Small operating systems for PCs. Fastest Windows: rating of operating systems

The entry into the world and then into the domestic market of Windows 8, and after that Windows 8.1, significantly changed the ranking of operating systems in terms of their popularity among the people. Over the past year, demand for XP along with Vista has almost halved.

As a result, the number of Windows 8 and NT users has naturally increased. At the beginning of the year, only 4.8 percent switched to G8. In September of the same year, this figure was already 10.2 percent.

Windows 7

It is curious that with the advent of Windows 8, the prevalence of the previous edition not only did not decrease, but, on the contrary, even increased slightly. The reason for this is most likely a decrease in interest in Windows XP, given the fact that Microsoft management intends to stop supporting the operating system "of all times and peoples."

The advantages of the “seven” are not essential. Anyone who has used Windows 7 knows what we're talking about.

Seven has stability, a high-quality graphical interface, and a multifunctional Explorer that supports drag-and-drop. Statistics show that over 55 percent use “seven” and therefore it is number one in the TOP operating systems.

Many users, having tried all the “delights” of the new Windows 10, rolled back to seven.

Windows 8

The second position in the ranking of operating systems belongs to Windows 8. It is known that the “eight” officially appeared in the fall of 2012. Windows 8 was received very poorly by the user audience. The main reason for dissatisfaction was the unusual interface, which was intended for touch devices.

What hasn't been said about Windows 8! The platform turned out to be another failure of the Redmond company: buggy, unsuccessful and inconvenient in every sense.

However, six months passed, and the number of dissatisfied users began to decrease. The eighth Windows could not surpass its predecessor, but offensive epithets in its direction ceased to be heard. Many people are expecting the release of a mobile version of the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, which is reported in detail on Gadgetick.com. Users are looking forward to this event in the spring.

The modified G8 is mainly used on tablets and other devices that support touch screens.

MacOS

Third position in the operating system rating for MacOS. This platform is being developed by a well-known Apple company. Despite the fact that MacOS is a stable, reliable and beautiful platform, the “axis” has not received mass distribution.

Unfortunately, this operating system can only be installed on Apple computers, which are positioned as high-quality devices at a high price.

The lack of compatibility with hardware from other developers is the main disadvantage of the Mac OS. It should also be noted that MacOS loses in convenience when compared with the “seven” and “eight”. Considering the shortcomings, MacOS has increased security, is virus-resistant and has a colorful design.

Windows XP

For a long time, Windows XP was in a leading position. Computer users were fascinated by its simplicity, lack of high requirements for hardware resources, and stability.

This platform has made history. XP was officially discontinued in the spring of 2014. Nevertheless, this operating system continues to be used.

She will still be able to hold out for a certain period of time. However, demand is constantly decreasing. Sooner or later, this platform will repeat the fate of the previous Windows 2000 and 98.

Linux

No operating system has such a variety of editions, modifications and builds as can be seen with Linux. Despite this fact, the total number of Linux devices cannot be called impressive. Mint and Ubuntu are in demand. These platforms have a convenient graphical interface. Linux Mint is known to resemble Windows.

Among the positive qualities of Linux, it is necessary to note stable operation, free of charge, fault tolerance, low demands on system resources, virus resistance (a small number of malware have been created for this operating system).

We will not predict the further development of Linux, but we can assume that this platform will be an operating system for “experienced” users for a long time.

Results

The collapse of Windows, which hotheads spoke so confidently about, did not happen. They will still express their opinion on this matter.

A new OS was released and the expectations of many were not met. The results are not very good yet, improvements are required. She has every chance of becoming a new disappointment and turning into another target for attacks. One thing is clear: Windows will be popular for a long time.

21 comments. to “Rating of operating systems”

  1. Eugene

    Windows XP is the fastest and most productive system even in 2018.

  2. Pavel

    Microsoft has been leading the market for many years not because it extracts money from honest citizens. People pay for the functionality of systems, a nice interface, convenient settings, performance and a bunch of useful software for the professional activities of a huge number of specialists of different stripes. They are the ones who earn their bread and butter by using products from Microsoft and. And how many of you honestly and always bought licensed products from Microsoft? The best were Windows 3.11, NT35, XP, 7. Ten now also works fine. We use Linux distributions only for servers.

  3. Switchboard forks

    We choose Windows 10 from a professional leader in software production.

    And to sit in the so-called “operating system”, assembled on your knees by a bunch of homemade ones that do not give any guarantees and do not provide technical support, and in the age of high technology enter commands in the terminal, posing as a great user, is at least nonsense, and the fact that it’s for Linux there’s no virus, so they stupidly don’t write them under it, because there’s nothing valuable in it - THE SOURCE CODE IS FREELY ACCESSED, what’s the point in fucking hacking it, don’t make people laugh, and security doesn’t depend on what system you BURN YOUR DATA on ON THE NET, shkolota)))

  4. Vova

    I've been using Windows 10 since it came out, upgrading to Windows 10 Pro. I’ve already forgotten that xp, 7, and I can’t even remember, especially about their glitches.

  5. Andrey

    I use openSUSE Linux, and for those who also want to get off the Windows needle, I recommend Linux mint. Windows 7 is also installed on another PC, but I use it less and less, and apparently this will be the last Windows for me. I don’t even think about Windows 8 and 10 - I’ve already said goodbye to this “step back”.

    • Denis

      don't talk bullshit to the masses

  6. Andrey

    Windows 8,8.1 are the best for me!

  7. Max

    Windows, Windows... The best and most understandable was and is OS/2, but alas, it died in God... what a pity

  8. Vladimir

    I agree that XP 64 worked faster and more reliably than all systems (I note for certain software), and on ordinary hard drives, but there were difficulties with firewood for printers.
    But in general, of course, there is no ideal system (operating system), everything is flawed.
    Regarding convenience, this is how and what I’m used to, if there was one standard for everyone, I’m sure everyone would be happy and unhappy at the same time, but I think this is the right way.
    In my opinion, there was a good idea for a modular computer; at our rate of development, it would last for a long time, but while we live in a world where money rules, this is not beneficial for manufacturers.
    In general, I understood the opinion about the best system subjectively.

  9. Rovsh

    I can’t help but agree, XP 64 showed such speed, but a big drawback was that SP3 was not released for it, as far as I know. I used it for a long time until I was forced to move to the seven.

    • Stanislav Vladov

      SP2 Windows XP x64 corresponds to the security level of SP3 Windows XP x32, the numbering has nothing to do with it.
      All other versions of Windows released after Vista are actually a variation of it - according to the numbering of the kernel version after the fifth XP, they are still the same Vista-six, which for marketing advertising purposes was assigned serial numbers 7, 8, 10. In addition, with There are obvious problems with the score at Microsoft - they missed the nine, immediately jumping to the ten.
      The main problem of any Windows is hacker builds, hacked software, cracks, activators. Most users believe that if their antivirus program is silent, then everything is fine with their Windows...
      Strange people, however... Do you think that if, when using an infectious activator, you do not notice anything bad on your computer, this means that nothing bad is happening to your computer and system? These hacking programs are written by professionals and they know their stuff well! What is the benefit for them to work in the sweat of a programmer's face for free under capitalism? This is not communism, in which everything should be free and safe! Free cheese only comes in a mousetrap. But the hamsters believe that these are all scarecrows and that hackers work exclusively for charitable purposes, with nothing to do, nourishing altruistic motives and spiritual love for these same hamsters, and also experiencing class hatred for the damned greedy bourgeois from Microsoft! What childish naivety! Yes, yes, turn off your antivirus - it’s not needed anyway! All cracks are harmless! Hackers are Mother Teresa! Even if your antivirus does not detect anything there, this is not a guarantee that there is nothing there, because programs for
      hacking your system is written by high-class professionals who know the principles of operation of anti-virus programs, and in order to make you part of a botnet, they develop ways to bypass the antivirus detection scanner that are simply unknown to the developers of your Caspers and web doctors. The fact that the system can slow down - in one case, immediately after using the activator, in another case a little later - is a scientific fact, tested on itself and by a lot of other freebie users. Use free “communist” software - Linux, BSD, etc. - if you cannot pay slavish tribute to the greedy bourgeois masters.
      In fact, with the release of the latest tenth version of Windows, the Microsoft system itself has turned into one solid Trojan horse - a spy program to meet the needs of the CIA, FBI, NSA, with an additional number of programs chock full of proprietary advertising spyware.

  10. Stanislav Vladov

    Windows XP x64 is the best version of Windows released by Microsoft so far, if you are a regular user and not an avid gamer who is constantly chasing the latest games. It provides all the necessary needs and is the most productive of all existing Windows.

  11. Andrey

    I have been a Windows user for over 17 years.
    Regarding the versions (... XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1) at the moment, imho, I consider 7 a complete, stable and safe system.
    XP - it's just time to say goodbye
    Vista - looked and threw it away
    8 - same as Vista
    8.1 - sawed cross-platform “under”

    I read here... about security (viruses, etc.) - don’t make people laugh.
    There is malware even for budget devices with a proprietary OS (which can be inserted... say into the custom firmware of these devices)!!!
    And if you choose between “axes”, then I chose Windows because (taking into account the popularity and prevalence) there are more security products for it!!!... even Microsoft itself is trying to twist something out of Defender.
    And by and large:
    1) Thinking about safety? - Don’t put “craft axes”!
    2) Don't want to be "hacked"? - Don't go online!
    3) Don’t want to be “infected”? - Don’t “poy” anything that gets into the “car”!
    4) “climb” and “pour”? — Set up the “axis”, antivirus and firewall!
    5) Can't set it up? - Study!

    P.S. Don't want to study? — See clause 1), 2), 3).

    • Alexei

      It seems like you don’t want to learn, but continue to eat cactus. For 17 years they have not realized that Windows is a leaky bucket, whose developers shake money from you every year. And if you don’t pay, they will spam you with advertising in every second application!
      I've been using Linux for 5 years, Windows was demolished in the first year of using Linux. There are, of course, small problems, but everything can be solved. And in general, there is no ideal system and there never will be!

      I work at a school and my whole life I have been dreaming about how to throw off this Microsoft creation and switch to Linux completely. Several factors interfere:
      1. At school, work programs are constantly required to be remade; Office is needed, and LibeOffice does not always open docks correctly.
      2.You are constantly required to work with presentations; children bring presentations developed in Power Pointe and are very upset if the presentation either does not work correctly or does not open at all from Linux.
      But all the Windows computers at school are filled to capacity with viruses; during an event or holiday, it’s scary to insert a children’s flash drive with music. But Linux doesn't care about these problems. You just open the flash drive and manually delete these hidden files with strange names and extensions like .exe .bin .com .dll .tmp where they shouldn’t be.

    • Marat 08/19/2014

      I wouldn’t say that I’m an ardent opponent of Windows 8, but still try to enter safe mode??? I’m sure that Windows 9 won’t take this into account either (of course there are ways). Although what I really like most about it is fast loading, flash drives are removed much faster than in other OSs, a functional explorer, etc. But at the moment I’m using Linux Ubuntu myself and I don’t want to switch back to Windows 8 yet, but time will tell. Maybe win 9 will justify itself well in the sense of price and quality. In the meantime, I don’t see any economic rationale for shelling out for the eight.

    • SERG

      At least UBUNTU installs drivers for printers and devices itself, and it’s very difficult to get 8 to work correctly. Try attaching the HP 1102 just for fun.

    • visitor

      Linux - for advanced users? Made me laugh to tears! (for beginners this is the miracle of Linux)

The next step after purchasing a laptop is choosing an operating system. An unsuitable option does not allow you to use all the capabilities of your PC or work comfortably. In this article we reveal the key points in choosing an operating system for a laptop.

The laptop consists of two parts - hardware and software. Hardware is the processor, memory, screen, keyboard, software is all applications. The main component of the software is the operating system.

The OS serves as an intermediary between the computer, executing programs and the user. The operating system provides applications and the user with a set of universal services:

  • loads programs into memory for execution
  • receives and executes user commands.
  • organizes interaction with a printer, scanner, network

Windows or Linux

More than 90% of the operating system market is occupied by Windows OS. Users receive better support for computer hardware, a larger number of application programs than for Linux, and almost 100% the ability to consult with specialists in case of problems.

For the average user, the choice is clearly in favor of Windows. Exceptions include cases of using a laptop for work and training in the IT field. But user preparation when using Linux is higher.

Laptops for Windows XP

Windows XP was released in 2001 and has become the standard for a reliable, stable and secure operating system. Today, XP is used on new laptops that are equipped with single-core processors and up to 1 GB of RAM.

Conclusion: Windows XP is an acceptable operating system for laptops with limited memory and outdated graphics, suitable for office use.

Why we skip Vista

After the successful Windows XP, the unsuccessful Vista appeared. The system had many errors, inflated hardware requirements, constant “brakes” and freezes.

As a result, proven XP was installed on laptops with Vista pre-installed. After the failure, Microsoft did some serious work. A new OS has appeared with better performance with lower hardware requirements. This was the final verdict on Windows Vista.

Choosing the optimal version of Windows 7

Almost half of computers run Windows 7. Reason: Windows 7 is faster than Vista and Windows XP. If the laptop is equipped with at least a 2-core processor and the amount of RAM is more than 1 GB, the choice in favor of Windows 7 is obvious.

When choosing a 32 or 64-bit version, they are guided by the amount of RAM. If the RAM is up to 4 GB inclusive, the OS “sees” a little more than 3 GB. Then it’s better to stick with the 32-bit (or x86) version.

The latter requires more memory to operate. The transition to a 64-bit version of the operating system is relevant when the installed memory capacity is 6 GB or more.

Windows 8 and difference from Windows 7

For most programs there is no difference between 8 and 7. Accordingly, the performance of Windows 7 and Windows 8 is almost the same.

The main difference is the desktop design. Windows 8 was created at the peak of tablet popularity, so the interface is focused on them. In version 8 there is no Start button on the taskbar, in 8.1 it appears again, but the classic menu does not return. There is no point in installing Windows 8. This is confirmed by less than 8% of computers that use the OS

Windows 10 – when there is no choice anymore

Microsoft Windows 10 is the last OS released according to the old scheme. The main difference from previous versions is that Microsoft supports Windows 10 with constant updates, which have become impossible to disable. As a result, users have the latest version of the system installed.

This is part of the strategy to transition to the “Windows as a service” model, when the system changes constantly through updates, without releasing new versions.

The official OS requirements remained at the same level as for 7 and 8. There is no point in installing Windows 10 on laptops that run Windows 7 normally.

Old laptops may experience problems after installing Windows 10:

  • The touchpad does not work correctly
  • Old printer and scanner won't connect
  • Wi-Fi disappears

Added to this are privacy concerns: under the terms of the license, Microsoft can dispose of user data.

New laptop models work best when running 10. If the manufacturer's official website only has drivers for Windows 10, opt for the 64-bit version of the system.

Over the past months, quite old budget laptops and netbooks from various manufacturers have fallen into my hands several times.Inexpensive devices manufactured in 2008–2012have not yet turned into museum exhibits, so they are unlikely to please fans of old hardware. On the other hand, the latest OS and the most modern versions of browsers on such equipment are virtually unusable. So the question arises: what operating systems should I use to give my old laptop a second life? There may be many answers, in this case I will talk about my experience with inexpensive devices of previous generations.

What are we working with?

Of course, it is impossible to test all existing equipment models. I will briefly mention which models of netbooks and laptops I have encountered recently (photos taken from the Internet, since the devices were given to the owners):

Acer Aspire One AOA 150

Screen – 8.9 inches, Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz processor, RAM capacity – 1.5 GB (initially 1 GB, the owner replaced the memory stick), HDD capacity – 160 GB.

Acer Aspire One D270

Screen – 10 inches, Intel Atom N2600 1.6 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, HDD – 320 GB.

Lenovo ThinkPad SL500

Screen – 15.4 inches, Intel Celeron T3100 1.9 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, HDD – 320 GB (originally 160, the owner replaced the hard drive).

Dell Inspiron 1545

Screen – 15.6 inches, Intel Pentium 4300 2.1 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, HDD – 250 GB.

HP ProBook 4525 s

Screen – 15.6 inches, AMD Athlon II P360 2.3 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, HDD – 320 GB.

As you can see, everything here is modest: not a single MacBook, budget equipment. The more pressing is the issue of choosing an acceptable OS.

Let's consider the options

When I began to consider possible operating system options, I first decided to discard unacceptable solutions. There were two such solutions:

  1. Installing new versions of Windows. The reason is simple: laptop owners lack a license. I have a negative attitude towards piracy, and device owners did not want to buy a new license.
  2. Installation of “exotic” and server OS. It is possible to install and configure DragonFlyBSD or ReactOS, but then users will have to somehow interact with these systems themselves, which can be difficult.

So, based on the available equipment, I have identified the following possible options:

  1. “Tuning” of pre-installed outdated versions of Windows (XP, Vista, 7);
  2. Installation of outdated versions of Linux distributions;
  3. Installation of new versions of Linux distributions (with lightweight GUI versions).

Let us briefly list the advantages and disadvantages of these options.

“Tuning” outdated versions of Windows

The Acer Aspire AOA 150 netbook comes pre-installed with Windows XP, the D270 and ProBook 4525s come with Windows 7, and the Thinkpad SL500 comes with Windows Vista initially (the owner changed the system to Windows XP). These operating systems are fully functional on this hardware, but the subjective “responsiveness” of the OS left much to be desired. At the request of the owners, I reinstalled the OS on the AOA150, ThinkPad SL500 and ProBook 4525s while maintaining the license. The owners of these laptops used specific software that only worked in Windows, so I only made a small “tuning” of the operating systems. On all three laptops, only the most necessary programs were left in startup, the disks were defragmented, and some previously installed programs were replaced with lighter and free analogues. Also, in two out of three cases, the size of the paging file was increased. In the Acer Aspire AOA 150, I first replaced the hard drive with a more spacious one (I found a Seagate ST500LT012 with a capacity of 500 GB, in perfect condition, it worked for only 300 hours). The cooler in the ProBook 4525s laptop has been replaced. The ThinkPad SL500 was disassembled and cleaned of dust, and I also replaced the thermal paste. After these software and hardware improvements, the devices began to work a little faster and more stable.

The disadvantage of this solution is obvious: Windows XP no longer receives security updates, and Windows 7 only receives some important fixes. In addition, some new versions of software cannot work on older operating systems (this is especially noticeable in Windows XP, where the latest versions of browsers no longer work).

Installing legacy versionsLinux

The Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop that came to me was purchased without an operating system, and the owner independently installed Windows XP SP3 on the device. The laptop was used infrequently; judging by the operating time of the HDD, the computer only worked for five months (the hard drive was not replaced). The laptop owner wanted a more modern operating system. There were no special wishes: just to be able to read e-books (fb2, pdf, djvu), check email and listen to music. The owner of the device is not interested in messengers and video communications (by the way, this Dell model does not have a webcam), and does not use specific Windows programs. Therefore, I suggested that the laptop owner try Linux.

A slightly outdated, but quite functional Debian 8 distribution was installed, the desktop environment was XFCE. You may ask: why is the old version installed? Everything is simple here: the software versions in this distribution are well tested, so the likelihood of “catching” unknown bugs is extremely low. The only significant problem that arose after installation was Wi-Fi not working (resolved by installing a more recent firmware-b43-installer package from the Ubuntu repositories). There were also minor problems with adjusting the brightness (the system did not respond to pressing the function keys). This issue was fixed by adding the blacklist video line to the module blacklist (/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist).

In general, the system turned out to be quite responsive, the only “heavy” component is Mozilla Firefox (the binary ESR version is installed). Knowing that the browser can “get into” swap if many tabs are open, I created a 4 GB swap partition during the system installation. To solve possible problems, TeamViewer was installed, which has never been needed yet.

The chosen solution is also not without its drawbacks: in order to take advantage of the latest versions of the kernel and programs, the user will sooner or later have to update the entire system. However, the owner of the laptop is still satisfied with the installed versions of the main programs; the user visits trusted sites on the Internet and does not experiment with the system on his own, so this drawback cannot be called critical.

Installing new versionsLinux

The owner of an Acer Aspire One D270 wanted to get acquainted with UNIX-like operating systems. I offered him a compromise: leave Windows 7 Starter on one partition of the hard drive, and install a modern Linux distribution on the other. As it turned out, such a precaution was not superfluous.

The Lubuntu distribution with the “light” LXDE desktop environment was chosen. The installation went smoothly, the wireless connection worked immediately, and overall the system’s performance did not raise any questions. But, unfortunately, she did not cause them only in me. The owner of the netbook is a movie buff, so he wanted to watch movies on this device. Unfortunately, support for the Intel GMA3600 video card in Linux cannot be called acceptable. If in Windows 7 this netbook at least supports acceleration of 2D and 3D graphics and can play movies with a resolution of 720p, then in Lubuntu watching a movie resembled a slide show. At the same time, the load on the processor during viewing reached 100%, and the netbook became noticeably warm.

I was also not pleased with the battery life: in Windows the netbook worked for about 3 hours without connecting to the network, in Lubuntu - on average a little more than one and a half hours. After installing and configuring the TLP utility, this figure increased to 1 hour 50 minutes, but it was not possible to “squeeze” more out of the system (the owner did not want to replace the worn-out battery with a new one).

Of course, there were also pleasant moments - the Lubuntu interface quickly responded to user actions, LibreOffice, installed instead of a set of Abiword and Gnumeric, worked more stable than in Windows. In general, the owner of the device has not lost interest in Linux, but to watch movies and run small games he left Windows7 in dual boot.

Drawing conclusions

Working with outdated laptop computers led me to certain conclusions.

In 2018, inexpensive laptops and netbooks from 6-10 years ago can be used for home and office needs. Problems may arise with browser performance (hello to the developers of modern websites) and video. A competent choice of OS can smooth out these problems a little, but still, computer obsolescence is inevitable, so you shouldn’t expect miracles.

The choice of OS is always subjective, but in general, some recommendations can be formulated for outdated devices:

  1. Installing the latest versions of Windows (8, 10) is usually pointless. Even if the system works, the performance will be unsatisfactory.
  2. If your computer runs Windows XP, Vista or 7, pay attention to the selection of software. Look for lightweight and free analogues of paid programs, try antiviruses that are not too resource-demanding. And don't forget: after all, older systems are not very well protected from some modern malware.
  3. If you want to install Linux, the first thing to consider is how well the system supports your hardware. Take the time to search the Internet for reviews from users who have previously installed Linux on similar laptops (especially English-language reviews - there are always more of them). Also take a look at lightweight desktop environments: XFCE, LXDE, LXQt. Heavier environments (eg KDE5) may not be suitable for you. As for specific distributions, I won’t risk giving any unambiguous advice. Choose what is more convenient for you or a Linux friend who agrees to help you with the setup.

So, if you have a capable old economy laptop, it may still be quite useful in 2018. However, unfortunately, you shouldn’t expect outstanding performance, since modern programs have become “heavier” and websites are consuming more and more memory.

“Hardware” is just the “flesh” of the computer. And its spirit, the engine, is the software, which, in fact, makes the computer’s processor heart beat at a monstrous speed, driving digital blood through the iron “veins.”

But the programs themselves are quite helpless - they all need some kind of intermediary that would allow them to work with computer hardware. How exactly does the interaction between a person and a computer occur?

No matter how many programs there are on a computer, they all need a single PLATFORM. A single, common language in which they can communicate with computer hardware on the one hand and with the user on the other. An assistant who will take the solution to the most common problems off their shoulders.

The first programs were not assembled from ready-made blocks, as they are today, but were written from scratch in the language of machine codes “native” to a given computer. And this was natural, because the first computers were “things in themselves”, incompatible with other smart machines. Only at the end of the fifties, when computers went into mass production, and their number was no longer in the tens, but in the thousands, did the first universal means of communication between man and machine - programming languages ​​- appear. First - “low” ones like assembler, accessible only to a few programming wizards, and then...

Then, in the mid-70s, Basic entered the arena, a language of standard text commands that even schoolchildren could work with. And the schoolchildren did not miss their chance - in any case, two dropout students, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, went down in history precisely thanks to the version they wrote (and most importantly, sold) in Basic for Altair computers. From this seed, real operating systems later hatched - intermediary programs, control programs.

...We often say, “I work with Windows,” but we have little idea what that means. After all, the operating system itself (or, more familiarly, just the OS) is a kind of buffer-transmitter between computer hardware and other programs. The OS takes command signals sent by other programs and “translates” them into a language understandable to the machine. The OS manages all devices connected to the computer, providing access to them to other programs. Finally, the OS provides the human user with the convenience of working with a computer.

Every OS consists of at least five required parts.

  • The first is a “translator” from a software language to a “hardware” language, a machine code language.
  • The second is specialized programs for controlling various devices that are part of the computer. Such programs are called managers. Thanks to them, the operating system finds out the shortest path to the “heart” of each device and gets into its hands the “control panel” of all their functions and abilities.
  • The third part is interfaces, special modules for performing standard procedures and functions with which application programs interact. There are a lot of such libraries in Windows, and some of them are part of a kind of “creative unions”, helping each other in performing certain tasks. The most striking example is DirectX, a set of tools for working with sound, video and other multimedia resources. Games, music and video players all use DirectX, which does some of the work for them. And this is very convenient - otherwise the producers of each program would have to write all the modules “from scratch” to solve the simplest problems.
  • The fourth part is the “database” into which the system enters information about all its settings, installed programs and much more. After all, it is impossible to store such data in the body of the programs themselves - to do this, one would have to endlessly interfere with their code, which, you see, is simply unacceptable. In the DOS era, each program maintained its own "dossier", storing all the necessary information in its configuration files. Windows solved the problem differently, generously allocating all programs a single “warehouse” for storing settings - the system registry. The registry also stores all the information necessary for the operation of Windows itself.
  • The fifth part is a convenient shell with which the user communicates - . A kind of beautiful wrapper in which a boring and uninteresting kernel is packed. The comparison with packaging is also apt because it is what people pay attention to when choosing an operating system; the kernel, the main part of the OS, is remembered only later.

Today, the graphical interface is an invariable attribute of any operating system. However, the “operating systems” of the first generations had not a graphical, but a text interface, that is, commands were given to the computer not by clicking on an icon, but by entering commands from the keyboard. And Windows itself was initially not a full-fledged operating system, but just a “graphical add-on” over the DOS kernel, and it came of age only ten years ago!

Of course, there are many operating systems in the world - and Windows is far from the best of them. Mac OS, the operating system for Apple computers, is much simpler and more understandable for users. And numerous operating systems of the Linux family have much greater stability, reliability and flexibility in configuration, and they cost tens of times less... So, theoretically, you have a choice.

But, most likely, you will decide to stick with one of the versions of Windows - because with all its shortcomings, it has long since become a recognized standard. And no matter what skeptics say about Windows, today a better system for the home simply has not been invented.

MICROSOFT OPERATING SYSTEMS

The story of Microsoft Corporation's rapid rise to fame is well known: in the early eighties of the last century, Bill Gates' company managed to sign a contract to develop an operating system for the IBM PC computer. Realizing the prospects of the personal computer market with great delay, the “Blue Giant” IBM intended to completely capture it with the help of its new PC...

Everything was clear with the hardware, only the software issue remained unresolved... The irony of fate: they learned about Microsoft and IBM only thanks to unexpected help. their main antagonist is Apple! When preparing the IBM PC project, its authors took as a model, of course, the Apple II - the most popular computer of that era.

...Having received the desired contract and walking just a few steps away from the IBM office, Gates and Allen immediately bought a ready-made OS from the Seattle Computer Product company. The 86-DOS program they created was almost completely copied from CP\M, which suited both IBM and Gates. The latter could only quickly put his brand name on the purchase, hastily adapt it for the IBM PC - and launch it into series!

Thus was born MS-DOS, the most popular operating system for PCs of the “first generation”, which existed for almost twenty years (the last version of DOS was released in 2000). However, you can still see a black DOS screen today in any version of Windows - to do this, just go to the Start menu, click on the Run command and type cmd in the line.

Having turned DOS into a de facto standard for IBM-compatible computers, Microsoft quietly cut coupons and corrected errors for some time (fortunately, there were always enough of them in the company’s products). However, there were few qualitative improvements in DOS - it still remained a single-tasking OS without the slightest hint of a graphical interface. Commands were given to the computer not by clicking a mouse on a pictogram, but using the keyboard.

For example, today, to launch the Microsoft Word text editing program, you just need to click on the program icon on the Windows Desktop. Previously, when working in the previous generation OS - DOS, it was necessary to enter a command like

C:\WORD\word.exe c:\doc\mybook.doc

Soon, users were tired of the black screen, single-tasking mode and text-based “Interface” - especially since Apple had long offered an alternative in the form of the graphical operating system Mac OS. Actually, it was from this that the first version of Windows was copied, which was, however, not a full-fledged operating system, but just a shell for DOS.

The first versions of Windows were not very successful. Even IBM, which had warmed up to Bill Gates' team, was not interested in the new product, but Microsoft was invited to participate in the work on the OS/2 operating system. This graphical OS, unlike Windows, was a REAL operating system. It is characteristic that Gates himself hesitated between these two products for another six years (!) - only in the early 90s the choice was made. From now on, the company relied only on Windows, abandoning the already fully developed and competitive OS/2 to the mercy of fate.

The first successful versions of Windows are considered to be 3.1 and 3.11 (with support for network mode), which were released in 1992-1993. However, for the first time, Windows approached its current appearance only two years later, with the release of the truly revolutionary Windows 95 system. It was there that the decisive step was taken for the first time to turn the shell into a full-fledged operating system, although the kernel was still the good old DOS.

Farewell to it dragged on for five years - only in 1999, Windows ME (Millennium Edition) was born, the DOS mode in which was artificially blocked. However, back in 1993, Microsoft began work on a new line of OSes built on a fundamentally new kernel. Its founder was the Windows NT operating system, designed for professionals and corporate users. Despite the fact that NT's interface was not too different from other versions of Windows, it was designed completely differently - with more emphasis on stability and reliability and less on entertainment. For the new OS, a new secure file system, NTFS (NT File System), was even developed, which the mainstream versions of Windows could not work with for the time being.

Both versions of Windows developed in parallel until the end of the century. However, after the release of the “people's” Windows ME and the “professional” Windows 2000, Microsoft announced the final abandonment of the “DOS line”.

Windows XP

Humanity had to enter the twenty-first century with a new system that united the advantages of both of its parents... Windows XP. This operating system is already quite a few years old - a record age by software standards. But it still looks quite decent - the interface, however, already smacks of the Stone Age, but the reliability and stability of XP remains unattainable for other Microsoft OSes.

As a result, this operating system was so successful that, according to the developers, it was delayed on the market for a long time. It was expected that after the advent of Vista, the spent XP would be written off as scrap... But that was not the case! Despite the fact that Microsoft buried its brainchild back in 2007, even today experienced users first remove Vista from their laptop and then install XP there. On netbooks it has no competitors at all.

Well, we already understand why XP is good. Stable, well-functioning, fast and not too resource-demanding: 1 GB of RAM is enough to make it happy! Therefore, for entry-level laptops, a better system has not yet been invented - another question is whether you can find the necessary drivers for new models... In a word, if the seller offers you a netbook with Windows XP, you should not wrinkle your nose with contempt: getting rid of some not very necessary “decorations” ", you will benefit greatly in performance. With up to 2 GB of RAM, working with XP will be much more comfortable. But whether it’s worth installing XP on new models is a controversial question. You can, of course, try, but there is no guarantee that all the hardware will be recognized and will work without a hitch. Usually webcams and wireless communication modules go on strike, for which there are simply no drivers for “old” systems.

Well, the main drawback of XP is that this system is poorly suited to work with multi-core processors and new standards for 3D graphics in games. That is, you can install a new video card using XP, and the system will recognize it, but it will not be able to use all its capabilities.

Windows Vista

It is called Microsoft’s biggest failure, and at best, a “dress rehearsal” before the release of Windows 7. True, in the theater no one would think of passing off a rehearsal as a real performance, much less charging the audience the full price of a ticket...

And today, with the release of Windows 7, the short and unsuccessful life of Vista seems to have indeed come to its logical end. But it all started out very well, and there were countless useful innovations in Vista: built-in search, an almost “three-dimensional” A ero interface with pretty wallpaper, and good security mechanisms. Everything was. But all these goodies were not implemented very successfully. Take, for example, the system requirements - compared to XP, they have at least doubled, but even on computers with 2 GB of memory, Vista managed to be ungodly slow.. No wonder they joke that Vista was developed by Estonian programmers!. And the built-in security system (User Account Control) turns even such routine operations as downloading and installing programs into a tedious exam. Of course, all this was done for a good purpose... only the programmers’ efforts were in vain, because most users disable UAC immediately after the first boot of the system.

Of course, Microsoft patched up most of the bugs and holes: after the release of Service Pack 2 in 2009, Vista finally turned into something more or less decent. And yet there is no incentive to install it on computers today.

Windows 7

After the pancake called Windows Vista turned out to be a plump, impudent and completely inedible bun, Microsoft had to seriously adjust its plans for the future. But everything seemed to be planned and scheduled for years in advance: Vista was supposed to provide the developers with a piece of bread with black caviar banned in Russia until 2010-2012, after which the “leader’s jersey” was supposed to move on to a new project - Vienna.

The “low start” of Vista confused all the cards: the developers were urgently pulled out of an undeserved vacation and ordered to work in “all-hours plus” mode on the new operating system. And this time without any hackwork! The first beta version of Windows 7 was revealed to the public back in early 2009 - and turned out to be surprisingly good. No revolutionary changes were made to the system - well, don’t consider the updated one as such. Taskbar, a modified “network center” and a handful of new icons! Yes, support for multi-touch on-screen control has appeared, but it has not become widespread - at least not yet.

Contrary to popular belief, the appetites of the new OS have not become more modest: for comfortable operation, the “seven” still requires at least 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core processor - another thing, the system manages this economy much more competently.

In general, having retained all the useful discoveries of Vista, the “Seven” got rid of many of its shortcomings - and for this alone, weary users are ready to raise it to the top. So if you are offered a laptop running the “Seven” - feel free to give it preference over competitors.

Home Premium

An expanded (or rather, full-fledged) home version, which includes additional functions Windows Media Center (support for high-definition television - HDTV, recording TV programs and creating DVDs), Photo Album, Parental Controls and - finally! - 3D Aero interface! The price is about 250 dollars for the “boxed” version, and about 70-80 for the laptop version.

For home users, this version of Windows 7 is the most convenient and profitable. Largely also because, along with the regular version of this operating system, intended for installation on one computer, Microsoft also offers the so-called Family Pack with a license for three computers! This means that by purchasing just one distribution kit for a relatively small amount of $150, you can equip every computer in your apartment with licensed Windows. However, whether this program will operate in Russia is still unknown.

Ultimate

For the most advanced and demanding individual users. Combines the advantages of the home and business versions, and also contains new modules such as a program for hard drive encryption (BitLocker). In addition, Ultimate has incredibly useless Extras, such as the animated Dreamscene wallpaper and several games. The price is 350-400 dollars, and it will add about 120-150 to the cost of the laptop.

Professional and Enterprise versions are intended for corporate users.

Any of these versions can be installed from a DVD with a Windows “distribution kit”: the operating system installation kit is universal. True, you won’t be able to get the Maximum version at the price of the Home version: immediately after installation, Windows will require a key, and it’s different for each version.

Each version exists in two more modifications - 32 and 64-bit. On a modern laptop with an AMD x2 or Intel Core2Duo processor, you can install any version (these processors support both modes). The fundamental difference is only in the amount of supported memory: if the system has more than 2 GB of RAM, install the 64-bit version. Theoretically, 32-bit Vista can support up to 4 GB of RAM, but in reality problems begin with half that amount.

Although the 64-bit system also has its drawbacks: it loads the processor more, requires more memory, and there are problems with drivers, especially for old hardware - finding a driver for the 32-bit version is much easier. And many programs flatly refuse to work with 64-bit Vista. So on a system with 2-3 gigabytes of RAM there is no point in installing “64-bit”. And with 4 GB of RAM, you should once again think about what is more important to you - the extra 500 MB of memory or the speed of operation?

And finally, let’s say a few words about the system requirements (REAL, allowing you to work in the operating system truly comfortably). To work with Windows 7, you MUST have at least a dual-core processor with a frequency of 2 GHz, at least 2 GB of RAM and 17 GB of hard disk space (excluding additional programs). In addition, a video card that supports DirectX10 is highly recommended - that is, any video card released in 2009. Optimal characteristics - processor with a frequency of 3 GHz, 4 GB of RAM.

THE “CORRECT” OPERATING SYSTEM

Despite the growing appetites of the Windows family from year to year, the world is far from completely owned by the operating system with the trademark “flying window”. There are not as few OS competitors as users think... and as much as Microsoft itself would like.

Here we will briefly describe only the most famous alternative operating systems for personal computers. Before there were many of them, literally dozens. But in a tough fight, almost all of them disappeared from the scene: only numerous “operating systems” survived and became widespread, originating from the first full-fledged OS - Unix, developed almost half a century ago for “large” computers.

The word UNIX does not mean one operating system (as many newcomers mistakenly believe), but an entire family, the first representatives of which appeared long before Bill Gates could pronounce the word “programming” without hesitation. Already in the early 60s. There were several UNIX systems created for their computers by various companies. Irony of fate: in the late 70s. in the development of one of them - Xenix - the then unknown company Microsoft took part... UNIX was created primarily for professionals, and therefore never contained any “trinkets” such as a convenient graphical interface, and no one had heard of the concept of “multimedia” then. Another thing was important:

  • Compatibility (programs written for one UNIX system had to work on another).
  • Portability (UNIX could be adapted to any computer).
  • Customizability (each programmer who worked with a UNIX system could make his own corrections to it, adapting it to a specific computer).
  • Stability, stability and once again stability!

Until the mid-90s. The “interests” of the creators of Windows and UNIX lay in different planes: numerous variants of UNIX served “large” computers and servers, and Windows worked on “personal computers”. And these operating systems developed in completely different directions. When suddenly... Yes, yes, just suddenly, and for no apparent reason, both families of operating systems simultaneously began to look at each other’s possessions. The moment when the two giants, puffing and clumsily waddling, moved towards each other is not difficult to guess - 1993. It was this year that Microsoft first decided to encroach on the “server” market by releasing the first version of Windows NT, and yesterday’s student Linus Torvalds created a home a freely distributed Linux operating system based on the “portable” modification of Minix. Along with it, the grandiose project of the GNU movement (GNU is Not UNIX) and the concept of “open source” (Open Source) were born - these words are still inscribed on the banner of supporters of “free software”. By the way, in addition to Linux, a number of other “free” operating systems sprang from the powerful UNIX tree - for example, the server OS FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD, the first of which (what a coincidence!) was born in the same 1993.

Linux is no longer just a program. This is a new path, an alternative, a cult, a religion, a lifestyle (choose the desired term yourself). And its main advantage is stability, flexibility and versatility, which has not even become a byword. It is enough that Linux is an operating system different from Windows. It doesn’t matter whether you pin your hopes on a new, better world of free “software” (although the freeness of Linux has long ago turned from reality into myth) or whether you grin skeptically at its very mention. The only mistake would be to not take into account the very fact of the existence of an alternative operating system, which is not only incompatible with Windows, but is also built on principles and ideals that are completely different from Microsoft products.

“The Linux operating system created by a student is challenging the products of the mighty Microsoft corporation, and its popularity is growing every year!” - the journalists are strained. But this is only one, external side of the “Torvalds phenomenon”. Much more interesting is that Linus Torvalds himself, the “world’s freest OS,” managed to make a good career - and still earn good money from his creation! Torvalds himself never dreamed of upending the foundations of the universe. The problem facing the 20-year-old student at the University of Helsinki was much more modest: to get a convenient and obedient tool for work. A convenient and accessible operating system, which, on the one hand, would provide the user with maximum opportunities for all kinds of “adjustments” and optimizations. On the other hand, it would be affordable. There were only two candidates for the role of “manager” for the Torvalds computer - and both, in the opinion of the fastidious student, did not quite meet his expectations.

The first candidate was Windows - still imperfect, but even then a friendly and convenient operating system for home computers. Unlike the previous generation OS, any user could work with Windows, even with a minimum level of training! And most importantly, in four years the operating system from Microsoft has already managed to live on at least a third of all computers in the world. The only trouble was that Windows did not encourage the creative ambitions of advanced users - it was impossible to make any significant changes to its program code. In addition, the stability of the operating system clearly left much to be desired.

There was, however, a second candidate - the UNIX operating system, which had a number of advantages compared to the creation of Bill Gates. This time-tested OS, created back in 1969 by Dennis Ritchie and Kenneth Thompson, was distinguished by its rare flexibility and compatibility: in order to adapt UNIX to a new computer model, it was enough to only slightly modify it without touching the main “kernel”. No less valuable for Torvalds was the fact that the servers of his home university were running one of the versions of UNIX (the “server” version of Windows simply did not exist in those years - the Windows NT project was completed only four years later). Of course, UNIX also had its drawbacks: created specifically for “large” computers, the system was too cumbersome for small “personal computers”. In addition, the commercial version was clearly not affordable for Linus...

Fortunately, UNIX, unlike Windows, had a huge number of modifications: the customizability of this operating system allowed almost every programmer familiar with it to create their own version. One of these UNIX "clones" was a "light" version called Minix. Unlike its “big brother,” Minix had significantly smaller “appetites” and could work on almost all types of computers - from large servers to small home Amiga and Atari. Since Minix was written from scratch, it could be painlessly taken apart without fear of violating licensing agreements. And most importantly, Minix was available to anyone: a set of floppy disks with the distribution kit of this program was included with each copy of the book by its author Eddie Tannenbaum “Operating Systems: Design and Implementation”.

Do not think that Linus Torvalds was the only one at that time who was able to appreciate the advantages of the Tannenbaum system - since 1987, Minix has already been installed on several thousand computers. Another thing is noteworthy - unlike his colleagues, Linus was not satisfied that he had finally found a product to his taste. Tannenbaum's success led him to believe that the trick of creating a new system could be repeated! In fact, why “tweak” and debug someone else’s program when you can develop your own? Like a true northerner, Linus approached his work thoughtfully and responsibly, drawing up a list of requirements that the new operating system must satisfy.

Taking note of all the successful discoveries of Minix, Linus decided to bring them to perfection: the future OS was initially conceived as compact (taking up minimal space in RAM and on the hard drive), multi-platform (that is, capable of running on computers belonging to different “families” ) and as flexible as possible. Unlike the “pig in a poke” proposed by Bill Gates, Torvalds’ operating system was supposed to provide experienced users with the ability to modify any part of the code, even changing it completely. So far, there has been nothing revolutionary in this whole idea - all the points listed above were implemented in Minix. But Linus himself perceived his idea more as a hobby. True, he immediately tried to make the most of the situation - the “homemade” version of UNIX was declared by Linus as his thesis, which gave him the opportunity to spend all his free evenings programming with a clear conscience.

The work continued throughout 1991 - only in the fall did Linus demonstrate to his friends the first version of the new operating system, without undue modesty named after its creator - Linux (the official date of birth of this OS is September 17, 1991). What came from the programming “pen” of Torvalds was not yet a ready-made operating system - rather, it was the “skeleton” of the future OS, which still had to acquire the “flesh” of the shell and other “appendages”. But this “skeleton” was already quite functional! Here Linus faced a problem - what to do next? At first glance, it seemed that there were two options for the development of events - either Linus, with a calm heart, sends his brainchild to the back burner, finding another occupation, or continues to bring his OS to mind with the expectation that in two or three years he will be able to turn it into into a full-fledged commercial product. Both options did not promise any bright prospects: it was a pity to give up, and even the enthusiastic Torvalds could not “raise” the project of a new operating system alone. Organizing your own company and hiring employees to refine the program was both utopia and madness at the same time - the market for commercial operating systems had long been divided between major players, and there was clearly no room left for miniature Linux in this list...

And then Linus took a completely unexpected and illogical step, announcing that he would distribute his program for free! Moreover, complete with a complete set of source codes that will help programmers improve and improve Linux to their liking. Here it is necessary to make a remark: the principle of free distribution of programs was also not Torvalds’ “know-how”. Eight years before the advent of Linux, it was formulated by another enthusiast - Richard Stallman, the creator of the movement in support of “free” software. In 1983, while working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT AI Lab). Stallman tried to resist the transfer of the MIT computer park to commercial versions of UNIX. Having failed, Richard began a “crusade” in defense of freedom of software, formulating the postulates of his movement in the “GNU Project Manifesto (GNU is Not UNIX).” “Freedom of software means the right of the user to freely run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve it...

There are four types of freedom for users of a program: freedom to run the program for any purpose (freedom 0). Freedom to learn how the program works and adapt it to your needs (Freedom 1). Freedom to distribute copies so you can help your friend (freedom 2). Freedom to improve the program and publish your improvements so that the whole society benefits from it (freedom 3). Access to the source texts is a prerequisite." It seemed that Linus acted in full accordance with the “postulates of Stallman”, giving his project to everyone - GNU supporters could only be surprised by the fact that for the first time not a small program, but an entire operating system was put into “free circulation”!

Unlike the creator of Minix, Torvalds refused even a symbolic reward (in the amount of the cost of the book). At first, Linus's act was perceived solely as youthful maximalism - nothing more. Grateful users greedily grabbed the gifts handed to them - and, praising the generous Torvalds (and deep down marveling at his impracticality), began to play with Linux as with a Lego set. After all, this program was specially created so that it can be taken apart - and reassembled, in accordance with your own tastes and needs! But what at first seemed like thoughtless generosity was actually a very successful move...

Linus had an army of free “beta testers”, programmers and idea generators at his disposal. Having publicly “freed” the Linux bird (the Linux logo is a cheerful and very friendly penguin) and allowed it to fly into the skies, Torvalds made sure that an invisible but strong thread was tied to its paw. After all, although everyone could nominally make changes to Linux, Linus reserved the fine-tuning of the main part of the operating system - the “kernel”! Its code was open to everyone, and any programmer could send Linus his comments and suggestions for improvement. However, the final word invariably remained with Torvalds: it was he who made decisions about introducing one or another modification to the kernel and implemented all the successful discoveries of his followers.

This continues today - all the numerous versions and modifications of Linux (and there are already several dozen of them) are based on the same kernel. If the choice of the principles of the GNU Manifesto ensured the success and long life of the Linux project (which now employed thousands of enthusiasts in all corners of the world), then a small and almost invisible deviation from them ensured the future of Linus himself - unlike many of his less fortunate colleagues.

It is clear that Torvalds could not make billions on Linux. But he managed to wisely use the opportunities that his position as the Founding Father and Chief Authority on “the world’s free operating system” gave him. For ten years, Linus, who had become a living legend, had the opportunity to make good money from consulting and lectures. The success of Linux attracted attention to Torvalds as a programmer - he exchanged snowy Finland for sunny California and received a very lucrative job at Transmeta Corporation. And in 2001, a new source of income emerged - like all American celebrities, Linus released a book about his life with a very crafty title - “Only for Fun”...

Today, Linus Torvalds still oversees work on the most important part of Linux - the kernel of the operating system: only he has the right to approve certain changes that radically affect the functionality of the system. The rest of the work to improve Linux is done by millions of fans of this OS, which over time has turned from a working tool into a symbol of a new way of life, different from that imposed by Bill Gates and his company.

Of course, in all this splendor there are not only “advantages”. Until recently, in order to work with Linux, you had to at least understand programming. And ideally, rewrite the OS kernel for your machine and create the necessary drivers yourself. In addition, against the backdrop of bright Windows and Mac OS, the Linux operating system looked like a gray mouse - everything is simple, modest and... colorless. Therefore, the only area where Linux was really in demand was networks. Internet users especially loved this OS - to this day, most Internet web servers run Linux. And in the local networks of large companies, Linux coped well with the role of administrator. The situation changed radically after the appearance of convenient shells, which very successfully “colored” this nimble but gray sparrow. The combination of the familiar Desktop and Windows icons and the power of the Linux kernel immediately attracted the attention of developers and users: in the last two years alone, more programs have been written for Linux than in all previous years! The final sign of favor towards Linux on the part of the software industry was the decision of some large game manufacturers to release Linux versions of their “best sellers”...

In the mid-90s, Linux began to conquer the “home” market, becoming a direct competitor to Windows; for this, manufacturers had to partially abandon the “do it yourself” principle and switch to producing ready-made distributions.

Now installing Linux on a computer has become as easy as Windows: installation and configuration are completely automatic, and along with the operating system the user received a set of application programs and utilities.

However, the myths about Linux as a “self-assembled” system for particularly “handy” programmers are no longer relevant: modern distribution kits make it possible not to resort to text commands at all, without which five years ago the life of a “Linuxoid” was simply unthinkable. Automatic configuration and updating via the Internet, a three-dimensional desktop - these are quite common occurrences for Linux users today.

The appearance of the first ready-made distribution kits dates back to 1992 - it was then that the famous MCC Interim Linux installation kit was created. Within three or four years, Linux fans had a dozen different distributions to choose from, the most famous of which were Red Hat, Mandrake (later Mandriva), Debian, Fedora Core and Slackware.

New distributions are still appearing - for example, in 2004, the Ubuntu distribution, created in South America, came into fashion. The standard for corporate Linux is still the SUSE distribution created fifteen years ago (by the way, this company even managed to enter into an alliance with Microsoft, and the price of their Linux version is practically no different from Windows). All these sets are localized, so that Russian users can immediately have a completely Russian-language environment at their disposal.

And in the fall of 2009, the “Linuxoids” got a new player with truly armor-piercing power into their team. Google introduced the new operating system, and ChromeOS was, of course, based on the Linux kernel. However, Google, as always, came up with something of its own: well, who now remembers that the Chrome browser was largely created on the developments of the same Firefox, now even a blind person cannot confuse these two browsers... Moreover, this development cannot yet be called a full-fledged OS : it is focused mainly on working with network applications, and it will be installed primarily on inexpensive netbooks.

If in terms of appearance, stability and convenience, Linux is at least not inferior to Windows, then in terms of the set of standard programs it surpasses it many times: even in the simplest distribution you will find HUNDREDS of additional programs, including the OpenOffice office suite, several shell options (GNOME and KDE ), graphic editor GIMP - and a huge number of other programs, games and utilities! In addition, you can run any Windows programs through a special Wine emulator.

When you buy a commercial Linux distribution for $50-60, you are not actually purchasing an operating system, but a complete set of programs you need (including commercial ones). Compare with the $400 Windows Vista, even the minimum set of programs for which can cost a couple of thousand dollars! It is not surprising that in 2002, the Microsoft Corporation officially recognized Linux as a competitor to Windows (until now, the corporation had promoted condescending disdain for “homemade”).

In Russia, a Linux epidemic is not expected yet - thanks to the “pirates”, the economic factor does not play as big a role as in “civilized” countries. Therefore, until three-dollar collections of programs for Windows are no longer available on our shelves, Microsoft still has a chance to retain such an important market for it. And, apparently, the corporation understands this very well - otherwise how can one explain the fact that they are still fighting piracy in our country surprisingly gently? Of course, as soon as the Russian authorities tighten the screws, a massive transition to Linux will be inevitable, despite all the inherent shortcomings of this system. But there are still shortcomings...

Even with convenient “shells” like KDE and GNOME, which make new versions of Linux (for example, Mandriva or Ubuntu) look even cooler than the fashionable Windows 7, a novice user will have to face many problems when setting up both the OS itself and programs for it . At one time, it was almost impossible to even play a regular MP3 file on Linux: support for “proprietary” formats was unacceptable to Open Source supporters. Today there are no problems with video and audio in Linux, but there are far fewer games for this operating system than for Windows. Let's not forget about application programs: finding a truly professional package for working with video, sound or 3D graphics for Linux is not so easy. The situation is easiest with photography: the excellent (and free) graphics editor GIMP has been created for Linux. However, it also falls short of being a truly professional product - and how many designers have you seen working in Linux?

Probably, practically all computer users have heard that, in addition to the well-known operating system for PC Windows also has other systems.

Let's look at the main pros and cons modern operating systems.

Windows XP

The Windows XP operating system has been operating on various devices for quite some time. Its release was made on October 25, 2001, and the last update of this system occurred on April 21, 2008.

Pros:

  • one of the main advantages operating system for PC Windows XP is that it is very easy to use and for many of its users the interface of other operating systems may be incomprehensible and inconvenient;
  • There are a large number of programs and games for this OS that would be difficult to run on other systems.

Minuses:

  • Windows XP requires more resources to operate than other systems, since it does not have such an abundance of settings;
  • In most cases, paid programs are released for this OS, so you will have to pay not only for the system, but also for the software. Of course, experienced users can find free alternatives to the programs they need, but they can be much more difficult to work with.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is type of operating system, which is widely used at the moment. With its release, Microsoft Corporation solved many of the problems that arose with Windows XP, but new ones appeared in their place.

Pros:

  • the functions of the Windows 7 operating system allow it to produce high-quality visualization, which makes working with it easier;
  • When you connect a new device, you don’t have to look for a driver, the OS itself will find it on the Internet and install it.

Minuses:

  • Since this system belongs to a number of Windows operating systems, it has the same disadvantages as XP, although this OS has significantly fewer of them.

Windows 8

The developers of Windows 8 OS are the transnational corporation Microsoft. The system was released on October 26, 2012.

Pros:

  • works much faster than its predecessors;
  • The Windows 8 operating system allows you to synchronize data between personal computers and a smartphone or tablet;
  • The OS has an attractive interface and is very convenient for tablet PCs.

Minuses:

  • Windows 8 has an interface that is not very mouse-friendly;
  • Almost all programs for it are paid.

*nix-like operating system was created by student Torvald Linus. It differs significantly from Windows and is used mainly for servers or by programmers in their work. Although there are many distributions for ordinary users, for example, Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 10.04

Let's consider the latest LTS (Long Term Support) version, since it has big differences from the previous ones - this is Ubuntu 10.04 lucid lynx OS. This system solves the main problem of Linux - connecting to the Internet. Unlike previous versions, you don’t need to configure anything, just install the Wicd program. IN modern operating systems It is very important for Linux to have the Internet, since updates are released almost weekly, and with its help you can Russify English-language software. A new version of Ubuntu is released every six months.

Pros:

  • Ubuntu starts up twice as fast as Windows, and changing users is also very fast;
  • Installing drivers and programs is very easy using the Internet;
  • to download programs, you can go to the application manager and find it there;
  • interface customization is carried out down to the smallest detail, so you can completely customize the system for yourself;
  • The Ubuntu operating system does not require installation of an antivirus to operate, since it is completely virus-free;
  • video and audio codecs are installed as needed.

Minuses:

  • setting operating system functions Ubuntu for the first time turns out to be long and difficult. Of course, you can do without it, but you won’t be able to get all the pleasure from working with Ubuntu;
  • the system has a limited number of portable programs. Therefore, if you want to use the same programs as Windows, you will most likely have to install a virtual machine;
  • Most programs are not in the application center, so you will have to manually search for them on the Internet;
  • There are not many games for Ubuntu OS.

Later, versions of Ubuntu 10.10 and 11.04 were released, but they are no different from this version, except for the alternative graphical shell.

The Mac OS operating system was created by the well-known Apple corporation. Its main difference from other operating systems is that it is not sold separately, but you can purchase this operating system for PC only possible with Apple computers and laptops.

Pros:

  • powerful built-in protection against virus programs;
  • convenient and pleasant interface. Operating system features Mac OS is designed to be easy to use;
  • Almost all programs that are created on Windows are also created on Mac.

Minuses:

  • it is only sold with an Apple computer and has a high price.

Conclusions:

After reviewing the described pros and cons, determine which operating system is better, very difficult. Of course, you could take a Mac, but due to its high pricing, not everyone can afford it. Although Ubuntu is considered acceptable for ordinary users, it is still Linux, which causes many problems for users in setting it up. If you have been using Windows for more than one year and do not want to say goodbye to your quiet life, then it is better to continue using it.

But still, if your budget allows you to buy a Mac, then it is better to do so, although you need to understand that, for example, such a popular accounting program as 1C will not work on it. And if you need to run it on your Mac, you will have to buy the Windows Polaris emulator program, and this again will have to be spent on both Polaris and the Windows operating system. But with Mac OS you will get stability and better interaction with the hardware.

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