Operating Systems Comparison - Essay Example

Operating Systems Comparison The operating system (OS) is a collection of software to control the computer tasks and manage proper utilization of thehardware resources. The basic operating systems are the Linux, UNIX, Mac and Microsoft Windows. The operating system zOS is sixty four (64) bit utilized for the mainframe computers and developed by IBM. Moreover, the operating systems include: the iOS, Andriod and Palm OS are being utilized for mobile phone manufacturer companies like iPhone, HTC, Samsung respectively. It is pertinent to mention here that the mobile operating systems are not only been used by the above mentioned companies, however, the some of the mobile phones developed by the Samsung use Andriod Operating System. There are several and diverse components of an operating system that include but not limited to the file management, security, memory and process management. It is worthwhile to compare each operating system to evaluate and assess the above given components of an operating system. The following paragraphs present the comparison of basic operating systems with respect to the above given features (Solomon, Russinovich & Polze, 2006). File Management The file management system refers to the organization, management and manipulation of computer data in documents and files that is provided by the file manager (different with respect to the operating system) through a graphical user interface. The computer documents and files can be created, edited (existing file), viewed and deleted from the computer memory as well as the files can be arranged in computer directories / folders. The process of file management differs with respect to the operating system as presented in the following paragraphs (Goel, 2010). There are several file managers used by Microsoft Windows only that include but not limited to the Altap Salamander, FAR Manager, File Manager, Windows Explorer etc. The files are placed in the folders and the index contains the file information known as File Allocation Table (FAT). One of the latest file management systems of the Windows is the New Technology File System (NTFS). The NTFS store owner name, it provides POSIX file permissions, creation timestamps, last access timestamp, and last content modification timestamp. The Mac operating system uses the file managers that include: the Disk Order, Finder, Path Finder, and Xfile. The Disk order file manager provides the graphical user interface and shows the files as list view and twin panel view only. The Finder and Path Finder file managers show the icon, list view, panel view, column view and thumbnails of the files stored in the Macintosh operating system. The Linux and UNIX use the file manager include: the emelFM2, ROX-Filer, Krusader, and the Gentoo file manager. In the Linux and UNIX, there is a root directory (/), directories and sub-directories (if any) and the files can be presented as “/usr/local/filename.txt”. The directory structure and contents of the directory are defined by the File-system Hierarchy System (FHS) in the Linux and UNIX operating systems. The zOS uses Network File System (NFS) that allows the users to remotely access the files stored in the networked desktop, personal computer and other systems running client software of Sun, UNIX etc. file system. The zOS provides these features using NFS utilizes communication services provided through the TCP / IP. Memory Management The memory management is one of the core components of an operating system which manages the memory hierarchy of Random Access Memory (RAM), and hard disks. The important tasks of the operating systems in managing the memory include: the allocation and de-allocation of memory to the processes, the utilization of the hard disk for implementation of the Virtual Memory. The operating system should effectively use the memory component as it directly impacts the overall efficiency and performance of the computer system (Khetan, 2002). The Windows operating systems use a tree form of data structure rather the linked list. Each node of the tree is known as Virtual Address Descriptors (VAD) having a range of memory addresses. It is the responsibility of the VAD to mark each and every node as reserved for thread’s stack (nodes that are not available for mapping), free (unused nodes) or committed (addresses that have been used). The Linux and UNIX operating systems implement the virtual memory data structure. These operating systems maintain a linked list that represents continuous memory areas having same commit state information and protection parameters. The operating system searches the linked list every time it is required to find out the page having particular location. The data structure of these operating systems maintains the records of addresses mapping onto the applications, protection mode of the memory (either private or public) and the growing direction (either up or down). After the system booting, the Macintosh operating system divides the available Random Access Memory (RAM) into two major categories include: the reserved section and user available section. In the reserved section, it reserves a partition of memory for its own use which is known as system partition that begins at the lowest level of memory (address 0) and rises. The remaining memory is allocated for software applications (Mindfire Solutions, 2002). The memory management (RAM) of the Android OS are designed to utilize as low energy / power as usually the Andriod OS devices are battery powered unlike to the desktop operating systems. One of the significant feature of the Android OS does not allow the suspended applications (no longer in use) to use the mobile resources like power, processing, memory etc. The Android OS provides facility of storing applications automatically. Process Management The programs, services or applications that are being executed by the computer either at the background or front end is said to be a process. The Von Neumann architecture of the computer system compels the operating system to execute only one (1) process per Central Processing Unit (CPU) at a time. However, the current operating systems facilitate simultaneously carrying out (execution) of numerous processes at a time with one CPU by utilizing the technology of the multitasking. The operating system manages the execution of multiple processes through its core component of process management. The Microsoft operating systems rely on the threads rather than the processes. A thread is an unbreakable unit of the work, whereas, the process is a collection of threads. The Windows initiates a primary process for the desktop user; it facilitates only one (1) user to be executed at once, moreover, the Windows OS presents a full separation between the different processes initiated by the user. Moreover, the Windows deal all the processes equally, as they do not arrange in the hierarchical relationship. The UNIX effectively and efficiently deals with the multitasking of the processes especially the creation of the processes. It initiates a shell process to the service user commands. One of the advantages of the UNIX OS, it supports several concurrent users through not only the command line but also the graphical user interface. Like Windows, it also supports absolute separation between the different processes initiated by the user. The Macintosh OS along with the Finder and many system software components exert mutually to facilitate the multitasking feature for the user in a way that it could support the user to open several applications at a time, moreover, it facilitates the user to change the opened application up to the requirement. It is pertinent to mention here that the Central Processing Unit provides its services in one application (in progress) only, either executing at the front or back end. However, the applications can be switched by utilizing the hardware interrupts; moreover, these are obvious to the software applications under execution. Security Management One of the main responsibilities of the operating system is to secure the information stored in the computer. But the OS vulnerabilities encourage the hackers and viruses to contaminate the computer system. The security model of the Windows OS is based on the access control list. Moreover, the OS facilitates the administrator of the computer system to allocate the access rights to the users and / or group(s). In Windows OS, the security can be implemented to the several objects include: the files, folders, processes, services, drive, etc. as well as it supports auditing of the computer system. There are two security management models that can be used by the Linux i-e the access control list and standard UNIX model. The access control list security model is similar to the Windows OS i-e implementing user access rights. Whereas, the standard UNIX model deals with the application of the security level with respect to the object, however, it does not support or facilitate the user for computer system auditing. In the Macintosh Operating System, Discretionary Access Control (DAC) security model is used to secure the files of the users. The DAC implements the Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) file system security model that apply user (identity) based restrictions on an object established through the access rights of the user or group. It is pertinent to mention here that the access control lists are a form of DAC which are used in the Windows and Linux. The zOS provides integrated security services as well as security server, however, the security server is optional feature of the operating system. The integrated security services of the zOS contains the security server of DCE, network authentication services, OCEP, and Enterprise Industry Mapping (EIM) (IBM Corporation, 2010). Multiprocessor Operating Systems The multiprocessing operating system allows the multiple users to run and execute multiple programs by utilizing the single central processing units at a same time. As far as the multiprocessor operating systems are concerned, these are regular operating systems capable of utilizing multiple processors for multiple processes running and executing at a same time. Moreover, these operating systems handle system calls, file management systems, manage memory, and I/O devices. There are several operating systems even discussed above in the document provides the functionality of multiprocessing and these operating systems include but are not limited to the Linux, UNIX, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 7.0, and Mac OS X. Future of the Operating System From the users’ perspective, one of the important characteristics of the operating system having graphical user interface is the usability. It is perceived that all the tasks performed using operating systems would be based of automated wizards to give the users highly usable operating systems. Moreover, the operating systems would provide the services efficiently while utilizing less resources with simplicity. The plateform independence is one of the features of the operating systems, therefore, it can be expected that the applications / files would work without differentiating the operating systems because of the automatic transalation of file / applications supported formats (Gelernter, 2003). References Solomon D. A., Russinovich, M. E., & Polze, A. (2006). Comparing Windows XP and Linux. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas Goel, A. (2010). Computer Fundamentals. Dorling Kindersley, Pearson Education India Khetan, G. (2002). Comparison of Memory Management Systems of BSD, Windows, and Linux. Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Mindfire Solutions. (2002). Memory Management in Mac OS. Retrieved from: http://www.mindfiresolutions.com/mindfire/Mac_Memory_Manager.pdf IBM Corporation. (2010). Security Server and Integrated Security Services. Retrieved from: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zos/v1r11/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.zos.r11.ieaa500/mobmg.htm Gelernter, D. (2003). Future of the Operating System: Simplicity. Retrieved from: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/77335/Future_of_operating_systems_simplicity Read More