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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for the heads up Andreas but I will say this
is a serious</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>disappointment.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Andreas I'll say this at the beginning as it quite
a long mail:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would really appreciate if you could forward this
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>to Sean as</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I sincerely want to see BF2 be as successful
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>as it possibly</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>can be and its our opinion that without a quality
linux server</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>on release that this will </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>not be the case.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I can only point to the recent release of MOH:PA
which is not</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>a bad game but due to the terrible quality of
the </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>current win32</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>server and no current linux server there are only
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>97 servers</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>listed world wide in ASE.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I cant emphasise enough the importance of a quality
server and</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>a *nix based server on release. As a GSP if you
need any</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>figures we can provide. As it stands out of 90
machines we</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>run as game servers only 16 are windows based or
put</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>another way only ~60Ghz of the ~ 700Ghz or
processing</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>power. Why?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There are a number of reasons here are some key
ones:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Windows boxes fail and need rebooting on a
regular</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>basis where as in our case BSD boxes don't. The
numbers:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Avg BSD uptime > 200 days </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Avg Windows uptime </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>< 30 days.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. Administering *nix based machines is very light
weight</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and hence does not affect server performance hence
the</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>end user experience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. Security issues require regular patching on
windows boxes</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and hence additional downtime.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>4. *nix OS's and their servers generally perform
more efficiently</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and hence produce a better end
experience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>5. *nix admins have a larger and high quality
knowledge base</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>than their windows counter parts. e.g. Windows
users will</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>often use task manager to quote their CPU usage on
a dual</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>CPU box with Hyper threading enabled which means
their</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>figure is out by a factor or 4!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Why does this matter? A quality server is often
only achieved</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>after an iterative cycle. Quality, accurate /
precise</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>feedback is essential to this process this is much
easier</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>to achieve from *nix admins with their knowledge
and tools</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>than from windows users.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The perfect example of this is a good *nix admin
will report</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>a server crash and include a stack trace of what
happened</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>this can lead the developer to the issue and fix in
minutes</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>rather than a report from a windows user would be
"the</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>server crashes some times".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Another example of this is what </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>happened with recently</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>release of COD:UO. With in hours </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>of the linux servers release</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>there where reports of seriously </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>excessive CPU load leading</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>to laggy game play and an overall </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>poor user experience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Within an hour the *nix admins had
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>narrowed is down to</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>maps which included vehicles, due to </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>the systems ourselves</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and others had in place to monitor </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2>their servers not commonly</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>present on Windows systems. Armed with this
feedback</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>the developers where able to pinpoint the issue and
release</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>a partial fix again within a very short period of
time.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In the end it all boils down to which provides the
best</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>experience to the end user i.e. you
customer. In general</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I can say without a shadow of a doubt this is a
*nix solution.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Some people may look at things like ASE and
produce</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>results that show windows servers outweigh *nix
servers</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>but their is a really simple answer to that.
Which of those</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>are the quality servers i.e. provided by GSP's and
which</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>are people running servers on their DSL / cable
lines which</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>provide a terrible user experience? Figures for our
GSP</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>show:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>45 windows servers</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>285 *nix servers</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and Im sure you will see this replicated across the
board</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>as for the reasons above the better user experience
is king</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>and hence we only run windows servers if their is
no</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>alternative.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would seriously urge the management team of BF2
to</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>reconsider their decision to reduce the *nix port
in priority</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>as they risk loosing not only a highly
valuable asset ( the</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>people on </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>this list
and their skills ) as well as their resources</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>but also the customers which make a game sell when
there</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>is a distinct lack of quality servers.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Its a simple fact that games with a *nix server
port do</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>significantly better in the market place than ones
without it</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>or that treat it as an after thought.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Steve / K</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=andreas.fredriksson@dice.se
href="mailto:andreas.fredriksson@dice.se">Andreas Fredriksson</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=bf1942@icculus.org
href="mailto:bf1942@icculus.org">bf1942@icculus.org</A> ; <A
title=bf1942@icculus.org
href="mailto:bf1942@icculus.org">bf1942@icculus.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 26, 2004 10:16
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [bf1942] BF2 Server?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format --><BR>
<P><FONT size=2>Sean Decker (BF2's producer) explicitly said it was OK to
share this information with you, so I am. He is the one calling the shots on
large-scale planning in the project.<BR><BR>I'm sad to say that my managers
have assigned me to other areas over the course of this project and I will
most likely not get the time I would need to bring you a high quality Linux
server at ship time.<BR><BR>I really wanted to make this product launch with
excellent Linux support from the start, but it's not my call.<BR><BR>//
Andreas<BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Dave Snodgrass [<A
href="mailto:packtloss@gmail.com">mailto:packtloss@gmail.com</A>]<BR>Sent: Fri
11/26/2004 5:59 PM<BR>To: bf1942@icculus.org<BR>Subject: [bf1942] BF2
Server?<BR><BR>Hey - I'm a tad confused. Andreas has been keeping us
posted/asking<BR>questions about linux binaries, but now i read in an
interview today<BR>that linux binaries wont be ready at launch time. Anyone
know if this<BR>is the real official word? If so, how long will we be
waiting?<BR><BR><BR>./d<BR><BR></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><br>================================================<br>
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