Features and functions of different operating systems

Since there are a number of different operating systems around, I will compare the Linux kernel OS with the latest version of Windows along with MAC's


Linux is a freeware operating system that has been provided in a number of different systems, that are all based around the basic "kernel" that is at the centre of all linux systems. Each different system has a different interface depending on what the developer decides it wants it to be closer to, for example, the "Puppy" version of linux has a interface that is similar to windows, while the "Ubuntu" version has a interface that is closer to the Mac operating system. When Linux when it first started it was closer to a MAC system, so in it's early days it was essentially a freeware version of MAC.

Windows, in comparision is firmware, and as such offers more functionality such as a on-screen keyboard. It's interface is a basic desktop, and each application runs in a seperate "window". There have been many different versions of windows, from windows 95, up to windows millenium , which was a special edition that was released from october 1998, while another version windows 2000, was released from febuary 2000, these 2 were the last kind of the old windows interface, as when windows xp was released, the interface was totally re-designed to include a new windows start button, but retained the option to revert the start menu and the task bar back to the old windows format. The interface was again redesigned when windows vista was released, with the start button being re-designed again to a simple round button with the windows logo on.

Overall, both operating systems have their individual advantages and disadvantages, with Linux being at a disadvantage over drivers, since it is not what people would call a 'mainstream' operating system, while Windows has the advantage of being a 'mainstream' operating system, but has it's disadvantages in that it has major rivals to contend with, and as a result, they tend to rush development of operating systems, Windows Vista is an example of this, as it was well publisised, but had so many bugs, that people avoided using it, this was fixed by the release of Windows 7, which is what Vista was supposed to be.

Macintosh computers which are produced by Apple.inc are the main rival to Windows, and it's computers tend to focus on the graphical edting of images, and as such are used in all of the major corperations, however software for MAC computers tends to expensive, whereas software for Windows is average. In terms of the Price of software, Linix is the real winner since most of it's software is free, but again does not have the specilised aspect that paid for software has, for example , Linux cannot support Adobe Photoshop.

In terms of ease of use, there is no clear winner, as users of each system say that there's is the easiest to use, while other people may differ.