share knowledge of OS

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Unix and Windows: Two Major Classes of Operating Systems


And they have a competitive history and future. Unix has been in use for more than three decades. Originally it rose from the ashes of a failed attempt in the early 1960s to develop a reliable timesharing operating system. A few survivors from Bell Labs did not give up and developed a system that provided a work environment described as "of unusual simplicity, power, and elegance".

Since the 1980's Unix's main competitor Windows has gained popularity due to the increasing power of micro-computers with Intel-compatible processors. Windows, at the time, was the only major OS designed for this type of processors. In recent years, however, a new version of Unix called Linux, also specifically developed for micro-computers, has emerged. It can be obtained for free and is therefore a lucrative choice for individuals and businesses.

On the server front, Unix has been closing in on Microsoft’s market share. In 1999, Linux scooted past Novell's Netware to become the No. 2 server operating system behind Windows NT. In 2001 the market share for the Linux operating system was 25 percent; other Unix flavors 12 percent. On the client front, Microsoft is currently dominating the operating system market with over 90% market share.

Because of Microsoft’s aggressive marketing practices, millions of users who have no idea what an operating system is have been using Windows operating systems given to them when they purchased their PCs. Many others are not aware that there are operating systems other than Windows. But you are here reading an article about operating systems, which probably means that you are trying to make conscious OS decisions for home use or for your organizations. In that case, you should at least give Linux/Unix your consideration, especially if the following is relevant in your environment.

Advantages of Unix

Advantages of Unix

- Unix is more flexible and can be installed on many different types of machines, including main-frame computers, supercomputers and micro-computers.

- Unix is more stable and does not go down as often as Windows does, therefore requires less administration and maintenance.

- Unix has greater built-in security and permissions features than Windows.

- Unix possesses much greater processing power than Windows.

- Unix is the leader in serving the Web. About 90% of the Internet relies on Unix operating systems running Apache, the world's most widely used Web server.

- Software upgrades from Microsoft often require the user to purchase new or more hardware or prerequisite software. That is not the case with Unix.

- The mostly free or inexpensive open-source operating systems, such as Linux and BSD, with their flexibility and control, are very attractive to (aspiring) computer wizards. Many of the smartest programmers are developing state-of-the-art software free of charge for the fast growing "open-source movement”.

- Unix also inspires novel approaches to software design, such as solving problems by interconnecting simpler tools instead of creating large monolithic application programs.

Remember, no one single type of operating system can offer universal answers to all your computing needs. It is about having choices and making educated decisions.

Windows and Unix wikipedia message


Windows and Unix

As far as operating systems go, to some it would seem as if UNIX has a clear advantage over Windows. UNIX offers greater flexibility than Windows operating systems; furthermore, it is more stable and it does not crash as much as much as Windows. To some, UNIX is just as easy to use as Windows, offering a GUI interface as well as command line. But there are users out there that believe UNIX is for only for computer gurus only, claiming that the fragmentation of the UNIX GUI is its greatest competitive weakness.

One thing that has been established though, UNIX is quite a bit more reliable than Windows, and less administration and maintenance is needed in maintaining a UNIX system. This is a huge cost saver for any organization. Rather than employing many individuals to maintain a Windows based system, one part-time employee would be needed for the upkeep of a typical size UNIX system. One key difference between UNIX and Windows is the implementation of multiple users on one computer. When a user logs onto a UNIX system, a shell process is started to service their commands. Keeping track of users and their processes, a UNIX operating system is able to keep track of processes and prevent them from interfering with each other. This is extremely beneficial when all the processes run on the server, which demands a greater use of resources - especially with numerous users and sizeable applications.

Another main difference between UNIX and Windows is the process hierarchy which UNIX possesses. When a new process is created by a UNIX application, it becomes a child of the process that created it. This hierarchy is very important, so there are system calls for influencing child processes. Windows processes on the other hand do not share a hierarchical relationship. Receiving the process handle and ID of the process it created, the creating process of a Windows system can maintain or simulate a hierarchical relationship if it is needed. The Windows operating system ordinarily treats all processes as belonging to the same generation.

UNIX uses daemons, Windows has service processes. Daemons are processes that are started when UNIX boots up that provide services to other applications. Daemons typically do not interact with users. A Windows service is the equivalent to a UNIX daemon. When a Windows system is booted, a service may be started. This is a long running application that does not interact with users, so they do not have a user interface. Services continue running during a logon session and they are controlled by the Windows Service Control Manager.

UNIX has a novel approach to designing software. Since UNIX is open-sourced, it attracts some very intelligent programmers who develop many applications free of charge. With this in mind, many designers choose to resolve software problems by creating simpler tools that interconnect rather than creating large application programs. In contrast, Windows applications are all proprietary and costly. With UNIX, each generation extends, rather than replaces the previous like Windows it is rarely necessary to upgrade - old and new Unix are all compatible. The main reason for this is the way UNIX is built, which is on a solid theoretical foundation. There are many advantages to this, for instance, a book written 20 years ago that discusses programming UNIX can still be used today. Imagine trying to figure out how to run Windows XP with a Window 3.1 manual - it can't be done.

One argument to be made about UNIX is its lack of standardization. Some feel there are too many choices to be made regarding which GUI to use, or which combination of UNIX hardware and software to support. UNIX operating systems make great high-performance servers, but for end-users, every application on each arrangement of UNIX platform requires a different set, and each application has a different user interface. Microsoft has "the" Windows operating system; there simply isn't one standardized UNIX operating system, or for that matter, a single standardized UNIX GUI. One could argue and say this is a downfall for UNIX, but on the other hand, these variations add flavor and versatility to a solid, reliable operating system.

In summary, the best way to choose between UNIX and Windows is to determine organizational needs. If an organization uses mostly Microsoft products, such as Access, Front Page, or VBScripts, it's probably better to stick with Windows. But, if reliability, universal compatibility, and stability are a concern, UNIX would probably be the way to go.

Here is more input:

  • Simply stated, the main difference is Windows uses a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and UNIX does not. In Windows one uses the click of a mouse to execute a command where as in UNIX one must type in a command. There are GUIs that can be used in a UNIX environment though very few UNIX users will stoop that low to use one. :o) Before there was a Windows environment, DOS (Disk Operating System) was used on PCs. DOS was based on and was similar, but only a poor subset, to the UNIX system.

  • Differences between UNIX and WINDOWS: Unix is safe, preventing one program from accessing memory or storage space allocated to another, and enables protection, requiring users to have permission to perform certain functions, i.e. accessing a directory, file, or disk drive. Also, UNIX is more secure than Windows on a network because Windows is more vulnerable than UNIX. For example, if you leave a port open in Windows it can be easily used by a hacker to introduce a virus in your environment.

  • Unix is much better at handling multiple tasks for a single user or for multiple users than windows. For each user, Unix in general, and especially Sun's Solaris provides many more utilities for manipulating files and data than windows does. For a corporate environment, Unix ( especially Solaris ) provides much more control for the administrator than windows does. Solaris, for example, enables the administrator to mirror or stripe data across several disks to minimize risk or optimize performance without 3rd party products. In general, for a programmer or for an administrator, Unix provides more power and flexibility than windows. For the less sophisticated user, Windows can often more easily be installed and configured to run on cheaper hardware to run a desired 3rd party product.

In short -- Unix is better, Windows is easier for less sophisticated users.


Difference between unix and windows

Question
What is the basic difference between unix and windows  operating systems?
Question Submitted By :: Guest
I also faced this Question!! RankAnswer Posted By
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 1
unix file system in hierachical model windows file system is flat type
Is This Answer Correct ? 51 Yes13 No
2
Jsdkar
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 2
Unix is a CLUI (Command Line User Interface) OS and Windows  is a GUI OS.
Is This Answer Correct ? 57 Yes7 No
1
Elizabeth
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 3
Windows support plug n play. While Unix doesn't.
Is This Answer Correct ? 30 Yes11 No
5
Krk
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 4
UNIX                                                           1) Non GUI  2) File System (STD.ERR, STD.IO)    3) Command Based   4) Not Event Driven  5) Multi Processing  WINDOWS  1) GUI Based 2) FAT32, NTFS 3) Menu Based 4) Event Driven 5) No Multi Processing
Is This Answer Correct ? 42 Yes8 No
2
Dharmajit Kuanr
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 5
unix :- multi user, multi processing and multi tasking  operating system
Is This Answer Correct ? 37 Yes9 No
0
Manikantan T S
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 6
Unix is the multi user operating system. windows is single user operating system.
Is This Answer Correct ? 33 Yes15 No
0
Manik
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 7
1 ) Windows is licenced OS, It means you have to buy it 2 ) Unix is Free-source OS, you can Modify code of OS as  per your business requirement
Is This Answer Correct ? 27 Yes14 No
5
Priten
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 8
unix supports multithreading.where as wincows doesnot  supports multithreading.
Is This Answer Correct ? 29 Yes8 No
2
Simrati Sharma
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 9
unix is more secure than windows. In unix we can restrict  the permission of each user
Is This Answer Correct ? 25 Yes4 No
0
Sailatha
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 10
Windows has the REGISTRY Concept. Unix does not have Registry concept.
Is This Answer Correct ? 20 Yes4 No
0
Hari
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 11
Unix is an free s/w but windows is not.
Is This Answer Correct ? 16 Yes7 No
0
Prasanth Verkot-accel Frontlin
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 12
windows only does not support multi user concept, where as Unix supports multi tasking,processing,and multi  user concepts.
Is This Answer Correct ? 20 Yes2 No
0
Quadri
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 13
windows supports multi threading concept
Is This Answer Correct ? 17 Yes4 No
3
Quadri
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 14
commands syntax is different
Is This Answer Correct ? 11 Yes2 No
2
S.radhika
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 15
In Unix, a shared object (.so) file contains code to be used by the program, and also the names of functions and data that it expects to find in the program. When the file is joined to the program, all references to those functions and data in the file's code are changed to point to the actual locations in the program where the functions and data are placed in memory. This is basically a link operation.  In Windows, a dynamic-link library (.dll) file has no dangling references. Instead, an access to functions or data goes through a lookup table. So the DLL code does not have to be fixed up at runtime to refer to the program's memory; instead, the code already uses the DLL's lookup table, and the lookup table is modified at runtime to point to the functions and data.  In Unix, there is only one type of library file (.a) which contains code from several object files (.o). During the link step to create a shared object file (.so), the linker may find that it doesn't know where an identifier is defined. The linker will look for it in the object files in the libraries; if it finds it, it will include all the code from that object file.  In Windows, there are two types of library, a static library and an import library (both called .lib). A static library is like a Unix .a file; it contains code to be included as necessary. An import library is basically used only to reassure the linker that a certain identifier is legal, and will be present in the program when the DLL is loaded. So the linker uses the information from the import library to build the lookup table for using identifiers that are not included in the DLL. When an application or a DLL is linked, an import library may be generated, which will need to be used for all future DLLs that depend on the symbols in the application or DLL.
Is This Answer Correct ? 14 Yes1 No
3
Muthu
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 16
unix has a interface between user and kernal(hardware)  called as shell . Which is very important and this is why  we dont here any virus attacks on unix but in windows we  dont have any shell user can directly communicate to  hardware and hence virus occurs
Is This Answer Correct ? 4 Yes1 No
0
Rakesh
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 17
unix is a multiuser and &windowsdoesnotsupport themultiuser  it is singleuser. in unix operatorwecan use the commandsinunix operatorcannot  use the commands.
Is This Answer Correct ? 1 Yes3 No
0
Praveen
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 18
windows is more interesting for the users..
Is This Answer Correct ? 3 Yes2 No
0
Abdul Raheem . Y
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 19
Unix is more secure as compared to windows. Unix uses File  encrytion FAP and login with a password
Is This Answer Correct ? 5 Yes1 No
0
Nazneen


Difference between unix and linux

Question
What is the basic difference between unix and windows  operating systems?
Question Submitted By :: Guest
I also faced this Question!! RankAnswer Posted By
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 1
unix file system in hierachical model windows file system is flat type
Is This Answer Correct ? 51 Yes13 No
2
Jsdkar
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 2
Unix is a CLUI (Command Line User Interface) OS and Windows  is a GUI OS.
Is This Answer Correct ? 57 Yes7 No
1
Elizabeth
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 3
Windows support plug n play. While Unix doesn't.
Is This Answer Correct ? 30 Yes11 No
5
Krk
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 4
UNIX                                                           1) Non GUI  2) File System (STD.ERR, STD.IO)    3) Command Based   4) Not Event Driven  5) Multi Processing  WINDOWS  1) GUI Based 2) FAT32, NTFS 3) Menu Based 4) Event Driven 5) No Multi Processing
Is This Answer Correct ? 42 Yes8 No
2
Dharmajit Kuanr
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 5
unix :- multi user, multi processing and multi tasking  operating system
Is This Answer Correct ? 37 Yes9 No
0
Manikantan T S
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 6
Unix is the multi user operating system. windows is single user operating system.
Is This Answer Correct ? 33 Yes15 No
0
Manik
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 7
1 ) Windows is licenced OS, It means you have to buy it 2 ) Unix is Free-source OS, you can Modify code of OS as  per your business requirement
Is This Answer Correct ? 27 Yes14 No
5
Priten
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 8
unix supports multithreading.where as wincows doesnot  supports multithreading.
Is This Answer Correct ? 29 Yes8 No
2
Simrati Sharma
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 9
unix is more secure than windows. In unix we can restrict  the permission of each user
Is This Answer Correct ? 25 Yes4 No
0
Sailatha
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 10
Windows has the REGISTRY Concept. Unix does not have Registry concept.
Is This Answer Correct ? 20 Yes4 No
0
Hari
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 11
Unix is an free s/w but windows is not.
Is This Answer Correct ? 16 Yes7 No
0
Prasanth Verkot-accel Frontlin
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 12
windows only does not support multi user concept, where as Unix supports multi tasking,processing,and multi  user concepts.
Is This Answer Correct ? 20 Yes2 No
0
Quadri
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 13
windows supports multi threading concept
Is This Answer Correct ? 17 Yes4 No
3
Quadri
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 14
commands syntax is different
Is This Answer Correct ? 11 Yes2 No
2
S.radhika
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 15
In Unix, a shared object (.so) file contains code to be used by the program, and also the names of functions and data that it expects to find in the program. When the file is joined to the program, all references to those functions and data in the file's code are changed to point to the actual locations in the program where the functions and data are placed in memory. This is basically a link operation.  In Windows, a dynamic-link library (.dll) file has no dangling references. Instead, an access to functions or data goes through a lookup table. So the DLL code does not have to be fixed up at runtime to refer to the program's memory; instead, the code already uses the DLL's lookup table, and the lookup table is modified at runtime to point to the functions and data.  In Unix, there is only one type of library file (.a) which contains code from several object files (.o). During the link step to create a shared object file (.so), the linker may find that it doesn't know where an identifier is defined. The linker will look for it in the object files in the libraries; if it finds it, it will include all the code from that object file.  In Windows, there are two types of library, a static library and an import library (both called .lib). A static library is like a Unix .a file; it contains code to be included as necessary. An import library is basically used only to reassure the linker that a certain identifier is legal, and will be present in the program when the DLL is loaded. So the linker uses the information from the import library to build the lookup table for using identifiers that are not included in the DLL. When an application or a DLL is linked, an import library may be generated, which will need to be used for all future DLLs that depend on the symbols in the application or DLL.
Is This Answer Correct ? 14 Yes1 No
3
Muthu
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 16
unix has a interface between user and kernal(hardware)  called as shell . Which is very important and this is why  we dont here any virus attacks on unix but in windows we  dont have any shell user can directly communicate to  hardware and hence virus occurs
Is This Answer Correct ? 4 Yes1 No
0
Rakesh
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 17
unix is a multiuser and &windowsdoesnotsupport themultiuser  it is singleuser. in unix operatorwecan use the commandsinunix operatorcannot  use the commands.
Is This Answer Correct ? 1 Yes3 No
0
Praveen
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 18
windows is more interesting for the users..
Is This Answer Correct ? 3 Yes2 No
0
Abdul Raheem . Y
Re: What is the basic difference between unix and windows operating systems?
Answer
# 19
Unix is more secure as compared to windows. Unix uses File  encrytion FAP and login with a password
Is This Answer Correct ? 5 Yes1 No
0
Nazneen