The operating system is a very significant part of any machine as it runs it. All the computers that are general purpose, are supposed to have an operating system for accommodating other applications. The main duty of the operating system is to carry out basic functionalities for example, when input is entered using a keyboard, it is displayed on the monitor screen, files and their directories that are stored are handled, peripheral devices as printers are taken care of. When the size of an operating system increases so do the duties of the operating system. The duty of operating system is to take care of security. The machine is to be protected so that no outsider can access the data present in it.
Comparison Chart for difference between Windows and Linux
| Â | Linux | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | Its code can be accessed so the programmers can change it if they find any weakness in it | It is not open source so its code cannot be accessed. |
| Customization | It has various customization according to is users | It does not have a lot of customized operating systems according to the user requirement |
| Command line | The command line is of great importance for the programmers as a lot of tasks can be executed from there | It has a command line but has to be accessed through search or start menu |
| Bug fixation | It has different levels and one can stop at any one of them if he finds any bug and can fix them using the GUI and command line | If we figure out any issue in it, we have to fix it in the boot |
| Support | It can support a lot of applications and websites | It supports only the simple websites when installed |
| Installation of updates | It is up to the user to install any sort of update whenever he likes without turning the system off | The system has to be restarted and can occur at very inconvenient times |
| Security | It is well protected | It is very vulnerable as it can easily be hacked |
Linux IntroductionÂ
Linux is one of the operating systems that is open source. It is primarily based on UNIX which was first made in 1991. It is such a software that controls the working of all other software on the machine. As it is open source, the users have the liberty to make changes in the code that suit them. This also has a GUI that contains some of the basic software that are to be used regularly for example an internet browser. As almost all of the web pages are generated using Linux, the main purpose is to use it as a server. It is used in various devices for example, camera, mobile, desktop computers, digital storage devices, video recorders etc.
Every operating system needs some standards for working. Similarly, Linux has the basis of Unix principles. The specialty of Linux is that it provides the user with two sorts of interfaces i.e. user interface and a kernel interface. They work with systems based on Unix and in this way, they provide a lot of applications that can be used. Many elements that are separately developed can be a part of a Linux operating system which then forms a Unix system. This system is fully compatible and does not have copyrighted code.
For the sake of kernel performance in a Linux based system, traditional kernel is used. But it has a characteristic in its model that permits a lot of drivers to load and unload at the runtime. Moreover, Linux ensures security. It helps in the protection of processes and can accommodate more than one user at a particular time. It also supports the communication between processes with the help of sharing of memory, message queue and semaphore.
Linux structure has different layers. One of them is the abstract layer. Its purpose is to keep a check on various files of systems. But on the user interface, they just appear to be a hierarchical directory tree. Linux supports the file systems which are virtual, networked or device-oriented. For accessing a disk, a page cache is used which is bound with the systems virtual memory. Page sharing and copy on write in used for minimizing the duplicates of the data that is being shared between various processes. Linux has various versions. Among them, the latest is Ubuntu 17.10. The interface used by it is GNOME. And in the older versions it was Ubuntu Unity.
Windows OS introductionÂ
Like Linux, windows are also a series of operating system which are in more common use. It was developed by Microsoft. It is used in various applications i.e. PCs. Every version of it has its own user interface. All of them have a desktop that allows the user to view various files. In 1985, its first version was announced. In the beginning it had a plain user interface. It was basically an addition of the disk operating system. Then in 1995, another version was released. It had integrated windows having internet support internally. Its latest version is windows 10. It is being used a lot currently. It uses Graphical User Interface and has hybrid kernel. Th previous versions had micro kernel.
Windows is an operating system which is licensed. It is not open source so the user cannot change its code according to his own will. It was designed in such a way that it mainly targeted the people that had no or little knowledge regarding computer programming, for different businesses and for general commercial use. Windows has an interface that is easy to understand for the user so it pretty simple to use.
Windows has various advantages. Firstly, it allows a lot of environments for operating. Moreover, it is extensible and portable. It can also be carried anywhere. It also allows the usage of virtual memory, caches and different methods used for scheduling.
Linux vs Windows
Out of the two operating systems, Windows is used for commercial purposes as its code cannot be altered whereas the other, i.e. Linux is free of cost and is open source, so it is used by the programmers. Moreover, Linux is a more secure operating system than windows. For using windows, it is supposed to boot in the primary partition while Linux can be booted from anywhere. The directories can be partitioned in windows and they can be accessed using back slash i.e. each directory separated by a back slash. On the other hand, they are accessed using forward slash in Linux. While searching a specific file, alphabets can be upper case or lower case as windows is not case sensitive. While Linux is case sensitive. Monolithic kernel is used in Linux that occupies a lot of space for running. Whereas, in Windows operating system micro kernel is used that takes up less space for running and so is less efficient.
Conclusion
Each operating system has its own pros and cons. So do Linux and Windows. If on one hand windows is user friendly, it is to be purchased. On the other had Linux ix open source and free of cost. It can also be changed according to the user. But it gets really difficult for the people who have no programming knowledge. Windows is less reliable than Linux. The operating system has to be decided according the need of the user. Different operating systems are preferred with the respect to the given situation.