As
you might imagine, the differences between Microsoft Windows and the Linux
operating system cannot be completely discussed in the confines of this
section. Throughout this topic, we’ll examine the specific contrasts between
the two systems.But
before we attack the details, let’s take a moment to discuss the primary architectural
differences between the two operating systems.
Single Users vs. Multiple Users vs. Network Users
Windows
was designed according to the “one computer, one desk, one user” vision of Microsoft’s
cofounder Bill Gates. For the sake of discussion, we’ll call this philosophy single-user.
In this arrangement, two people cannot work in parallel running
(for example) Microsoft Word on the same machine at the same time. (On the
other hand, one might question the wisdom of doing this with an overwhelmingly
weighty program like Word!) You can buy Windows and run what is known as
Terminal Server, but this requires huge computing power and extra costs in
licensing. Of course, with Linux, you don’t run into the cost problem, and
Linux will run fairly well on just about any hardware.
Linux
borrows its philosophy from UNIX. When UNIX was originally developed at Bell
Labs in the early 1970s, it existed on a PDP-7 computer that needed to be
shared by an entire department. It required a design that allowed for multiple
users to log into the central machine at the
same time. Various people could be editing documents, compiling programs, and
doing other work at the exact same time. The operating system on the central
machine took care of the “sharing” details so that each user seemed to have an individual
system. This multiuser tradition continues through today on other versions of UNIX
as well. And since Linux’s birth in the early 1990s, it has supported the
multiuser arrangement.