The reason that I said iMacs make good servers is because they make good web servers for myself. An iMac is complete and needs almost no software added. They are even very convenient to set up as file servers on our LAN. As for performance, Apple’s G3 and G4 processors are always the highest performing ones, matching pentiums at twice the clock speed in many cases. But the real performance answer is that you’re only feeding data to a single T1 line, 1.5 Mbps, in my case, with a light, nonprofessional, user base. ÊOne client of mine uses an iMac for his web server with clients in many countries as far away as India. No other machine would have better throughput for him. He runs DNS, ftp, web server and also Timbuktu which allows him to control his server from far away.
I bought a copy of MacOS X server but didn’t have time to set it up. A friend is using mine right now to serve some web pages for a company he’s trying to start. I don’t have any familiarity at all with MacOS X client. I really don’t like to know all the upcoming things in advance–it takes too much time and has too many disappointments.
I hope that we do meet some day. My appearances are much rarer than those of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs so you may meet them first. But if you’re ever in my area (San Jose area) maybe we can have a coffee. I do that on occasion with people just like yourself. Just don’t expect me to remember their names. Well, in your case I might!