Week 3 Reading Notes

The week 3 readings covered many major OS: Mac OS X, Linux, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and NEXTSTEP, among others.

In reading about the different systems, my perceptions regarding the pros and cons about these different systems has changed dramatically.

Bill Veghte's letter to Microsoft customers on the delivery of Windows 7 talks about how the new Windows will be based upon Vista technology. Currently with Vista you can sign up for "downgrade rights," which enables you to access XP, a more compatible, user friendly OS. It also states in the letter that XP will be supported until 2014.
Even though Vista has many benefits, such as enhanced security, lower cost of ownership to support for the next generation of hardware, better audio and video experiences, and improvements making it easier to find data and info content, the question remains; why purchase Windows Vista, when Windows 7's release date is scheduled for next year? I enjoyed reading the comments below the letter, analyzing the "cost" of implementing Vista now rather than waiting for Windows 7 to be released.

Mac OS X seems to be based on the NEXTSTEP technology Steve Jobs unveiled after he left Apple and joined a new startup; NeXT. It is interesting to note the similarities between Linux, which is written in the C programming language, and which is an implementation of Unix, and NEXTSTEP "an open platform that anybody could use to create their own implementation of STEP." (kernelthread.com, 2) That Mac OS X is the same in many respects to NEXSTEP, then, makes it very simlar to Linux, though it seems less compatible.

Mac OS X has gone through many evolutions. One of the major changes came in 2006, when Mac released its first Intel-based operating systems. With the release of these new systems, support was dropped for the Classic environment, thus limiting the systems' backward compatability. The features of Mac OS X include- Aqua GUI, which provides a 'graphical user interface with water-like elements, Expose, which helps with accessibility between windows and desktop, and Time Machine, which is 'automatic backup technology that allows users to view and Restore previous versions of files and application data.' (Wikipedia, Mac OS X, 10)


I like the idea of Linux, with its seemingly universal compatibility, free access, endless options, and constant evolution. Linux seems very similar to Steve Jobs' NEXSTEP in both structure, and compatibility. Both are implemented in Unix and written in the C programming language. Linux, being a 'open source product,' is going through constant transformations. Some of its cons include: far too many distributions (too many choices); it's not very user friendly; and because it is an Open Source Product, one might question the quality of the system.




Muddiest Point

We talked about binary code in class. What are the multi-architecture "fat binaries" that were introduced by NeXT, and how are they different from traditional binaries?


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