The project announced in the early July is about to be launched in a week's time.People are sure the OS cant be a hit in the very beginning as there are already OS wars going on between the giants .Google being the new bee into the field,it will be hard for it to even survive as people won't be ready enough to take risks over the new OS.
We can be sure that driver support for this new bee wont be satisfying enough.It will take time for the hardware vendors to work on it.So getting a hit in the the market in the very beginning is very very hard.Still,nothing we can be sure in the field of computers.
Currently the OS runs only with the VMware or other virtualization softwares.This won't be the same with the final release too.This is just to get the feedback from the web community.
Google has announced that the OS will be working only with Acer, ASUS, Adobe, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba . Other supports can be expected only on the early 2010.
With the new release from the tech giant Microsoft, the competition has become tougher for the Linux supporters. Let’s see the full review on these Operating Systems later. Now let’s look at the features which confuse us on “who copied from whom?”.
Bit locker
Windows 7, by default has its bit locker hard drive encryption for data security. Although, in previous versions; administrators can perform this act using the group policies. Windows 7 has made it much easier to use.
On the other hand, almost every Linux distribution offers hard drive encryption as an option at the installation time. A similar feature is applied on both the OSs called the “TrueCrypt”.
Now they have made this bit locker go mobile as the encryption can be applied to removable devices too. The application itself is added to the USB to be decrypted in other systems.
App locker
A similar feature that works with application installations. App locker decides what installations can work on the PC’s. Even this is available through group policies in window’s earlier versions. Linux for its part allows only installation of signed packages. AppLocker in Linux is found in the form of frameworks such as SELinux and AppArmor.
Problem steps recorder
Windows 7 has this cool new feature called as the problem steps recorder. With which the OS records the errors with the screenshots and gives out as a zip file to be forwarded to the administrator or the customer support.
The bug reporting tool in Linux is not that slick as of now. For now, it’s not that bad too. They have an equivalent tool, but it doesn’t support screenshots.
PowerShell
In Windows 7, the PowerShell has been enhanced with an advantage to write, run and test scripts in the same window. It’s called the PowerShell ISE.
On the other hand, Linux has always given its command line a lot of significance. Here goes an Open Source project Pash (PowerShell+Bash).
Customized libraries
Now files can be categorized using the right click tool in windows 7.An” Include in library” option comes with the right click to organize files.
A similar feature called symlinks is found with the latest Linux distribution.
Search
Windows 7’s search not only gets the database of the local hard drive but the data from intranet and the internet search engines too. Though, these destinations should be configured.
The Linux has its Open source project for this too. Named Surfraw, it can search and index any sort of remote locations.
Virtualization
Now both have entered into the concept of virtualization to be inbuilt with the OS. Windows 7 comes with a XP mode for those applications that doesn’t get compatible with the new OS. For this, VM and Hypervisor should be downloaded separately (not free for the home editions).
Windows XP can be very well virtualized on the Linux platform too using the Virtual box, but you have to license the XP version while it’s done free of cost on the Microsoft’s platform.
Aero Interface
Window 7’s aero interface shows up thumbnails of the applications that are running for the ease of access.
The new taskbar in Linux shoots up the thumbnail on the mouse over action on their respective tabs.
Mount or burn ISO
Now this can be done on both the OSs with a simple right click.
Virtualization is the concept of extracting a system's resource.A virtual machine is a software implementation of a PC that shares the same hardware as the parent computer but acts as a different machine.VMware being the early leader of the concept has gained a decent amount of the market's share.Microsoft's HyperV and Citrix's Xen came into the concept later but has better hopes.the tables shows up the pro's on con's of each of them.Choose the one that suits ur needs.
|
|
Microsoft’s HyperV
|
VMware
|
Citrix’s Xen
|
| Supported Operating System |
Windows & SUSE Linux |
Windows, Mac, Linux & others |
Windows, Linux |
| Management Tools |
System center VM manager |
vCenter Server, vMotion, vCenter Lab Manager, vCenter Converter Infrastructure |
Included only in paid version |
| Free hypervisor |
HyperV Server |
ESXi |
Xen Server Express |
| Paid hypervisor |
--- |
ESX |
Xen Server Enterprise, Platinum |
| Advantage |
- Its included as a part of Windows Server 2008
- Cost effective licensing of guest Windows VMs
|
- Widest selection of pre-built appliances
- Widest selection of guest OS support
|
- Open Source solution
- Essentials also manages HyperV
- 32 CPU support
- P2V included in overall solution
|
| Disadvantage |
Limited management tools |
Confusing array of pricing and configuration options |
No pre-built appliances |
Ubuntu
Ubuntu 9.10 Operating System is the next version of Ubuntu going to get released soon.This version is code-named "Karmic Koala" .The ubuntu 9.10 beta version is already released for the testing purpose. Downloading and Upgrading to a new version of Ubuntu would be very easy this time. One of the finest feature of this operating system is that it runs flawless even on a 10 year old laptop. This version comes with cloud storage to the masses with simple and well integrated platform. The Ubuntu Software Centre is specially designed in this version to ease out adding and removing other open source projects.This version of ubuntu comes packed with the necessary drivers putting a full stop to the user's driver search.In this version, the developers have given importance to the areas like boot-up management, application security etc.. and had much less focus on other sludgy works.Comes with a new IM, not the same old pidgin.This version has an option to make a complete test on the hardware sources at the installation.This decides the suitable drivers for your hardware.Soon,will come up with the full release details of the Ubuntu Karmic Koala.Its due for release by Oct 8th '09.
TechSW