Monday, January 8, 2001		Lead Article

Which is your ace?
By Vipul Verma

It’s common to see people spending a lot of time and energy in deciding on the hardware component of their computer without paying much attention to the operating system that would suit their kind of requirement. The most common practice is to opt for the operating system (OS) that comes pre-loaded with the computer. However, this may not be the best choice. Ideally, when you are evaluating the hardware, including the processor, motherboard, RAM, hard disk; then why not evaluate the operating system that best suits your needs and requirements?

Undoubtedly, for a majority of applications, the Windows operating system is the best and offers great value to users. Windows, in its various forms, is the most versatile operating system, and offers a host of features at a reasonable price. However, if you are going to use the computer for a specific purpose, then operating systems other than Windows, which includes Linux, Mac OS, and Unix, have their own strengths and weaknesses against the Microsoft Windows. Depending upon the requirement, they may prove better in comparison to other operating systems.

A brief comparative study of prominent operating systems is as follows:

Unix operating system: Unix is the most powerful operating system available today and can be fully driven by using the command line only. It is the operating system on which the Internet was originally based. Moreover, it is ever-growing and a resourceful system and for the comfort of many, it’s a virus-free operating system. The major disadvantage of this operating system is its complicated nature, which cannot be termed user-friendly, like Windows. Moreover, it requires a lot of knowledge and a lot of reading about this operating system, before a person becomes fully equipped to use it. But it is the best solution for those who might want to use more than just client applications.

Linux: Linux is a refined version of the Unix operating system. It has Windows like interface. It is also the world’s fastest growing operating system and is versatile. The best part of Linux is that it is being offered free and a majority of its software can also be procured free of cost. This operating system combines the advantages of both Unix and Windows and is a great operating system for all kind of users including developers as well as common users. However, Linux is being widely used in Web servers and the Internet -based applications and is seeking inroads in home segment.

Apple System or Mac: Apple Macintosh operating systems are in use since long and the Mac users have been consistently growing. It is considered one of the most stable and powerful operating system. It is specially considered as the most suitable operating system for publishing work and also proves to be an excellent operating system for the Internet. However, applications running on an Apple Macintosh OS have to follow a strict set of user-interface guidelines to be fully System 7/8 compatible. This reduces the amount of information to be learnt to handle different applications. Moreover a speech synthesiser software is integrated within the OS. It has some disadvantages though. Apple OS popularised the GUI, a user interface based on graphics (icons and pictures and menus) instead of text; uses a mouse as well as a keyboard as an input device that is offered before other modern operating systems. In contrast to the Windows family, there is no command line interface available to handle text-oriented programs. There are much less accessibility solutions available than for the Windows OS family.

Windows operating system: Windows operating system does not require any introduction to the users. In 95 per cent cases in home segment, people use Windows-based operating system as the preferred operating system. Moreover, since this is not a single OS, but a complete family of operating systems which caters to all kind of computer users. Windows 95/98/Me are the systems for home user, whereas the Windows NT and Windows 2000 system was designed for more professional uses and big organisations.

Now you can see that contrary to the common belief, there are many good operating systems available today. In a majority of cases these operating systems have an opportunity cost, as by having one family of operating system on your computer, you sacrifice the benefits of the other operating systems. Though in some cases like Linux, you can have two operating systems, i.e. Windows and Linux can co-exist on one computer. Therefore, it is essential to exactly know before hand, which OS is more suitable for you. This process involves some steps. So as the first step in choosing the OS you must first define your needs: What do you want to do in your computer should be the first question? Then the next step should be defining the hardware requirement as depending on OS; you may require different hardware as a perfect solution. Then you must also evaluate the availability of software, as the number of software available for various operating systems are different and maximum number of software solutions is available for Windows-based OS. Under the next step, you must also evaluate the ease of operation. Normally people go for high-end software and operating system, but hardly ever utilise their full potential due to complexity of the operating system or the software. This involves more cost and the benefits derived are much less in comparison to the money spent on it. Moreover one should also evaluate that it should also be easy to configure and maintain. Lastly one should also evaluate the cost of individual operating system in deciding the choice of the operating system, as on individual level it is not always advisable to go for the costly operating system.

However, if you do not have any specific work, which is to be done on computer, then in all these cases, Windows-based OS are good. Even today, Windows ’98 second edition is powerful enough for a majority of applications and also offers great value for its price. Especially for home-based computers, Windows ’98 SE is most suitable as all new games work with Windows ’98, though even Windows 2000 may not have support for them. Windows ’98 SE also comes pre-loaded as a standard operating system with a majority of computers, where you also get the option to upgrade it to Windows 2000 for additional price. Though Windows 2000 is more stable in comparison to the Windows ’98 or any other Windows-based operating system, yet in the home segment it does not offer any additional value in comparison to the good old Windows ’98 SE. As it has a much wider support for programs, including the 16-bit applications where Windows 2000 may create problems of incompatibility. Moreover, with the growing popularity of the Internet, the Internet connection sharing has become in thing and this feature is built in the Windows ’98 SE. Though Windows 2000 also offers this facility, but the same thing comes for an additional price. Practically even now Windows ’98 offers a good value to the users, both in terms of features and also in terms of price.

Moreover, all those persons who are still using the older versions of Windows like Windows 3.11 or Windows ‘95; it is to their advantage to upgrade their operating system to Windows ’98 SE because by upgrading the operating system from Windows ’95 to Windows ’98 you get support for the DVD and USB. Today, USB ports have become one of the most important parts of the computer system and all major peripherals, including printer, modem, Zip drives can be used on the USB port. Moreover, it is also observed that the performance of the Internet increases, if you are using the USB port modem, as the speed of the USB port is much higher than the normal serial port. Moreover the support for the DVD is also essential as the DVDs not just store much more data in comparison to the CD, but also deliver better sound and picture as compared to CD. Globally, DVD ROM is replacing CD-ROM. Thus, the support for the DVD is also important, which is being offered by Windows ’98. Moreover the advantage of upgrading your system from previous versions of Windows to ’98 SE is that you get support for multi-headed display. The Windows ’98 SE also enjoys the advanced features of better networking like access to services (printers, file servers) on: IPX, TCP/IP.

Furthermore in Windows ’98 automatic network configuration is also available, which is also critical in present day computer requirement. It has a built in dial-up networking support (PPP) and also supports NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP (Windows Networking) support, which allows TCP/IP-based file, print and service sharing between machines. Thus it is better for upgrading operating system to at least Windows ’98 SE.

For those people who have the requirement for digital editing and want more refinement over Windows ’98 and are ready to pay an additional price, Windows Me, could also be a good option. Windows Me, is though an advanced form of Windows ’98, yet is less prone to crash. It has a strong recovery system, which prevents loss or damage that may arise from a crash.

Though, in the home segment, there could be a choice of operating system between Windows ’98 SE and Windows Me. But in case of office environment, the Windows 2000 professional is the best option. Though in organisations, Windows NT is also being used, but since Windows 2000 is based on NT technology, it offers more resources to the users. However, one of the most outstanding features of Windows 2000 is that it is a stable system and is less prone to crash.

The most ideal operating system mix in the present day world would be a combination of Windows 2000 and Linux on one machine. Since both can co-exist, thus by installing both on separate partition, one can derive maximum benefit from his computer. Moreover since in the future, Linux is expected to become popular, thus it is better, if one tries and explore this operating system too.