AlphaGiga Technology Blog

……In one corner of the ring, a shiny blue Apple clad in a tiger-print loincloth represent the latest release of Apple’s Mac OS X. In the opposite corner, Tux the Penguin stands as the Linux mascot, his cheeky smile belying his ferocity at grabbing an ever-increasing share of the personal computer market. And towering over them on the post, the heavyweight contender Windows Vista flexes its muscles as it gets ready to take on the market that its predecessors have dominated for years. Fireworks ignite, spotlight beams illuminate the contenders and the crowd roars for action….

Introducing The Contenders 

Before the scrums begin, it’s good to know more about the players in the ring. Both Linux and Mac OS X have a lengthy pedigree, descending from the UNIX Time -Sharing System in the 1970’s. Linux started out as a Kernel hack by Linus Torvalds and thanks to the Internet,it quickly snowballed into a global project with thousands of volunteer contributors.

The Linux kernel was then combined with GNU software from the Free Software Foundation to create distributions such as Gentoo, Debian and Ubuntu Linux.

OS X, on the other hand, has its roots in commercial code. NextStep, a UNIX variant that had revolutionary graphics and object-oriented technologies, was ought over by Apple in the mid-1990’s in the quest to overhaul its ageing operating system. The resulting Darwin kernel, combined with Apple’s proprietary graphical interface and bits of the open-source FreeBSD UNIX, became Mac OS X.

As for the newcomer Windows Vista,it’s chequered  history of false starts and turnarounds meant that its release came two years later than scheduled. It was supposed to be just an upgrade for Windows XP but new features kept creeping in until everything ground to a halt. Development began afresh in 2004 and after an unprecedented beta program dubbed the largest download event ever, Vista was released to consumers at the beginning of the years.

Now that we’re done with introductions, let’s get straight to the action. How will the newcomer Vista spar in the ring next to the two fiery upstarts, Linux and Mac OS X, and will it live up to the expectations of its predecessors? Will it fall to the mat humbled by its competitors or stand triumphant over a crushed apple and broken penguin?

Let’s get ready to rumble!

GIVING IT TO THE USER

Immediately, Vista leaps from the ropes to deliver a real smackdown of eye candy to silence criticism that Windows XP looked just a bit boring. The Aero Glass engines offers translucent textures, drop shadows and glass effects that make everything look like marbles. you can switch applications by flipping through them like a stack of cards and the Sidebar holds widget for quickly viewing important information. Once you get past the new look, the whole thing feels like a flying clothesline manoeuvre that fell short. I found it too flashy and the layout to be confusing and disorganized compared to Windows XP’s cleaner and more functional design.

Comparing Vista to the older OS X, I’m tempted to say “We’ve seen that before…”. OS X also offers eye-catching visuals, albeit in a much more sober manner. Buttons and controls are laid out simply, making a more coherent interface that even novices would find welcome. The Spotlight search engines makes easy work of sifting through documents, contacts, appointments and images. On the other hand, I sometimes feel that things are a bit too dumbed down for more experience users.

Tux the Penguin, on the other hand, does thing differently. Mainstream distributions like Ubuntu and SuSE usually bundle the GNOME desktop environment that’s styled to look like Windows to help new users switching over. But the strength of Linux lies in its modular approach because most of the components can be customized. I could easily come up with a totally wacky interface that looks like something from alien starship.

For the power user, a good command line interface is like a body slam that connects straight with the opponent and sends him crashing to the mat. Thanks to their UNIX roots, both Linux and OS X offer excellent command line interfaces that make it easy to reach deep into the guts of the computer, whereas you’ll have to stick to Vista’s graphical interface as its command line is nowhere near as powerful as the rest.

KEEPING PRODUCTIVE 

An operating system is only good as the software that runs on it. In that view, Vista delivers a thumping gutbuster over the others. Its Windows lineage means you can run almost all existing programs out there although some might need tweaking to run properly on Vista’s new architecture. Productivity software-for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, to email and others- is easily available for Windows, including Microsoft’s own Vista friendly Office suite that’s the de-facto standard for businesses. The new Windows mail replaces Outlook Express, adding speed and security to the mix.

If you want to get work done on Linux and OS X, you’ll have to rely more on free software or applications from smaller developers. One of my favorites is the OpenOffice suite that lets you exchange documents with Microsoft Office users, yet it’s completely free. OS X’s Mail is a straightforward mail client while GNOME Evolution for Linux is a much more full-featured personal information manager that also does e-mail well.

KILLING TIME

When the time comes to blasting away the day’s stress, the verdict is in. Windows smashes the others flat with a bone-crunching powerslam. Everyone from big name developers to boutique houses writes games for the Windows platform, along with hardware manufacturers who create graphics and gaming hardware for it. The tried-and true DirectX 9 is staple for developers but Vista’s DirectX 10 promises even better graphics and more immersive gameplay, at the expense of breaking compatibility with previous versions and requiring newer hardware.

The problem with OS X and Linux is that they’re niche platforms that most large game makers don’t find profitable, but gamers on those platforms shouldn’t despair. Most of the latest 3D shooters like Quake 4 and Unreal Tournament 2004 have been ported over and can be played just like their Windows versions, provided you have the necessary graphics hardware. You can even go on-line for some massively multiplayer gaming with World Of Warcraft, using the Wine emulation on Linux or the ported OS X version. It’s an optimistic time for gamers on other platforms as developers realize there’s a market outside Windows. At least they won’t have to stick to boring card games or endless round of computer Chess…

MIXING UP MEDIA

Kicking back and enjoying multimedia on your PC can sometimes feel like getting kicked and pinned to the ropes, no thanks to the multiplying alphabet soup of formats. This is an arena where lines have been drawn in the sand- Apple supports only its own Quicktime format while Microsoft throws its considerable weight behind Windows Media. Linux, pinned squarely in the middle, is forced to support more common formats and with free packages like MPlayer and VLC, you can effectively play everything out there.

Vista smacks a chair over OS X’s head with the new Windows Media Center that provides a one-stop-shop for listening to music and viewing photos,video,DVDs and even recorded TV shows. It’s an impressive application with more features compared to OS X’s minimalist Front Row, although the Apple offering is a bit more user friendly.

It’s in content creation where OS X strikes back. iLife ‘06- a diverse set of programs such as iMovie for video editing, iPhoto for organizing and editing photos, and iDVD for DVD authoring-is a beautifully, integrated suite for editing and sharing most of your media. The Vista equivalents are much better than before and get the job done but they don’t feel nearly as tightly coupled. Vista’s pervasive support for digital rights management(DRM) also has some experts wary about its effect on performance and compatibility with older hardware, especially when dealing with high definition content.

LOCKING IT DOWN

Windows XP gained a reputation early on as a malware magnet, attracting spyware, viruses and rootkits like ripe meat drawing flies. The average user faced a constant chore of updating patches and antivirus definitions to avoid “owned” by hackers or slowed to a crawl by spyware. Vista set out to fix that by using the Windows 2003 Server code base and battening down hatches to stop intrusions.

Whereas Windows XP would’ve been floored by a tag-team clotheslines by Linux and OS X, Vista can hold its ground. The anti-spyware tool Windows Defender and Windows Firewall mean your computer is reasonably protected right out of the box with less need for third-party security software, especially if you’re always connected to the Internet. Even the Internet Explorer browser, long a favorite malware target,now has a Protected Mode to thwart malicious sites. The new User Account Control feature prompts the user(to the point of annoyance) if the system needs administrator access to meddle with critical settings.

By using proven UNIX concepts of networking, a multi-user access and privileged operation, Linux and OS X had less to worry about. It’s easy to block unneeded services to reduce vulnerability and apply safe firewall rules; Linux’s success in the server market has shown it to be a secure, dependable operating system. Apple also prides itself on OS X’s security although that’s also a result of it’s tiny market share, making it less attractive to hackers.

CONCLUSION

Vista emerges bruised by its encounter with Linux and OS X, but by no means has it lost the battle. The lessons learned from Windows XP’s weaknesses in security, networking and multimedia have been applied to Vista to create a more competitive operating system that’s easier to use. on the other hand, OS X and Linux are geared to take a big chunk out of the PC pie by showing themselves as superior alternatives to Windows way.

In the end, it’s consumers who stand victorious: operating system will get better and better, for a more enjoyable computing experience.

[tags]Windows Vista, Linux, Apple Mac OS X, Server,open office[/tags]

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