Alternative Operating Systems
Microsoft Corp. has the lion's share of the
desktop and server operating system market. But there are alternatives.
Some of these alternative operating systems are well established, such as
Apple Mac OS or Sun Solaris. Others, such as Linspire and Linux are
well on their way to becoming viable desktop and server operating system
choices.
Many people are aware of Apple Mac OS and the
hardware platform it runs on. But up till now, these systems have been a
little on the expensive side. Recently, Apple announced that it was
releasing the Mac mini, a
version of their Mac computer starting at $499. The Mac OS is a rock-solid operating system built on top of a UNIX framework.
It's fast,
efficient, and some believe more secure then many other choices.
Linspire,
is a Linux / UNIX variant with some interesting twists and is being sold all
over the world now. It offers you the ability to access many low cost
software solutions such as desktop productivity, games, and free software.
In fact, it has many applications already installed that you would normally
have to purchase separately with other operating systems. Installing
the operating system is quick and easy and has very basic system
requirements, such as processor and memory as compared to other operating
systems.
Sun Solaris has been around for quite some time and is typically
found in larger organizations. It is a an extremely flexible and powerful
desktop and server operating system that can run on many hardware platforms,
including Intel based systems. In fact, Solaris 10 is available free
for download. All you have to do is download the files, copy them to a
CD-ROM using your favorite burning software, and install.
Linux,
originally created by
Linus Torvald, is a robust and flexible operating system alternative
that has gained a huge audience over the years. The entire source code
for the operating system is freely distributed, so organizations can
contribute to its evolution. As a result, Linux can pretty much do anything the major
commercial operating systems can. There are many commercialized
versions of the Linux operating system but the entire open source version is
available for download from
Linux Online.
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