NT platform performance vs. UNIX & Mac

[Ernest Perez]

We are considering converting a periodicals index database from a 3 
yr.-old installation of BRS running on a 486 (33mhz) under Unix, over to 
an NT machine running INMAGIC's new Webbed version.  BRS has performed 
surprisingly well on the 486 (fast at the time), but we have a 
concurrent user license limit, and BRS/Unix is a bit opaque for 
flexibility in maintenance. 

We don't have any personal experience with NT or its performance 
capability/track record.  Could Web4Lib subscribers comment upon:

  * Ideas about "multi-user capacity" of a Web server and INMAGIC on an 
NT-class machine?  I know it's a stateless connection, but what kind of 
user load 'fore performance bogs down?  
  (BTW, please, no polemics about the merits of various OSs.)

  * Learning curve and any obstacles for NT op sys?

  * Can NT work effectively on a decently fast 486, like a -66 or -100? 
Or should you really use a Pentium?

  * What to use for scripting CGIs on an NT machine?  I noted recent msg 
by Mark Ellis about using a port of PERL or Visual Basic. Any other 
candidates?

Thanks, in advance,

-ernest

Ernest Perez//Oregon State Library//perez at opac.state.or.us//503-378-4243
------------------------------------------------------------------------Where is the knowledge that is lost in information?  Where is the wisdom 
that is lost in knowledge?       -- T.S. Eliot