Comparison of operating

systems
 What is operating system?
•
A program that acts as an
intermediary between a user of a
computer and the computer
hardware.
Operating system goals:
•
Execute user programs and make
solving user problems easier.
•
Make the computer system
convenient to use.
 Computer System Structure
§
Computer system can be divided into
four components
–
Hardware –provides basic computing
resources
• CPU, memory, I/O devices
–
Operating system
• Controls and coordinates use of hardware
among various applications and users
–
Application programs –
• define the ways in which the system
Four Components of a
Computer System
 Types of operating systems

Operating systems can be grouped

according to functionality:
•
operating systems for
supercomputing: scientific
computing
•
render farms: collections of
computers that work together to
render animations and special effects
•
Mainframes: large centralized
•
While there are many different
options, there are essentially four
operating systems commonly used
today:
•
DOS,
•
Linux,
•
Windows and
•
Mac OS X.
 DOS
•
DOS (Disk Operating System) gained
a reputation by supporting operating
systems developed by IBM and
Windows. DOS was prominent in the
industry up until support was
terminated for Windows ME. Though
it's not as sophisticated as modern
systems, DOS offers many
advantages to the user. This system
is very stable and rarely endures
 Linux
•
The Linux operating system is
developed on a kernel based on Unix.
It is known as one of the most secure
platforms, yet Linux is often viewed
as more complex. Linux is the result
of an open-source project, allowing
users and developers to access the
source code for free. Because it
requires less hardware, Linux is
capable of providing exceptional
 Mac OS X
•
Mac OS X is Apple's trademark
operating system software for their
line of Macintosh computers. The
system was based in part on Unix
and mimics it's format with the
administrative controls. Mac OS X
software requires a low level of
maintenance with fewer occurrences
of computers worms, viruses and
spyware. The Apple operating system
 Windows
•
The Microsoft Windows operating
system is the most popular choice
and currently has a stronghold over
the market. This platform has made
significant advancements from
version 1.0 all the way to the new
Vista system. The Windows system is
highly compatible, feature-rich and
has a much larger selection of
software applications. Unlike the
 Difference
•
Cost:
•
Linux: Free software – No cost, no
restrictions – complete freedom
•
Windows: developed by Microsoft
•
Mac: developed by Apple, proprietary
 Security
•
the Linux operating system is more
secure than the Windows operating
system. Chances of contracting a
computer virus, computer worm or
other predatory software is
significantly lower with Linux than
Windows because of the security
flaws that Windows has.
•
Linux crashes and freezes less often
than Windows. Linux can run without
 Technical architecture
•
Computer architecture supported
•
Linux- x86, x86-
64,PPC, SPARC,Alpha, others
•
Windows- x86, x86-64
•
Mac OS X- PPC, x86, x86-64, ARM
 File System
•
Linux-
ext2, ext3, ext4, ReiserFS, FAT, ISO
9660, UDF, NFS, and others
•
Mac-
HFS+ (default), HFS, UFS, AFP, ISO
9660, FAT, UDF, NFS, SMBFS, NTFS(re
ad
only), FTP, WebDAV, ZFS(experiment
al)
•
Windows- NTFS, FAT exFAT ISO
 Kernel Type
•
Linux- Monolithic with modules
•
Mac OS X- Monolithic with modules
•
Windows- Hybrid
 Pros and cons of windows
•
Compatibility- almost every
application, driver will work on
windows.
•
Technical support
•
Huge quantity of function
•
Cons:
•
Viruses
•
Slow
 Mac
•
Pros:
•
Viruses- apple gets almost no viruses
•
Reliability- less prone to hardware
and s/w crashing
•
Looks-Mac looks better than windows
•
Cons:
•
Expensive-
•
Compatibility
 Linux
•
Pros:
•
Price-Free
•
Viruses- more vulnerable to viruses.
•
Cons:
•
Complicated- although some distros
are easy to use, most of them will
require a good deal of computer
knowledge.
•
 Linux Vs Windows
•
Linux is an open-source Operating
System. People can change codes
and add programs to Linux OS which
will help use your computer better.
•
you can't change any code for
windows OS. You can't even see
which processes do what and build
your own extension.
•
All flavors of Windows come from
Microsoft. Linux come from different
companies like LIndows , Lycoris, Red
Hat, SuSe, Mandrake, Knopping,
Slackware.
•
Linux is customizable but Windows is
not.
•
For server use, Linux is cheap
compared to Windows.
•
Windows must boot from a primary
partition. Linux can boot from either
a primary partition or a logical
partition inside an extended
partition. Windows must boot from
the first hard disk. Linux can boot
from any hard disk in the computer.
•
Windows uses a hidden file for its
swap file. Typically this file resides in
the same partition as the OS
•
Windows file names are not case
sensitive. Linux file names are. For
example "abc" and "aBC" are
different files in Linux, whereas in
Windows it would refer to the same
file.
•
Windows and Linux have different
concepts for their file hierarchy.
Windows uses a volume-based file
hierarchy while Linux uses a unified
•
Linux and windows support the
concept of hidden files. In linux
hidden files begin with " . ", eg:
.filename
•
In Linux each user will have a home
directory and all his files will be save
under it while in windows the user
saves his files anywhere in the drive.
This makes difficult to have backup
for his contents. In Linux its easy to
•
Stability:
•
UNIX handles high server loads
better than Windows and UNIX
machines seldom require reboots
while Windows is constantly needing
them. Servers running on UNIX enjoy
extremely high up-time and high
availability/reliability.
•
Scalability:
Web sites usually change over time.
They start off small and grow as the
needs of the person or organization
running them grow. While both
platforms can often adapt to your
growing needs, Windows hosting is
more easily made compatible with
UNIX-based programming features
like PHP and MySQL. UNIX-based web
 Conclusion
•
In conclusion, no operating system is
really better, the choice is up to you.
If you're a gamer, then you have no
choice, go for Windows.
Programmers might prefer Linux and
video/graphics producers will
probably tend towards Mac. The best
thing to do is probably to try each OS
and see which is best for you!