I was wondering if there was any opportunity or future for Mac Hosting?

Doubtful, as far as hosting companies would go, unless Unix based on Mac platform.

Not much Mac has to offer in this arena (even though die hard Mackers will disagree). Development has not been done much for Macs, except for in-house hosting.

Thanks I just thought that there might be a market for it.

Mac hosting has it's place, it's just a very small market for the most part.

The Mac market is too small to be viable, especially for hosting. As it is, there are problems with Mac browsers that don't afflict others.

Macs are on the flip side of the security issue described at http://securityportal.com There are so few users that any security problem is likely to take quite a while to solve. That's one of the great advantages of Linux. Although Linux servers get tested and hit on more by crackers due to the easy availability of both Linux and Intel hardware, solutions are found faster than for other operating systems for the same reason, a large user base.

You might find a tiny market among dedicated Mac users, but why limit yourself to such a tiny market and be left on the side of the road of the information superhighway?

just thought i'd add my opinion. I think once OS X is released some mac hosts could pop up and the mac browsers will mature. The core of OS X is BSD/Unix with lots of NeXT.
An impressive looking new OS that might actually sway me to buy my first Apple since ][.

See:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/
http://macworld.zdnet.com/2000/09/13/beta.html
http://home.cnet.com/software/0-3717-7-2760864.html?tag=st.cn.sr.sw.1

I've used OS X server, which is pretty nice, although not as nice looking as the new OS X. I really like the ability to bring up a terminal, plus being able to telnet to the machine.

I hate to say it, but your're wrong when it comes to the security issue. Macs are MUCH more secure than any Linux box. It's the way the software is set up. Why do you think the US Army switched to Macs when their server was hacked? Also, folks probably dont remeber a contest that took place about two years ago, the challenge was to hack into a PowerMac, other than one reboot for DOS attacks, it never got hacked. There is a market for Mac hosting, and it's for Mac users. The scripting is easier (Applescript) than Perl.

Macintosh simply has a smaller user base. The techs who have been using Unix for years made it more popular because it was what they used. The question is where will NT be in ten years, becuase as far as I'm concerned it simply sux! Just my 2.5 cents!

Rob, agreed on the Mac security issues. Unfortunately, until Apple can fully promote Mac OSX (or whatever they plan to promote) as a fully fledged web server, they will be unable to overcome *nix/Apache's and NT's dominance on the market. In 10 years it might be a very different story, depending partly on Microsoft's breakup tale, but 10 years on the Net is eternity X 3.

OS X server performs very good, if I had the money I'd get a server running it. Soon enough I'll get full access to one though, a Dual CPU rig.

There is a Mac G4-based hosting company:

http://www.onthecatwalks.com

They offer QuickTime streaming and WebObjects deployment, of course! Virtual and dedicated servers.

- B :o)

Originally posted by BC
Rob, agreed on the Mac security issues. Unfortunately, until Apple can fully promote Mac OSX (or whatever they plan to promote) as a fully fledged web server, they will be unable to overcome *nix/Apache's...

Mac OS X is a *nix/Apache-based system. :)

Regarding security issues, Apple usually releases patches for security issues hours after they surface. The system can automatically update itself via the Software Update control panel with little or no user intervention (you can set it to check for security updates, etc, every couple of hours for example).

PHP, MySQL, and so on all run flawlessly under X. And for things like QuickTime streaming and WebObjects, the Mac is one of the best solutions out there. Many major concerts are also streamed using Mac OS X.

The only problem I see is that the hardware is rather expensive (although you get what you pay for IMHO).

The Macintosh, in my opinion, is a much more reliable alternative to NT or Linux....when I decided to start a web hosting comapny I had to decide on a platform to use and I had to convice my partner and some investors what platform to use...the decision was....well look for yourself....
http://onthecatwalks.com/farm.jpg

As fas as the security comments, when has Microsoft ever been known for their securtiy...their wonderful XP "the most secure operating system in the word" has major security defects....look at the new AOL bug with IM, "affects windows machines only" when was the last time a virus was reported for a mac??? 89,92?? ...and Linux is really overrated....we tried it before and I wasn't impressed, who has the time to deal with that maze they call an OS....and there is processing power...the G4 is much faster than any pentium and it has been proven multiple times. I liked an article i saw in some computer magazine..."We tried to bring you a comparison to Windows XP against Mac OS X but the PC crashed, so there you go!"

There are many "die-hard" mac fans, but we must remember one thing, all of us die hards used a PC before a Mac and we made a desicion based on that.

I leave you with this:

Where do you want to go today? A computer that works, a Mac!

You guys do realize this thread is more than a year old, right?

Peter

But you still read the post right =:-)

Originally posted by onthecatwalk
http://onthecatwalks.com/farm.jpg

That's a great site to see :)
I love mac's overall, but I have yet to playwith them on a server level. What's the average uptime like on them? Aside from thstandard patching and such, how do they compare in maintanance etc?

-Dan

Hmm.. what are you talking about?

I mean, what is Mac hosting? Is it hosting on a box with a Mac-OS? That would include Apache on Mac and it makes no sense to talk Mac hosting as opposed to Apache hosting does it?

Or do you mean WebObjects hosting? That's the real hosting thing from Apple, but with very small market share I'm afraid...

www.MOSR.com is told to be hosted on a mac and there's always something wrong with it, but I guess it's more like an incompetent sys admin rather than a platform problem ;)

They are very good on the server level with OS X server. I have never had any downtime other than power outages but when the power returns (if batteries are depleated) all the mac's restart and the DNS network restarts and with the help of applescripts the whole network is online again within seconds. Its great because we don't even have to be there to fix a powerfailier. After seeing what the Mac can do, i would never consider buying anything else!

3 days to Macworld San Francisco, I can't wait to watch the keynote video stream!

Mac hosting is hosting on Macintosh Machines Running the Mac OS. The market share thing is a myth...Macs are becoming more popular everyday. the new server os (Mac OS X server) is very popular. Apache and all the other services are intergrated into the OS, its more stable and reliable than Windows NT..Its just a better OS

The Big Secret Is Supposedly a Flat Panel iMac....Supposedly...Can't Wait To Find Out...Where Can I See The Video Stream??

While I'm excited about the new flat-panel iMac, I'd like to point out that this is a web hosting fourm, not a rumors forum. ;)

Originally posted by onthecatwalk
The market share thing is a myth...Macs are becoming more popular everyday. the new server os (Mac OS X server) is very popular. Apache and all the other services are intergrated into the OS, its more stable and reliable than Windows NT..Its just a better OS
Talking market share I was referring to WebObjects.

Oh sorry, read your post wrong! :-)

haha ... the iLamp <<< it's pretty cool though ... nice to have if I were a VIP of some corp or something.

uptime for Ox .... hmmm pretty darn good ... only crashes or problems besides gcc complier is still a little flaky have been caused by me.