Comparison between Operating Systems: Linux, Windows & Mac - Essay Example

Of the three operating systems, the uniqueness of Linux is that it is an open-source OS that enables anyone to distribute, alter, and modify the software freely. Accordingly, Linux is the cheapest of all OS because, in the case of Windows and Mac, each user has to buy a separate license to use the system. Another advantage of using Linux based system is that it is relatively convenient to move (or migrate) all the files/system to a new computer. Such a migration in the case of Mac or Windows is cumbersome hence it is not feasible easily. But there is a trade-off, to install Linux one needs significant technical knowledge as installation in the case of Windows and Mac is easy and user-friendly as it does not require technical knowledge.

Windows OS is programmed in C, C++, and the assembly language. Whereas Linux has been built on UNIX and originally it was developed by Linus Torvalds (Finland), it is distributed under the General Public License. As regards Mac OS, it was initially built on one of the UNIX versions and it is programmed in C, C++, and Objective-C. Hence it can be stated that Linux and Mac OS share a commonality and it is that they derive characteristics like command line interface, handling of drivers, and hardware interfaces from UNIX. These commonalities enable the LINUX and Mac systems to run endlessly without rebooting.

Architecture and Graphical User Interface
Linux OS supports x86 hardware and the ports do provide support for numerous other CPUs like ARM. Besides supporting x86 Windows also supports AMD processors. Unlike the other two operating systems, Mac OS supports only Intel’s microprocessors Linux provides an option for a graphical user interface, the user can choose between KDE and Gnome. The current graphical user interface of Windows is its integral part and it is majorly influenced by Mac’s user interface. Another interesting feature amongst these distinct operating systems is that the Macintosh operating system allows the Windows operating system to be installed on it and by using Linux and associated partitioning software Windows operating system permits Linux installation alongside.

File System
Every operating system has its file system and the Windows file system’s naming format includes drive letters and slashes etc. but in Linux, there are no drive letters and the files can have the same name differentiated by upper case or lower case letters. Unlike Windows there are no separate folders like Program / User Folders in Linux, hence there is no similarity in the directory structure in Linux and Windows. Another stark difference between Linux and Windows is that in Linux files can be deleted, renamed, etc. even when the files are in use (Siever, Figgins, Love & Robbins, 2009). In the case of Mac, the file system is different, In Mac, there are two separate parts called forks, and a data fork is an equivalent of a file in Windows – and it can contain data for use by an application. The other fork is the resource fork after the file from Mac is copied to a Windows system the resource fork is generally discarded.

Process Management
An operating system, too maximizes the maintains a data structure of each process, and these processes include process state, program counter, memory management information, I/O status information,n, etc. The process management in the case of Windows is very similar to Linux/UNIX as it relies on threads, and every process is assigned a unique identity. Process management in Windows focuses on the way processes are represented, related, and protected and how are processes communicated and synchronized. In the case of Mac OS processes can be viewed in Activity Monitor or Process Viewer and Process Manager schedules the processes in Mac. Process scheduling is affected by a major switch or by a minor switch. Mac OS has two main types of processes System Processes owned by the root, this type of processes including processes like Notifyd (it passes event notifications between processes), and User Processes owned by the current user These processes include processes like Dock (it maintains and displays the Dock) (Lester, Stone, Toporek & McIntosh, 2005).

It may be highly challenging to make a generic statement about the choice of one particular OS. Hence to make an informed decision about the operating system’s choice it is better to view the requirement in light of the context. Read More