Two main operating systems: Windows 7 and OS x 10.6 - Essay Example

Two main operating systems: Windows 7 and OS x 10.6 1. Introduction Microsoft has made significant interface changes and added new features to its Operating system (OS). The taskbar was improved and resembled the Mac OS X Dock-like appearance and in real sense look much better than the Dock (Akass, 2011). Likewise, the inclusion of Home Groups made networking simpler for home users. In contrast, Pogue (2012) points out that Apple centred on internal operations and technologies such as Open CL and Grand Central Dispatch. These are new technologies that benefit from the multi-core CPUs processing where they transfer graphics and animation processing to peripheral devices such as graphics cards. This has overall effect of a better performance. Apple also made fine adjustment on the operating system interface but not as much as Microsoft made to Windows 7. There are several factors that may be considered in comparing Windows 7 and OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) operating systems and include: 2.1 Price/ Availability For a customer getting a new computer the price do not really matter as the OS comes pre-installed in the hardware. This is not normally the case during an upgrade. Apple upgrade from earlier versions is cheaper as compared to windows 7. Shelly et al. (2011) gives an example of Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade that costs $220 on Amazon online stores, Windows 7 Professional goes for $200, and Windows 7 Home Premium is sold for $120. These prices are a way high as compared to OS x 10.6 OS (Snow Leopard) that retails for only $29. As argued by Gralla (2009), Windows7 comes in different versions which confuse the customer during decision making on which version to buy. Some of the Windows7 versions are; Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional (Gralla, 2009). As for OS x 10.6 OS, there is only one version meaning no confusion and therefore less effort is required during purchase. Also OS x 10.6 is practically is cheaper as compared to Windows7. 2.2 Flexibility/ Ease of use and elegance Windows has come from a humble beginning. Windows OS is becoming slick, smooth and easier to use as a result of iterations on the operating system. In particular windows7 taskbar offers such a significant usability dimension. On the other hand OS x 10.6, like previous versions of Mac OS X, is as intuitive, beautiful, and seamless and as aesthetically pleasing an operating system can be. In other words it is a simple to use and elegant software. 2.3 Security Microsoft has greatly enhanced security options in Windows 7 but UAC (User Account Control) settings still persists to annoy, though there is an option of turning it off. Windows 7 has one distinguishable security feature from Snow Leopard; Address Space Layout Randomization whose function is to randomly reposition vital information or data making it less vulnerable to security threats and exploits. It can be argued that Windows OS has by far more malwares, viruses and Trojans than Apple Mac and this is attributed to the greater popularity and exposure of the Windows. Windows OS is made popular because the cost of obtaining a PC is less as compared to acquiring a Mac. 2.4 Hardware compatibility It is possible to gauge their compatibility with the hardware for which their operating systems were designed; Windows 7 with Windows-based PCs and Snow Leopard with Macs. Peripherals-Windows 7 can use virtually any peripheral and it will run on any modern make of PC. Microsoft has taken great care to validate drivers and the greater choice in hardware makes for lower machine prices. Snow Leopard utilizes Intel-based hardware that came into existence in the year 2006 when Macs integrated Intel processors. Snow Leopard cannot run on on G5-based systems that existed before 2006.Generally, Snow Leopard’s minimum system requirements are1GB of RAM and 5GB of free disk space (Meyers and Lee et al., 2009). On the other hand Windows 7 was designed to be compatible with any machine that runs Windows Vista and Windows XP. Windows 7 OS requires 1GB of RAM and 16GB of hard disk space for the 32-bit version while the 64-bit version needs 2GB of RAM and 20GB free disk space. The Aero interface in Windows is supported by DirectX 9 graphics card that has 128MB of graphics memory. This graphics specification is small and therefore PCs designed for XP are compatible with Windows 7 meaning that Windows 7 runs on older hardware devices than Snow Leopard. 2.5 Software compatibility A good OS must allow other software to run on it. Apple Mac Snow Leopard has problems when it comes to compatibility with existing third-party software (McLean, 2009). For example Snow Leopard has compatibility issues with Xmarks bookmark synchronizer that doesn’t function on Safari. The same also happens to NeoOffice (office productivity suite), a free open source software, Adobe Creative Suite 3 that contains Photoshop and Windows Sync, a synchronization tool from Windows. Microsoft applications written for earlier Windows versions still work well with Windows 7. There is Windows XP mode that enables applications written for Windows XP to be compatible with Windows 7 and appear to be running natively. This only happens in specific versions of Windows 7 and specific hardware. 2.6 User interface According to Kumar (2009), both Windows 7 and OS x 10.6 operating systems have become more desirable in terms of user experience. The taste of an individual user determines which one to prefer. However Windows 7 is more elegant than its predecessors, but to Macs user’s Apple has greater fine-tuned appearance (Kumar, 2009). Snow leopard has a new striking feature; a search tool. Windows 7 also has the search index. This search tool is more prominent in Snow Leopard than in Windows 7. In both OSs this tool searches through system settings to personal files. Snow Leopard’s user interface is simple. It includes a QuickTime interface, a context sensitive Services menu, and a well redesigned display that is incorporated into the Dock. Stacks that are scrollable and Safari browser for Web browsing bring about efficiency of the OS (Gruman and Hattersley et al., 2009). Snow Leopard refines on features available on previous versions for example Stacks. Snow Leopard Stacks are scrollable for easy navigation Windows 7 acquires Aero Shake and Taskbar icon thumbnail previews that allows hiding of other window details but giving the current window a wiggle. Aero Snap in Windows 7 lets the user drag the current window to either direction of the screen and finely snaps itself. By dragging to top edge makes it full screen while on either direction left or right causes it to fill half of the screen. The Jump lists cause Taskbar icons to be more useful. Further, Microsoft has enabled listening to MP3s without running the Windows Media Player by an OS X-style pop-up preview in the streamlined Notification Area. Windows 7 Thumbnail previews are among several useful UI improvements Microsoft have incorporated. These are little things that make a huge difference. Therefore Windows 7 taskbar has more fully featured thumbnails and more features like s Jump Lists than the Snow Leopard OS (Andrews, 2011). Windows 7 is its predecessor Vista with knobs on and Snow Leopard is its predecessor Leopard given a little more polish. The disparity between Vista and Windows 7 is more prominent than the difference between Leopard and Snow Leopard, but both make the user’s computer more user-friendly. 2.7 System configuration Windows 7 requires less effort to configure but more effort is required in finding what you want, for instance the advanced power options. The simple layout of System Preferences in Mac machines remains unbeaten. Snow Leopard System Preferences learnability is very high. It clearly depicts simplicity and organization of a user interface by placing all setting within easy reach. The System Preferences hosts five categories namely: Personal, Hardware, Internet & Wireless, System, and Other. Each of the categories contains icons. For example the personal category hosts icons such as Dock, Appearance, Security and Desktop & Screen Saver. Clicking an icon opens a straightforward menu that alters how the feature works. Windows 7's Control Panel gives the user more options though it may be harder to use. It has seven main categories and lots of subcategories. The hierarchy is confusing as there are numerous applets for configuring the OS. These applets lack a common interface unlike System Preference in snow leopard. This results to a different interface for each applet making it difficult to learn due to memory load. Ironically Windows7 is more configurable than Snow Leopard due to the many options and the fact that some of the applets are more useful and superior than applets in Snow Leopard (Gralla, 2009). Memorability for Windows7 is low as compared to Snow Leopard. By contrasting Network System Preferences in Snow Leopard and Internet category in Widows 7 Control Panel, it is easier to get DNS configuration or TCP/IP network information in Snow Leopard. To get such information in windows one has to get deep into the system. It is usually not an easy task to recall. Regardless Windows 7 provides more networking options and features. It gives a very good network map that visually shows all the devices connected to the network and allows gathering of information about them. A similar view is held by McLean (2009) , points out thatWindows 7 allows more fine adjustment and customization as compared to Snow leopard but for simplicity Snow Leopard's System Preferences' provides an easy and accessible way to configure the OS. Windows 7 Control Panel favours users who prefer many choices despite being confusing and lacking refinement (McLean, 2009). 2.8 Networking Networking is far much better in Windows 7 than its predecessor Vista. For wireless networking, it is easier to get wireless networking with a few clicks. The networking UI is a bit smarter in search. On the other hand Snow Leopard made little changes. It increased the speed in joining networks which is approximately 1.55 times faster than its predecessor Leopard and improved on the efficiency in file sharing. 2.9 Battery Life Snow Leopard outdoes Windows 7 when it comes to power management. On balanced power plan for Windows 7 where there is moderate use, Wi-Fi turned on, keyboard and screen brightness set to medium, Windows 7 battery lasts 70% the time Snow Leopard does. For instance Snow Leopard can last at least 5hours, Windows 7 normally run out battery power within 3&1/2 hours. This is attributed to by factors such as Booting and the nativity of Snow Leopard to Apple Mac machine. It can be affirmatively ascertained that Windows 7 is more “power-hungry” than Snow Leopard. 2.10 Speed When it comes to start-up or shutdown OS x 10.6 is faster than Window7. Snow Leopard takes fewer seconds to boot up. While shutting down, Windows 7 takes more time with a difference of at least 5 seconds. Both of the OSs takes around 1second to resume from standby. On average Snow Leopard beats Window7in terms of speed. 2.11 Everyday Tasks Both of the OS perform nearly equally well in doing common computing activities such as Web browsing, Word processing and printing. The only exception in this category is ease of usability that favours Snow Leopard OS. It is more user-friendly and less invasive. On the other hand Windows 7 manages the graphics processor of the hardware devices better than its earlier versions (Shelly and Freund et al., 2011). 3.0 Conclusion Operating systems have evolved in an effort to meet the ever increasing user needs. Windows 7 has a wider reach despite the unpleasant security updates done several times every week and remains to be the corporate standard (Garrido and Schlesinger et al., 2011). Apple and Microsoft concurrently made major advances to their operating systems. Both upgrade releases are significant improvements. Despite the fact that OS x 10.6 operating system appears well-groomed and neatly tailored and far more user-friendly, Widows 7 unquestionably has more options and wider compatibility. Their response to installations of third-party origin and the utilization of multiple processor cores is yet another crucial aspect. As for the hardware, Mac lets the user enjoy integration of both OS worlds where both Windows 7 and OS x 10.6 operating systems run on the same machine. On a concluding note, the computing world is highly favoured to have two user-friendly, fully fledged, and very good consumer mass market desktop OSs. Work cited 1) Akass, C. 2009. Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard. [Online]. [Accessed 26th March 2014]. Available from: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/1561304/windows-versus-snow-leopard. 2) Andrews, J. 2011. Supporting Windows 7. Boston, MA: Course Technology. 3) Diffen, 2009. Leopard (Mac OS X) vs Snow Leopard (Mac OS X). [Online]. [Accessed 26th March 2014]. 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