There were many attempts to produce something absolutely equal or even excelling the operating system of Microsoft Windows. New original versions of operating system are original and talented, but they do not outdo operating system of Microsoft Windows in general.
Microsoft Windows is a series of graphical interfaceoperating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Microsoft.
Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUI). Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal computer market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984.
As of October 2013, the most recent versions of Windows for personal computers, mobile devices, server computers and embedded devices are respectively Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Embedded 8.
Windows XP
Windows XP was released on October 25, 2001. The introduction of Windows XP aimed to unify the consumer-oriented Windows 9x series with the architecture introduced by Windows NT, a change which Microsoft promised would provide better performance over its DOS-based predecessors. Windows XP would also introduce a redesigned user interface (including an updated Start menu and a "task-oriented" Windows Explorer), streamlined multimedia and networking features, Internet Explorer 6, integration with Microsoft's.NET Passport services, modes to help provide compatibility with software designed for previous versions of Windows, and Remote Assistance functionality.
At retail, Windows XP was now marketed in two main editions: the "Home" edition was targeted towards consumers, while the "Professional" edition was targeted towards business environments and power users, and included additional security and networking features. Home and Professional were later accompanied by the "Media Center" edition and the "Tablet PC" edition. Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009. Extended support will continue until April 8, 2014.
Windows Vista, 7 and 8
After a lengthy development process, Windows Vista was released on November 30, 2006 for volume licensing and January 30, 2007 for consumers. It contained a number of new features, from a redesigned shell and user interface to significant technical changes, with a particular focus on security features. It was available in a number of different editions, and has been subject to some criticism. Vista's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 was released in early 2008.
On July 22, 2009, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 were released as RTM while the former was released to the public 3 months later on October 22, 2009. Unlike its predecessor, Windows Vista, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 was intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista was already compatible. Windows 7 has multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows shell with an updated taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements.
Windows 8, the successor to Windows 7, was released generally on October 28, 2012. A number of significant changes were made on Windows 8, including the introduction of a user interface based around Microsoft's Metro design language with optimizations for touch-based devices such as tablets and all-in-one PCs. These changes include the Start screen, which uses large tiles that are more convenient for touch interactions and allow for the display of continually updated information, and a new class of apps which are designed primarily for use on touch-based devices. Other changes include increased integration with cloud services and other online platforms (such as social networks and Microsoft's own SkyDrive and Xbox Live services), the Windows Store service for software distribution, and a new variant known as Windows RT for use on devices that utilize the ARM architecture. An update to Windows 8, called Windows 8.1, was released on October 17, 2013, and includes features such as new live tile sizes, deeper SkyDrive integration, the return of the traditional Start Button, and many other revisions.
Linux is a Unix-like and POSIX-compliant computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The main form of distribution are Linux distributions. The defining component of Linux is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on 5 October 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Because it considers Linux to be a variant of the GNU operating system, initiated in 1983 by Richard Stallman, the Free Software Foundation prefers the name GNU/Linux when referring to the operating system as a whole.
Linux was originally developed as a free operating system for Intel x86-based personal computers. It has since been ported to more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system. It is a leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as mainframe computers and supercomputers: as of June 2013, more than 95% of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers run some variant of Linux, including all the 44 fastest. Linux also runs on embedded systems (devices where the operating system is typically built into the firmware and highly tailored to the system) such as mobile phones, tablet computers, network routers, building automation controls, televisions and video game consoles; the Android system in wide use on mobile devices is built on the Linux kernel.
The development of Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration: the underlying source code may be used, modified, and distributed—commercially or non-commercially—by anyone under licenses such as the GNU General Public License. Typically Linux is packaged in a format known as a Linux distribution for desktop and server use. Linux distributions include the Linux kernel, supporting utilities and libraries and usually a large amount of application software to fulfil the distribution's intended use.
A distribution oriented toward desktop use will typically include the windowing systemsX11 and Wayland and an accompanying desktop environmentsuch as GNOME or the KDE Software Compilation. Some such distributions may include a less resource intensive desktop such as LXDE or Xfce for use on older or less powerful computers. A distribution intended to run as a server may omit all graphical environments from the standard install and instead include other software to set up and operate a LAMP or a LYCEsolution stack. Because Linux is freely redistributable, anyone may create a distribution for any intended use.
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The original version was the integral and unnamed system software first introduced in 1984 with the original Macintosh, and referred to simply as the "System" software. The System was renamed to Mac OS in 1996 with version 7.6. The System is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface concept.
Mac OS releases have existed in two major series. Up to major revision 9, from 1984 to 2000, it is historically known as Classic Mac OS. Major revision 10, from 2001 to present, has had the brand name of Mac OS X and now OS X. Both series share a general interface design and some shared application frameworks for compatibility, but also have deeply different architectures.
Design concept
Apple's original inception of the System deliberately sought to minimize the user's conceptual awareness of the operating system. Tasks which required more operating system knowledge on other systems would be accomplished by intuitive mouse gestures and simple graphic controls on a Macintosh, making the system more user-friendly and easily mastered. This would differentiate it from then current systems, such as MS-DOS, which were more technically challenging to operate.
The core of the system software was held in ROM, with updates originally provided free of charge by Apple dealers (on floppy disk). The user's involvement in an upgrade of the operating system was also minimized to running an installer, or simply replacing system files. This simplicity is what differentiated the product from others.
In June 2005, Steve Jobs announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote that Apple computers would be transitioning from PowerPC to Intel processors and thus dropping compatibility on new machines for Mac OS Classic. At the same conference, Jobs announced Developer Transition Kits that included beta versions of Apple software including OS X that developers could use to test their applications as they ported them to run on Intel-powered Macs. In January 2006, Apple released the first Macintosh computers with Intel processors, an iMac and the MacBook Pro, and in February 2006, Apple released a Mac mini with an Intel Core Solo and Duo processor. On May 16, 2006, Apple released the MacBook, before completing the Intel transition on August 7 with the Mac Pro. To ease the transition for early buyers of the new machines, Intel-based Macs included an emulation technology called Rosetta, which allows them to run OS X software that was compiled for PowerPC-based Macintoshes. Rosetta runs transparently, creating a user experience identical to running the software on a PowerPC machine, though execution is typically slower than with native code. Rosetta was an optional installation in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and is not available at all in OS X 10.7 Lion.
