Operating systems

Microsoft launched Windows Home Server [and I got Free Trial version DVD, Get yours now]

2008-08-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Recently, I received Free Trial version DVD set from Microsoft. Microsoft launched a Server edition operating system for home use, Yes, a server operating system for Home. Seems different , but as always Microsoft works towards something different. Its Microsoft Windows Home server.
Actually this operating system is developed to share resources and connect the home PCs with each other. One server is created with huge resources like mega HDD, printer, etc. and the client connected to that server can access those resources easily.
Few facilities like easy backup, remote connections are very help full from this operating system. The backup facility helps us to take backup of all our home PC HDD content so that even if some problem occurs in one system, our data is protected. Similarly, using remote access facility you can access your files from home, office, and even from road side (of course Internet connection is needed for this).

If you want to try this operating system, your can order free DVD+CD evaluation set directly from Microsoft free of cost. I ordered this set on 29th july 08 and got them at 4th Aug 08 via FedEx Express

SIGOPS Operating Systems Review on Linux R&D Available Online

2008-08-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

ACM has announced the availability of the SIGOPS Operating Systems Review, an Issue on Research and Developments in the Linux Kernel. It is available, for free, from the ACM Archives site. The issue has 12 papers about the advances that have been merged or are candidates to be merged into the Linux kernel, as well as new idea papers discussing promising experimental work.

Why Microsoft and Intel Tried to Kill the XO Laptop

2008-08-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Microsoft, makers of most of the computer software in the world, tried to kill it with words, and Intel, maker of most computer chips, tried to kill it with dirty tricks. Of course, they don't admit to being attempted murderers. And when I introduce you to Intel's lovely spokesperson, Agnes Kwan, you'll realise how far their denials go. But the truth is the two mightiest high-tech companies in the world looked on Negroponte's philanthropic scheme and decided it had to die."

"Top 10 Usability Highs Of Mac OS"

2008-08-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

An interesting article has been making its way around the internet the past few days, titled "Top 10 Usability Highs Of Mac OS". Mac OS X indeed does some things very, very right, just like many other operating systems and graphical environments do some things very, very right. The issue with the list of the article in question is that many of the items on the list are not exactly examples of "Usability Highs" at all.

'Engineering Windows 7'

2008-08-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 has been making waves around the net for a while now, and we already know some of the more encompassing goals of Microsoft's next operating system release. It's going to be built on top of the foundations laid out by Vista and Server 2008, but it will not increase hardware requirements. There's going to be a multitouch framework, and a new mystery taskbar. That's more or less all we know. Microsoft also said they were going to be more tight-lipped during the development process, something they will continue to do, but they did open a blog today: Engineering Windows 7. The E7 blog is written by Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky, two senior engineering managers for the Windows 7 product.

What Linux Will Look Like In 2012

2008-08-17T20:23:00.003-07:00

InformationWeek is speculating on how Linux will change in the next four years. "By 2012 the OS will have matured into three basic usage models. Web-based apps rule, virtualization is a breeze, and command-line hacking for basic system configuration is a thing of the past."

DefCon 16: Hackers and Gag Order in Sin City

2008-08-17T20:23:00.001-07:00

"In many ways the virtues that have brought Linux from a Unix look alike pet project to a competitive operating system are the same as the ideals behind DefCon. The community stood on each other's shoulders and developed piece after piece of software to fill in the gaps that were found through use. Programmer's built on the ideas of others creating tighter and tighter code to support an increasingly complex framework."

Common Usability Terms, pt. VIII: Tabs

2008-08-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

This is the eighth article in a series on common usability and graphical user interface related terms . On the internet, and especially in forum discussions like we all have here on OSNews, it is almost certain that in any given discussion, someone will most likely bring up usability and GUI related terms - things like spatial memory, widgets, consistency, Fitts' Law, and more. The aim of this series is to explain these terms, learn something about their origins, and finally rate their importance in the field of usability and (graphical) user interface design. In part VIII, we focus on the tab.

Operating system

2008-08-08T21:34:00.001-07:00

Operating system(commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of the computer. The operating system acts as a host for application programs that are run on the machine. As a host, one of the purposes of an operating system is to handle the details of the operation of the hardware. This relieves application programs from having to manage these details and makes it easier to write applications. Almost all computers, including hand-held computers, desktop computers, supercomputers, and even modern video game consoles, use an operating system of some type. Some of the oldest models may however use an embedded OS, that may be contained on a compact disk or other storage device.

Operating systems offer a number of services to application programs and users. Applications access these services through application programming interfaces (APIs) or system calls. By invoking these interfaces, the application can request a service from the operating system, pass parameters, and receive the results of the operation. Users may also interact with the operating system by typing commands or using a graphical user interface (GUI, commonly pronounced “gooey”). For hand-held and desktop computers, the GUI is generally considered part of the operating system. For large multi-user systems, the GUI is generally implemented as an application program that runs outside the operating system.

Common contemporary operating systems include Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris. Microsoft Windows has a significant majority of market share in the desktop and notebook computer markets, while servers generally run on Linux or other Unix-like systems. Embedded device markets are split amongst several operating systems.

Solaris

2008-08-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

Solaris is a Unix-based operating system introduced by Sun Microsystems in 1992 as the successor to SunOS.

Solaris is known for its scalability, especially on SPARC systems, as well for being the origin for many innovative features such as DTrace and ZFS.Solaris supports SPARC-based and x86-based workstations and servers from Sun and other vendors, with efforts underway to port to additional platforms.

Solaris is certified against the Single Unix Specification. Although it was historically developed as proprietary software, it is supported on systems manufactured by all major server vendors, and the majority of its open source software via the OpenSolaris project.

Ubuntu

2008-08-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu is a computer operating system. It is often rated as the most popular of the many Linux distributions. Ubuntu's goals include providing an up-to-date yet stable Linux distribution for the average user and having a strong focus on usability and ease of installation. Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian, another free operating system. Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd, which is owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. The word ubuntu is Zulu for "humanity". This Linux distribution is named as such to bring the spirit of the philosophy to the software world. Ubuntu is free software and can be shared by any number of users.

Macintosh

2008-07-30T00:08:00.000-07:00

Macintosh, currently often called Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The Macintosh 128K was released on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI) rather than a command line interface.

Through the second half of the 1980s, the company established market share only to see it dissipate in the 1990s as the personal computer market shifted towards IBM PC Compatible machines running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. Apple consolidated multiple consumer-level desktop models into the 1998 iMac all-in-one, which sold extremely well and saw the Macintosh brand revitalized. Current Mac systems are mainly targeted at the home, education, and creative professional markets. They are: the aforementioned (though upgraded) iMac and the entry-level Mac mini desktop models, the workstation-level Mac Pro tower, the MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, and the Xserve server.

Production of the Mac is based on a vertical integration model in that Apple facilitates all aspects of its hardware and creates its own operating system that is pre-installed on all Macs. Apple exclusively produces Mac hardware, choosing internal systems, designs, and prices. Apple does use third party components, however; current Macintosh CPUs use Intel's x86 architecture. Previous models used the AIM alliance's PowerPC and early models used Motorola's 68k. Apple also develops the operating system for Macs, currently Mac OS X10.5 "Leopard". This is in contrast to most IBM compatible PCs, where multiple vendors create hardware intended to run another company's software. The modern Mac, like other personal computers, is capable of running alternative operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD, and Microsoft Windows, the latter of which is considered to be the Mac's biggest competitor.

Linux

2008-07-18T01:16:00.000-07:00

Linux is the name usually given to any Unix-like computer operating system that uses the Linux kernel. Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development: typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.

The name "Linux" comes from the Linux kernel, started in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The system's utilities and libraries usually come from the GNU operating system, announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman. The GNU contribution is the basis for the alternative name GNU/Linux

Predominantly known for its use in servers, Linux is supported by corporations such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Novell, Oracle Corporation, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems. It is used as an operating system for a wide variety of computer hardware, including desktop computers, supercomputers and embedded devices such as E-book readers, DVRs, video game systems (PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and XBox), mobile phones and routers.

History

The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in the 1960s and first released in 1970. Its wide availability and portability meant that it was widely adopted, copied and modified by academic institutions and businesses, with its design being influential on authors of other systems.

The GNU Project, started in 1984, had the goal of creating a "complete Unix-compatible software system" made entirely of free software. In 1985, Richard Stallman created the Free Software Foundation and developed the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). Many of the programs required in an OS (such as libraries, compilers, text editors, a Unix shell, and a windowing system) were completed by the early 1990s, although low level elements such as device drivers, daemons, and the kernel were stalled and incomplete. Linus Torvalds has said that if the GNU kernel had been available at the time (1991), he would not have decided to write his own.

MINIX

MINIX, a Unix-like system intended for academic use, was released by Andrew S. Tanenbaum in 1987. The source code for MINIX 1.0 was printed in his book Operating Systems: Design and Implementation. While easily available, modification and redistribution were restricted (although this is not the case today). The code was covered by the copyrights of the textbook, published by Prentice Hall. In addition, MINIX's 16-bit design was not well adapted to the 32-bit design of the increasingly cheap and popular Intel 386 architecture for personal computers.

In 1991, Torvalds began to work on a non-commercial replacement for MINIX while he was attending the University of Helsinki. This eventually became the Linux kernel.

In 1992, Tanenbaum posted an article on Usenet claiming Linux was obsolete. In the article, he criticized the operating system as being monolithic in design and being tied closely to the x86 architecture and thus not portable, which he described as "a fundamental error". Tanenbaum suggested that those who wanted a modern operating system should look into one based on the microkernel model. The posting elicited the response of Torvalds, which resulted in a well known debate over the microkernel and monolithic kernel designs.

Linux was dependent on the MINIX user space at first. With code from the GNU system freely available, it was advantageous if this could be used with the fledgling OS. Code licensed under the GNU GPL can be used in other projects, so long as they also are released under the same or a compatible license. In order to make the Linux kernel compatible with the components from the GNU Project, Torvalds initiated a switch from his original license (which prohibited commercial redistribution) to the GNU GPL. Linux and GNU developers worked to integrate GNU components with Linux to make a fully functional and free operating system.

Microsoft Windows™

2008-07-18T01:14:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Windows is a series of software Operating system produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in Graphical user interface(GUIs).Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's Personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced previously. At the 2004 International Data Corporation Directions conference, it was stated that Windows had approximately 90% of the client operating system market.
The most recent client version of Windows is Windows Vista; the current server version is Windows Server 2008.

History

Microsoft has taken two parallel routes in its operating systems. One route has been for the home user and the other has been for the professional IT user. The dual routes have generally led to home versions having greater multimedia support and less functionality in networking and security, and professional versions having inferior multimedia support and better networking and security.

The first version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released in November 1985, lacked a degree of functionality and achieved little popularity, and was to compete with Apple's own operating system. Windows 1.0 is not a complete operating system; rather, it extends MS-DOS. Microsoft Windows version 2.0 was released in November, 1987 and was slightly more popular than its predecessor. Windows 2.03 (release date January 1988) had changed the OS from tiled windows to overlapping windows. The result of this change led to Apple Computer filing a suit against Microsoft alleging infringement on Apple's copyrights.
A Windows for Workgroups 3.11 desktop.
A Windows for Workgroups 3.11 desktop.

Microsoft Windows version 3.0, released in 1990, was the first Microsoft Windows version to achieve broad commercial success, selling 2 million copies in the first six months. It featured improvements to the user interface and to multitasking capabilities. It received a facelift in Windows 3.1, made generally available on March 1, 1992. Windows 3.1 support ended on December 31, 2001.

In July 1993, Microsoft released Windows NT based on a new kernel. NT was considered to be the professional OS and was the first Windows version to utilize preemptive multitasking.[citation needed]. Windows NT would later be retooled to also function as a home operating system, with Windows XP.

On August 24th 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95, a new, and major, consumer version that made further changes to the user interface, and also used preemptive multitasking. Windows 95 was designed to replace not only Windows 3.1, but also Windows for Workgroups, and MS-DOS. It was also the first Windows operating system to use Plug and Play capabilities. The changes Windows 95 brought to the desktop were revolutionary, as opposed to evolutionary, such as those in Windows 98 and Windows Me. Mainstream support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2000 and extended support for Windows 95 ended on December 31, 2001.

The next in the consumer line was Microsoft Windows 98 released on June 25th, 1998. It was substantially criticized for its slowness and for its unreliability compared with Windows 95, but many of its basic problems were later rectified with the release of Windows 98 Second Edition in 1999.[citation needed] Mainstream support for Windows 98 ended on June 30, 2002 and extended support for Windows 98 ended on July 11, 2006.

As part of its "professional" line, Microsoft released Windows 2000 in February 2000. The consumer version following Windows 98 was Windows Me (Windows Millennium Edition). Released in September 2000, Windows Me implemented a number of new technologies for Microsoft: most notably publicized was "Universal Plug and Play."

In October 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, a version built on the Windows NT kernel that also retained the consumer-oriented usability of Windows 95 and its successors. This new version was widely praised in computer magazines. It shipped in two distinct editions, "Home" and "Professional", the former lacking many of the superior security and networking features of the Professional edition. Additionally, the first "Media Center" edition was released in 2002, with an emphasis on support for DVD and TV functionality including program recording and a remote control. Mainstream support for Windows XP will continue until April 14, 2009 and extended support will continue until April 8, 2014.

In April 2003, Windows Server 2003 was introduced, replacing the Windows 2000 line of server products with a number of new features and a strong focus on security; this was followed in December 2005 by Windows Server 2003 R2.

On January 30, 2007 Microsoft released Windows Vista. It contains a number of new features, from a redesigned shell and user interface to significant technical changes, with a particular focus on security features. It is available in a number of different editions, and has been subject to some criticism.