How "Mac" are the Mac ISPs?

Everyone has heard about the Army moving their web server to the MacOS and WebStar, right?

You know about the Mac Only ISPs right? What makes them Mac ISP's? If it is running on Mac machines, then some aren't as "Mac" as they seem.

There is a web site that can determine what operating system the site is running. A service provided by Netcraft can determine what OS is used to run sites, including web and email. Check this out (as of 10/06/1999):

MacConnect:    email and web server BSD/OS (PC only) and MacOS
MacOL:         email and web server Microsoft-IIS/4.0 for both
MacRevolution: email and web server MacOS for both

Assuredly, they have their reasons for choosing the hardware/ software they do, but some may consider the non-disclosure of these facts as less than truthful. While they will undoubtedly say that "we never said we were all Mac", the perception among consumers certainly is that they are (it definitely was to me). MacRevolution is the only provider that truly is a "Mac-Only" shop - they even have pictures of their machines on their website.

The facts speak for themselves - so if it matters to you, check out the above links; if not, check out Netcraft's program anyways, and see what a multitude of websites are serving on.

For the record: J.R. Cunningham, from MacOL stated in an email:

Personally I have never felt that running the Quad [Quad IV Alpha 500] was any big secret, we do what is best for our customers the same as Apple does and we will continue to [do] so, that's what makes us MacOnLine.

Mike Schlatmann from MacRevolution:

To say you are too large to run all Macintosh like both Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Linsalata is a real slap in the face to mac users. The Macintosh is powerful enough to run high volume sensitive information for the military, so I assure you it will always be powerful enough for us to always remain Mac Only here at MacRevolution. I have confirmation from both Stalker Software (Makers of our Mail Server software, SIMS) and StarNine ( Makers of our WebServer software, WebStar) that neither of these programs have any known limitions to user limit.

Drew Linsalata, from MacConnect:

While we hate to say it, the reason we do not run Mac mail servers is volume. At our size, we had to move to a Unix based mail system about two years ago.
As an aside, we do run Mac mail servers for our virtual domain customers.

Thanks to both for the comments.

Does this matter? Vote on it!

Should Mac ISPs use Mac hardware? Results Yes No Don't Know

MacRevolution
Netcraft
MacConnect
MacOnline

Comments?

Note: MacRevolution is a sponsor of MacBC.com