Week 3 Readings

1.) Thurott, "An update on the Windows Roadmap"

This article provided an overview of the future of three different Windows operating Systems.

Windows XP - as an XP and Linux user (I have my hard drive partitioned to run both) this section was the most useful to me. Here I learned that SP3 was just released for XP, and that Windows has extended support for XP until 2014. These were both important for me. It also provided information on downgrading to XP if you are buying a new computer that comes with Vista standard.

Windows Vista - this section provided important updates that Vista has. Vista has improved their security and fixed most of the compatibility problems it was experiencing when first released. I had never heard of the "telemetry system," so that was an interesting read. Vista employs the "telemetry system" which gathers anonymous information about how customers are using Vista. Information gathered from this was put into SP1.

Windows 7 - the article also talks a little bit about Windows new OS, Windows 7, due to be released in early 2010. They are taking feedback about Vista into consideration for this new OS.

2.) Mac OS X Articles

I have used Macintosh's numerous times before, but have never really studied them or their OS, so this article was the most informative and interesting to me. It was nice to study something I have used before, but know almost nothing about. One of the big things I did not realize about Mac OS X is that it has been used exclusively on Mac's since 2002, and that they have released different versions of it since then. I thought that Mac OS X was similar to Vista - Mac's newest OS and not that Mac OS X 10.6 was their newest OS (similar to how Linux OS are released). Although it is clear to see now, I did not realize Mac was a Unix based OS. OS X is currently used in servers, the iPhone, and iPod Touch, as well as on personal computers.

OS X was a complete overhall and huge step up from OS 9. Some of the better features were its improved ability to run multiple applications, and visual improvements like the Aqua theme. The XCode which supports C, C++, and Java was also new to me. Some newer versions of OS X have had some hardware issues with older computers though (as have Windows OS).

Mac's transistion to Intel processors brings out an interesting point and problem I would like to make about Apple computers. Mac computers transitioned from PowerPC to Intel processors and there have been some compatibility issues between the two.

One of the main problems I have always thought about with Apple computers is that they are basically the exact opposite of open source. Because Mac operating systems can only be run on Apple computers it does not allow for the best minds, and competition to be making the best computers and software. Apple has only a limited number of employees workign on improving their hardware and software. Windows allows for competition because anybody can make a computer using the best parts available and install one of their OS's on that computer. Mac has limited themselves to the hardware and software their corporation can come up with. The transition from an Apple related processor (PowerPC) to a third part processor (Intel) shows that Apple has too limited resources to keep on top of the game for every component of a computer.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading these articles because I did not know alot about Macintosh operating systems.

3.) Garrels, "Introduction to Linux. A Hands on Guide"

I also enjoyed this article on Linux. I am familiar with Linux (I run both Linux and Windows on my computer - though I use Windows approximately 75% of the time) so it was nice for me to read about some of the stuff I didnt' know about Linux. I didnt' know that Unix was developed by Bell Labs or that C was developed specifically for Linux. I didn't realize that Linux was named after a guy named Linus who started to develop it after PC's became powerful enough to run Unix.

Linux is now available on desktops, laptops, servers, PDA's, mobiles, and a host of other things. Linux is now much more user friendly than it was in its beginning days. Linux has even incorporated some GUI's to ease the transition from Windows to Linux. Linux is an open source piece of software. Open source means that anybody can improve or change the software, as long as they keep the original available. Open source generally gets thigns done better and faster, becuase you have a ton of people with different computers and backgrounds workign on making something or solving some problem. Linux is completely free and is extremely secure. One of the problems with Linux and open source is that there are to many distributions. One must make sure that the distribution they wish to install will run on the hardware their computer has.