Installation and Migration Computer's OS - Essay Example

BCIS CASE STUDY 2 Soap-n-Suds, international manufacturer of laundry soaps, currently use Windows operating system on their company’s desktop computers. The company wishes to change its operating system, and if necessary, their desktop computers as well. For this subtle change of Operating system the company would need to consider a lot of issues. Operating systems are the connection between the hardware and the software of computers. As per the request of the Vice President (Information Technology), I have compared the three major operating systems and these are my findings: Windows is a software operating system produced by Microsoft. Its initial software was introduced in 1985 and since then it has usually dominated the operating system world. The recent version of windows is Windows 7, and the latest server version is Windows Server 2008 R2. But users usually prefer using Windows XP over the newer version currently. In 2009, a poll showed the dominant position of Windows, with approximately 90% of the user market share being grabbed by the company. And of that 90%, 49% pertained to Windows XP.    Linux refers to the family of Unix-like computer operating systems using the Linux kernel. Linux can be considered to have originated in 1991. It has usually been seen that users usually prefer using the Mac OS or the Windows OS rather than Linux, but in recent times, through the promotion of popular distribution such as Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora, the use of Linux by desktop computer users has increased significantly. Mac OS is a name trademarked under Apple Inc. It is a Graphical User Interface operating system developed and produced by Apple Inc. Mac OS was initially introduced in 1984 and since then it has been an integral part of the computers produced by Apple Inc. The latest version of Mac OS available in the market is known as the Mac OS X. Some features and issues about these operating systems are considered below. Issue Mac OS Linux Windows Installation and Migration Only Compatible with Apple Computers Easy walk through installation and quick start-up wizard. Files that need to migrate from Mac to Windows are usually compatible and the process is not that difficult. Installation process is complicated. Compatible with older hardware. Difficult to migrate files from Windows to Linux. Installation process is easy but is a bit time consuming. Compatible with older hardware. Hardware Support and Power Management Full Hardware support if the machine is Apple’s. Power Management issues are easily dealt upon by proper scheduling. Issues pertaining to Mouse handling exist. Hardware support has not been that good until recently being provided by the Linux community. Less Power Management issues. Hardware support is the best and is usually compatible with many desktop computers. Power Management is the latest Windows 7 has been improved and is considered to be very good Networking, Web and Wireless Networking is very easy and simple. Automatically detects WiFi connections. Uses Safari and Firefox as web browsers. Works best with Apple.mac (Apple’s own internet service) An open source software known as Synergy makes it easier to have greater accessibility between multiple computers having Windows, Linux or Mac Operating System. Networking is easier until and unless the network hardware is supported. Firefox is used for Web Browsing but sites having Active X issues are tricky to handle. Networking is easy and simple. (some issue in the Vista program) Wireless connections are automatically detected in the latest Windows 7. Uses Internet Explorer as its main web browser. Productivity Many productivity applications available, including the Microsoft Office suite. Has many basic personal-information-management software that will be adequate for most people: an e-mail application, Apple Mail; a contact manager, address Book; and a calendar, iCal. Most Linux desktop distribution comes with a broad swath of productivity software, either installed by default or available from the distribution repository. Many files can easily be converted i.e. many Microsoft Office files. The best programs are available such as the Microsoft Office. It is usually difficult to transfer any sophisticated files from Windows to any other operating system. Entertainment It is gamer friendly Video and Music files are easily handled. The popular iTunes software makes it easy to buy and listen to various audio and video files. Totally entertainment friendly package. Not much of a gaming platform. Difficult to play MP3 files. Videos and music files are run as individual files rather than managing large media files. It supports gaming heavily. Music files are easily handled as well. Uses Windows Media Player to play any music or video file. Security Considered as the safest operating system because of its nature of separating administrative functions, requiring admin access to make most modifications to the operating system. Viruses and worms that target Windows are virtually nonexistent on the Mac Considered to be a safe and secure operating system. Its susceptibility to viruses is very high and for that very reason it is considered as a risky operating system. Stability and Backup Stable and less vulnerable to viruses as compared to Windows. Good Back up Facility. The operating system is considered to be very stable (unlike Windows) and is susceptible to fewer risks. The backup feature is large with many different features. Because of the risks of viruses and other issues, it is not that stable. Proper Back needs to be made in any other CD or drive. After considering all these features and other things, it would be better for Sand-n-Suds to use the current desktop computers and switch off between the Linux or the newer Windows 7 version. If the company opts for the Mac OS X version, it would have to change all of its desktop computers and this would be considered as an expensive venture for the company. References Linux Informtion http://www.linux.org/info/ Mac OS Information http://www.macoptions.com/os85/ Windows, Linux and Mac OS Information http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-vs-Linux-vs-Mac-OS-X-50180.shtml Window, Linux and Mac OS Information http://www.cio.com/article/41140/Windows_vs._Linux_vs._OS_X Read More