Hi Bryce,

> First, on the firebird website's FAQ it lists supported platforms,
> but does not mention win9x/2k/xp, but yet I see people talking about
> firebird being installed on win2k systems...so I went to the

As far as I know, all version from Win98 upwards are supported. Of
course, a Win98/ME system is not suited as a database server platform
because of instability of the platform itself.

There are some "issues" with Windows XP System File Restore/Protection
whatever it is called, but nothing that can be solved.

If I were you, I'd put my bet on Win2000.

> download's section to see if I could get a win copy, the only windows
> version, "super server", did not mention which version(s) of windows
> it supports. Can I get clarification on what windows platforms
> firebird is available on?

As you noticed, there are two different "architectures" for Firebird.

Classic is the 'older' architecture - it spawns a new process for each
connection.

Advantages:
- scales well on multi-processor systems
- if one connection goes ape, it can be killed

Disadvantages:
- no shared memory cache
- uses more memory
- no Serices API

SuperServer is the newer architecture and uses a multithreaded engine,
using a thread-pool (I believe) to handle connections.

Advantages:
- shared cache
- single process
- Services API for remote administration of users, backup/restore

Disadvantages:
- less memory to use
- currently not suited for multi-processor systems

> Also, I will need a Mac OS X version, which it shows as being
> supported only by the "classic server" version. What is the
> difference between the superserver and classic server versions of
> firebird? I searched the firebird website and didn't see anything

Hope this helps,

Martijn Tonies
InterBase Workbench - the developer tool for InterBase and Firebird
http://www.interbaseworkbench.com

Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com

"This is an object-oriented system.
If we change anything, the users object."