Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The three most common operating systems for personal com
puters today are Windows (by Microsoft), Macintosh OS X (by
Apple), and Linux (by Linus Torvalds and a worldwide confedera
tion of developers). Through various historical events, each of these
has specific objectives and strengths, and each has both a strong
cadre of advocates and another strong group of critics. Here are a
few highlights of recent arguments:
Over the years, Microsoft has been extremely aggressive in
marketing, so that various versions of Microsoft Windows
now are used on a large fraction of individual workstations.
Such widespread use has allowed users of systems to share
their materials (programs, data) easily.
Macintosh operating systems have consistently emphasized a
simple, clean, and powerful graphical interface. Apple's oper
ating systems have allowed users, even beginning users, to
easily perform valuable tasks, such as editing text, pictures,
and sound.
Unix and Linux tout their reliability and ability to link com
plex processing tasks, with new graphical interfaces simplify
ing interactions with users.
Proponents on each side could expand on these comments at
great length (just ask them!). Each of these operating systems has its
own strengths and advantages, and the choice of one over another
depends on what a user wants to do and with whom that user wants
to interact.
computer lab at school, or at work?
Disks may fail to work for several reasons. The previous section
suggests one such reason. If your home machine uses a Macintosh
or Linux operating system, then a disk for that machine would nor
mally be formatted for that system. If the computers at school or
work used the Windows operating system, then the disk format
would not match the conventions for Windows, and the disk would
