Comparison of Windows and Linux - Essay Example

Comparison of Windows & Linux and Section # of Contrast and Compare Between Windows & Linux Before going about the operating systems and their comparison we should be familiar with a few terms. They are; BIOS (Basic Input Output System): This is a firmware and is used to iniate the harddisks, and CDRoms while booting the system. The BIOS runs from the PROM, EPROM or, most commonly, flash memory when the computer is powered on. It initializes several motherboard components and peripherals, including the clock generator, the processors and caches, the chipset (memory controller and I/O controller), the system memory, all PCI devices (by assigning bus numbers and resources), the primary graphics controller, mass storage controllers (such as SATA and IDE controllers), various I/O controllers (such keyboard/mouse and USB) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_vs_windows) Kernel: It is the central component that manages communication between hardware and software. Real-time systems: Mission Critical System where meeting the deadline is amongst the highest ranks of priority. Multitasking: Capability of shifting between the tasks to have full utilizations of the processor. An operating system is software that is responsible for the management of the resources of a computer. It has the capability of taking input from the user and performs activities such as allocating memory, controlling peripherals, managing file system and facilitating networking with other devices. It provides the user with a common platform to install more application software as per their requirements. The user interacts with the system with by the command-line or graphical user interface. Other activities performed by the operating systems are; Process Management: Previously what happened is that mostly one task was executed at a time by the processor i.e. the DOS only ran on sequentially executing a single statement at a time. The new operating systems however, are efficient in terms of saving and utilizing the CPU idle time in a better way. This is now possible by the capability of quickly shifting between tasks. Memory Management: An operating system memory manager actually prioritizes the use of different types of available memories. This is done on the bases of their transfer rate and volatility. This includes registers and Cache's in the CPU and RAM which is the memory specifically assigned with this task. All applications and softwares including the operating system are first included in the memory, mostly in RAM and from there the active processes i.e. the processes being currently in access by the user are retrived for further work. File-system Management: Operating systems usually have this tool for the purpose of arranging the disk space. This is done so that the files can be copied to and from the disk properly. Windows operating systems support Fat 16, Fat 32 and NTFS (Latest and most efficient files-system included with Windows NT). Linux supports EXT 2, EXT 3, GFS, GFS2, XFS, NILFS and many other formats including FAT and NTFS formats. Other tasks performed by the activities such are networking and guarding the system by implementing internal and external security are also important task. The authentication process of Windows is based mainly on the Kerberosv5 authentication and NTLM authentication which are considered as the industry standards (Microsoft Technical Documentation IIS 6.0). Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) uses ASP coding to encrypt and verify User and Host Identity. Linux was written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The purpose was to have an open source free operating system. This enabled contributions from programmers towards the Cause and hence after several changes Linux has been developed into a very sophisticated operating system. Linux being open source software doesn't provide any specific authentication. Though similar efforts have been done by vendors like Red Hat, which have included the authentication algorithms in their latest Linux version i.e. 7.1. However they are still just in their pending processes to and beta versions, the most unreliable thing available (http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1428). Ms Windows has a modular architecture comprising of two main layers; user mode kernel mode. User mode has limited whilst kernel mode has unlimited/unrestricted access to the system and its resources. The subsystems of a Windows operating system are; Cache Controller: Operates on file blocks. Synchronizes the memory with respect to the input/output devices to maintain the coherence. Configuration Manager: Maintains Registry files. LPC (Local Call Procedures): it facilitates the inter-process communication as per the logics of connection. Process Structure: It manages the allocation and termination of processes and threads to the system. PnP Manager: the function of plug n' play that enables the Operating system to accept new devices attached to it and finds and install appropriate driver(s) to work with that device. SRM (Security Reference Monitor): This is responsible for enforcing the fundamental security rules of Windows and determines the accessibility via the ACL (Access Control List). Linux is also a very powerful operating system since it is based on UNIX and is doing well as the backend server operating system in many organizations. It is also a modular Operating system and uses monolithic kernel. The kernel controls and handles the file system, device drivers and peripheral devices. Several shells, 'C shell' being the most common, have completed Linux to enhance its functionalities. Linux has both command line and GUI to control it. Though Linux was designed for a specific Intel based processor, it now is functional on most of the available diverse computer architectures. This ranges from hand held devices to IBM's mainframes. Linux is lauded to be parised by 8 out of 10 largest ISP's. This is due to several reasons. The Linux Operating system a very reliable OS. It's relatively more stable as compared to other OS and therefore last for a longer time. It mostly doesn't even need a GUI due to the power that can be unleashed just by using its command line. Linux is a low cost OS as compared to others such as windows for PC's and now it has also started invading the smart phones by replacing Symbian OS from many new cell phones due to its reliability, security and strength against system crash. It is also very efficient in networking as compared to Windows due to its firewall and routing capabilities. The era of open source software has started. The advocates of 'IT for every one' have started evading the monopolistic power o companies such as Microsoft by giving out free licensed OS to people for learning purposes. This also yields an additional advantage of contribution from every where for the sake of making the Linux better and better day by day without any cost being paid. Thus this not only makes a better solution for people to use, but that too for free. Though Windows remains the most widely used OS but the wheels are turning now. Gone are the days when Linux or any similar OS was considered a nightmare for amateur users because of it command line. Now vendors such as RedHat are in the market. Ubuntu Linux is being distributed free worldwide. The enhanced capabilities embedded with a user friendly GUI has made it very easy for even a home user to have it on his/her PC. References David Allen , Christian Lahti, Herbert Lewis, John Streeton Stile, James Stanger, Andrew Taylor Scott and Timothy Tuck (2004) Windows to Linux Migration Toolkit: Syngress John Chirillo (2002) Hack Attacks Denied: A Complete Guide to Network Lockdown for UNIX, Windows, and Linux, Second Edition: Wiley Carolyn Gillay (2003) Linux User's Guide: Using the Command Line & Gnome With RedHat Linux: Franklin Beedle & Associates Paul Cockshott and Kenneth Renfrew (2004) SIMD Programming Manual for Linux and Windows: Springer Toleros (2007)Retrieved January 30, 2007 , from web site: http://tech.tolero.org/blog/en/linux/bbc-os-comparison-vista-linux-os-x Read More