Unix vs Windows: The Ongoing Debate - Research Paper Example

? Unix Versus Windows: The Ongoing Debate UNIX versus Windows: The Ongoing Debate The comparison between the two operating systems: UNIX and Microsoft Windows is still an ongoing debate with a lot of pros and cons associated with both the operating systems. Currently, Windows has gained popularity in the market due to its desktop-based user friendly setup. UNIX has also started offering a Graphical User Interface; however, not at the rate of Windows. The one feature of UNIX that makes it have some advantage over Windows is that it is a free to use operating system; therefore, it is free of cost. Furthermore, UNIX and its copy LINUX provide all the source code of the operating system so that people can make changes to it or extend it in order to tune it according to their requirements. UNIX is mostly opted by technical people as it is more secure and flexible whereas Windows is for the common people. UNIX and Windows are two major classes of operating systems who have enjoyed a competitive history and will enjoy a competitive future. Windows came into competition with UNIX in 1980’s when it came with Intel-Microprocessors that had increased the power of micro-computers. Then onwards their comparison began. What is an Operating System? An operating system is system software which is the life of a computer system and acts as an interface between the lower level hardware and the higher level software. It is the resource manager of any computer system. Hence, end users expect an operating system to be user friendly and expect it to achieve tasks for them in a less complex manner. (Gopalan & Sivaselvan, 2009, p. 1). Brief History of UNIX Operating System UNIX was developed at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories in the early 1970’s by Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and others. At those times, a computer user was not a common person, he was a programmer himself and wrote program code that would be punched into a computer card along with the data and read by the computer so that it processes it and performs the desired task. These computer cards were fed into the computer as a bunch of cards which was called batch processing. In 1960’s, time-sharing which was a new way of using computers was being developed. Time-sharing allowed multiple users to interact directly with the computer, that is, it allowed multiple tasks to get processed. Multics was a time-sharing computer system that was being worked on by MIT and GE in 1969 but it was too complex. Ritchie, Thompson and others worked on their own time-sharing system which they called UNIX and it was simpler and an efficient operating system at that time. (Moritsugu, 2000, p. 14). At that time, every computer manufacturer developed its own operating system along with the computer hardware and also other utilities and software. A user was bound to use only utilities created for that computer system by its manufacturer. But UNIX did not have a computer system of its own. The creators of UNIX used to purchase computers from other companies. UNIX was created using assembly language. And Thompson and others wanted UNIX to be portable over all computers that were being manufactured by different manufacturing companies. Hence, they developed C language and then coded UNIX using this language. UNIX was not a threat to the propriety systems because it required a lot of disk space, CPU power and memory; hence, it was not cost effective. In the 1990’s UNIX developed into a low cost operating system as it then required less disk space and memory, it was portable on all computers and it was an open system. It became the popular operating system of those times. (Moritsugu, 2000, p. 16). Brief History of Windows Windows is a first graphic based and user friendly operating system developed by Microsoft. Windows previously ran on the DOS platform, but now it runs on its own platform. Windows 1.x, Windows 286 and then came Windows 386 which were the first three attempts by Microsoft. Then Microsoft came up with Windows 3.0 which had a little enhanced graphical user interface. Windows 3.1 was created in 1992, which was able to support multimedia and many other features. As Windows advanced, it became DOS platform independent. Windows 95 was the first Windows to be DOS independent and had its own booting capabilities. And then it advanced to introduce internet and networking capabilities and became the popular operating system in comparison to UNIX. (Maldasani, 2005, p. 1). Characteristics of UNIX and Windows UNIX: The following are the features which make this operating system unique. 1. Multi-user system: Multiple programs can be executed through a central processing unit (CPU) concurrently. Furthermore, multiple users can share system’s resources and the CPU concurrently also. Hence, it is a multi user system. It also allows a single user to run several processes. UNIX treats its applications or executed programs as processes. 2. Operational units: There are two things that UNIX supports: processes and namely files. A file is simple an array of bytes and it can represent text, executable code, and directories. A single directory is actually a collection of files but in UNIX a directory is also considered as a file. Files help an organized and recognizable representation of information. Users of a system are also considered as files. A process in UNIX is a file that is being executed. Every user can control processes depending on his or her accessibility level permission as UNIX provides process management capabilities. 3. Multitasking system: As aforementioned, this the capability of the operating system to allow a single user to execute more than one program simultaneously. Multi tasking is done by operating system by using the concept of time slicing. Each running program is given a time slice in which the processor executes it giving an impression that all the programs are run simultaneously. 4. Keep it simple: Commands are simple, that is, specific tasks are accomplished through these commands rather than a complex set of commands that perform everything. In UNIX, output of one command is an input to another command which is called the building block approach; hence, every task is achieved in an integrated and cumulative manner. 5. Pattern matching: The searching feature in UNIX is done through pattern matching that incorporates the use of regular expressions. 6. Programming support: UNIX has been mainly designed for the technical people who are aware of programming and coding. Thus, it supports the shell programming technique which includes: loop structures, control and features supported by high level languages. 7. Documentation: As UNIX is an open source operating system, it has a huge host of documentation available over the internet that provides information related to the features of UNIX along with user groups also. The system supported documentation which gives details related to commands is also found easily over the internet. It allows this feature so that if any requirement arises, users can extend the OS. Furthermore, it is studied as a course in academics because of the features it has that allows a proper understanding of how an OS works and what features it has that makes it an efficient OS. (Gopalan & Sivaselvan, 2009, p. 3). Windows: The following are the features that make it a unique and popular operating system. 1. End- user Features: The graphical user interface of Windows is highly user friendly which makes it the most popular operating system. Windows has been designed to satisfy the requirements of the end users so that they find it easy to use. Other features such as parental controls, fonts and the like make it user oriented. 2. Single user system: Unlike UNIX, Windows is a single user system. In windows, all resources of the system get allocated to a dedicated and single user. In order to become a multi user system, the concept of time slicing is used so there is a competition between users for the system resources. 3. Multi- tasking : Like UNIX, Windows also offers multitasking in order to allow programs to be executed simultaneously. 4. Security enhancements: Windows has remained less secure than UNIX systems. Hence, in order to improve its security, it introduced the User Account Control feature in its Windows Vista version. (Patrick, 2008, p. 48-55). Popularity of Windows and UNIX and Comparison UNIX is more stable than Windows. Windows often gets disrupted and thus requires more maintenance and administration unlike UNIX. UNIX can be installed in all different computer systems (mainframes, super computers and the like) which makes it more flexible than Windows. UNIX operating system has strong security features incorporated in it, while Windows still experiences security drawbacks. UNIX processing power is greater than Windows. Furthermore, UNIX is the leader in serving the web. When any software update is done in Windows, it requires new hardware to solve compatibility issues whereas there is nothing like that required in UNIX. UNIX is open source; thus free and inexpensive whereas Windows is not. UNIX is designed for technical community whereas Windows can be used both by technical and common people. Windows is currently the most popular operating system among common people mainly because of its user friendliness. Both the operating systems try to serve their target users as efficiently as possible. Works Cited Gopalan & Sivaselvan. (2009). A Beginner’s Guide to UNIX. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited. Maldasani, Dinesh. (2005). Learning Computer Fundamentals, MS Office, Internet, and Web Technology. India: Firewall Media. Moritsugu, Steve. (2000). Practical UNIX. United States of America: Que Corporation. Patrick, Regan. (2008). Mcts 70-620 Exam Cram: Microsoft Windows Vista, Configuring. India: Dorling Kindersley. Read More