple product i’m not jonsing to upgrade, and trust me…that’s a first!
