Alternative Operating Systems Available Today April 6 th , 2011

1. Alternative Operating Systems Available Today April 6th, 2011 1 Start with Statistics and a little History 2. Go through Top 10 from techradar.com 3. Finish with information from Wikipedia and a Google Search on Top 10

2. What is the trend in operating systems usage?Web Statistics and Trends

3. 2009 Win7 Vista Win2003 WinXP W2000 Linux Mac December 9.0% 16.0% 1.4% 61.6% 0.6% 4.5% 6.5% November 6.7% 17.5% 1.4% 62.2% 0.7% 4.3% 6.7% October 4.4% 18.6% 1.5% 63.3% 0.7% 4.2% 6.8% September 3.2% 18.3% 1.5% 65.2% 0.8% 4.1% 6.5% August 2.5% 18.1% 1.6% 66.2% 0.9% 4.2% 6.1% July 1.9% 17.7% 1.7% 67.1% 1.0% 4.3% 6.0% June 1.6% 18.3% 1.7% 66.9% 1.0% 4.2% 5.9% May 1.1% 18.4% 1.7% 67.2% 1.1% 4.1% 6.1% April 0.7% 17.9% 1.7% 68.0% 1.2% 4.0% 6.1% March 0.5% 17.3% 1.7% 68.9% 1.3% 4.0% 5.9% February 0.4% 17.2% 1.6% 69.0% 1.4% 4.0% 6.0% January 0.2% 16.5% 1.6% 69.8% 1.6% 3.9% 5.8% Note the increase in Win 7 and slight drop in WinXP and steady numbers on Vista as the 2nd Choice.

4. 2010 Win7 Vista Win2003 WinXP W2000 Linux Mac December 29.1% 8.9% 1.1% 47.2% 0.2% 5.0% 7.3% November 28.5% 9.5% 1.1% 47.0% 0.2% 5.0% 7.7% October 26.8% 9.9% 1.1% 48.9% 0.3% 4.7% 7.6% September 24.3% 10.0% 1.1% 51.7% 0.3% 4.6% 7.2% August 22.3% 10.5% 1.3% 53.1% 0.4% 4.9% 6.7% July 20.6% 10.9% 1.3% 54.6% 0.4% 4.8% 6.5% June 19.8% 11.7% 1.3% 54.6% 0.4% 4.8% 6.8% May 18.9% 12.4% 1.3% 55.3% 0.4% 4.5% 6.7% April 16.7% 13.2% 1.3% 56.1% 0.5% 4.5% 7.1% March 14.7% 13.7% 1.4% 57.8% 0.5% 4.5% 6.9% February 13.0% 14.4% 1.4% 58.4% 0.6% 4.6% 7.1% January 11.3% 15.4% 1.4% 59.4% 0.6% 4.6% 6.8% Note the faster increase in Win 7 with a real drop in WinXP with the attendant drop in Vista.

5. Windows XP is the most popular operating system. The Windows family counts for almost 90%: • 2011 Win7 Vista Win2003 WinXP W2000 Linux Mac • February 32.2% 8.3% 1.0% 44.2% 0.2% 5.1% 8.1% • January 31.1% 8.6% 1.0% 45.3% 0.2% 5.0% 7.8% • Note the continuation of the trends.

6. History point in 2003 • 2003 WinXP W2000 Win98 WinNT Win95 Linux Mac • November 42.6% 36.3% 10.9% 3.5% 0.4% 2.6% 2.2% • September 38.0% 37.9% 12.1% 4.1% 0.5% 2.4% 2.0% • July 33.9% 40.6% 12.6% 5.3% 0.6% 2.3% 1.9% • May 31.4% 41.0% 13.9% 5.8% 0.7% 2.2% 1.8% • March 29.1% 41.9% 14.8% 6.6% 0.8% 2.2% 1.8% • Note Start up and rise in WinXP first 8 months. • Platforms that count for less than 0.5% are not listed.

7. 10 best alternative operating systemsThe desktops with the potential to change computingBy PC Plus • Right now, someone, somewhere is developing the killer operating system feature of the future - a feature that will change computing and make us wonder how we lived without it. • Read more: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/10-best-alternative-operating-systems-934484#ixzz1I74t0TTH • This Presentation will be from the slides below. The PowerPoint file is posted on the UCHUG WebSite for use.

8. However, the person responsible probably isn't grafting away in the labs of Microsoft, Apple or Red Hat - he or she is more likely to be working in a bedroom or loft. • It might seem audacious to claim that the next Windows is cooking in some part-time coder's house, but it's nothing new. Microsoft's OS empire started with the purchase of QDOS, which stood for 'Quick and Dirty Operating System'. Apple didn't create Mac OS X out of thin air, but took an open source kernel and some BSD code (grounded in academia) to get the foundations of its operating system working.

9. Into the future • We'll look at the best alternative operating systems, with the potential to change the computing landscape over the next decade. There's only one rule - no Microsoft, Apple or Linux. • While some of these operating systems are still relatively early in development, the technology that they're introducing could make its way into the next round of updates for the mainstream OSes we use. Helpfully, you can try these projects without having to repartition your hard drive thanks to the excellent (and free) PC virtualisation and emulation tool available from www.virtualbox.org.

10. These OSes are all supplied as disk images - usually CD ISOs - so you can install VirtualBox, grab the ISO and tell VirtualBox to boot from it to try it out. You can burn the ISO files to CD-Rs and boot them on your real PC if you want to see how they handle the bare metal. • Remember that mid-development releases could contain bugs. We will start with the lowest rated OS and end up with the best from the evaluation. • Each OS will have a title page with the link to its source, comments and a page sample with final thoughts after that.

11. 10. GNU/HURDFighting for microkernels www.gnu.org/software/hurd • The GNU project started in 1984 to create a completely free software Unix OS. By the early '90s it had many tools finished, but still no kernel. Linux arrived and was paired with GNU to form what we now call Linux (also known as GNU/Linux). • However, the GNU project has been developing a kernel called HURD. This is based on the Mach microkernel, as used in Mac OS X, and consists of servers running in their own address spaces.

13. There are services for hardware drivers, filesystems, authentication and more. These are more isolated than in a typical OS, so HURD should - in theory - be more reliable. It will also be easier to update and replace OS components without reboots.

14. 9. JNodeDesktop Java to the extreme www.jnode.org • Java's heyday on the desktop is long gone, with web-based games and apps mostly delivered by Flash and HTML5. But there's one project that aims to prove that Java can still hack it when it comes to desktop computing - JNode. • Apart from a very small assembly language core, the vast majority of the JNode operating system is written in Java. JNode's goal is to run any Java application, although it's currently only at version 0.2.8.

16. The interface is simple, there's some decent documentation online, and progress is being made towards 0.3. Planned future features include lower memory consumption, wireless networking and more hardware acceleration for video.

17. 8. FreeVMSIndustrial strength OS www.freevms.net • Back in the '70s and '80s, the main competitor to Unix on big-iron hardware was VMS(See next Slide). Famed for its stability, running on chunky fridge-like boxes called VAXes, it included advanced clustering and security features for its time, along with an automatic versioning file system. • Dave Cutler, one of the designers of the VMS operating system, went on to lead development of Windows NT, but OpenVMS stuck around and now runs on Itanium systems.

18. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVMS • OpenVMS (Open Virtual Memory System), previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or (informally) VMS, is a high-endcomputer serveroperating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase. Unlike some other mainframe-oriented operating systems, OpenVMS has a graphical user interface (GUI) with complete graphics support. Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX was one of the three top-selling workstations lines in the 1980s and 1990s. VMS had support for professional DTP and CAE software running. AXP VMS supported OpenGL and Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) graphics adapters. It has also been used in education and for home hobbyist use. • OpenVMS is a multi-user, multiprocessingvirtual memory-based operating system (OS) designed for use in time sharing, batch processing, real-time (where process priorities can be set higher than OS kernel jobs), and transaction processing. It offers high system availability through clustering, or the ability to distribute the system over multiple physical machines. This allows the system to be "disaster-tolerant" against natural disasters that may disable individual data-processing facilities. VMS also includes a process priority system that allows for real-time processes to run unhindered, while user processes get temporary priority "boosts" if necessary. • OpenVMS commercialized many features that are now considered standard requirements for any high-end server operating system.

20. FreeVMS is striving to build on VMS's feature set, although unlike many clone projects where developers can get easy access to the original OS, VMS gurus are hard to find. FreeVMS is currently only at version 0.4, but is still making solid progress.

21. 7. DexOSMini OS with console-like GUIwww.dex4u.com • For a desktop operating system, we expect the usual assortment of window furniture, panels and launchers. DexOS is a small project that provides a more console-like approach. • This works in two ways: the graphical front-end is more like a video game launcher than a traditional OS, and programmers can easily access the bare metal for maximum performance. It's an intriguing concept, and the take up of Android and iOS in the last couple of years has shown that traditional desktop computing metaphors are starting to look long in the tooth.

23. DexOS demonstrates what a bunch of part time hobbyist coders can achieve, without lots of funding or commercial backing.

24. 6. InfernoSharing, everywhere www.vitanuova.com/inferno/ • Inferno has been doing the rounds for almost a decade, and in some respects it's still way ahead of other OSes. Inferno is built to be a distributed OS - it's designed to share resources across machines. • Using a protocol called Styx, systems running Inferno can share hardware and networking devices with one another seamlessly. For instance, an application on Inferno box A is able to access the hard drive of Inferno box B without knowing it's actually on a remote machine.

26. Inferno applications are written in a language called Limbo, which is compiled down to code for a virtual machine called Dis, so they're portable across the various architectures Inferno supports.

27. 5. KolibriOSThe fastest GUI OS in existence? www.kolibrios.org • Operating systems used to be written in assembly language, but you'd be hard pressed to find much in the source tree of a modern OS. It's true that programming in assembly is hard work, but it can often lead to results that a typical compiler can't compete with.

29. KolibriOS, a fork of MenuetOS, is written entirely in assembly, and it shows - it's tiny (4.9MB for the ISO) and ridiculously fast (booting in a couple of seconds). Despite this, it includes a web browser, mail client, games, desktop utilities, impressive demos and more, all running at light speed. • They're nowhere near as feature-packed as their Windows counterparts, but they underline how much bloat and wastefulness we're now used to.

30. 4. OpenBSDSecurity before style www.openbsd.org • Security is OpenBSD's mantra. Unlike other operating systems, which consider security a feature like performance or prettiness, the OpenBSD team won't add any code unless it's sure that it's completely free of security holes. • It audits parts of the codebase for vulnerabilities, and have made modifications to the standard C libraries to prevent buffer overruns and other problems.

32. OpenBSD was the first non-research OS to integrate many features we now take for granted, including address space layout randomisation, which puts libraries and memory sections in random locations in RAM, so crackers can't assume their location.

33. 3. AROSSomething for Amiga lovers http://aros.sourceforge.net • You may have fond memories of the Amiga. The dazzling graphics and crisp sound (when PCs were faffing around with text mode and beeps), the super-fast multi-tasking, and the, er, lack of protected memory… • Well, forget that last one. It was one of the best-loved computers of all time, and it still has many fans today.

35. AROS - the Amiga Research Operating System - is intensely fast. Blisteringly so. It apes the Amiga design, both superficially and with its inner workings, and is designed to be source compatible with AmigaOS 3.1 (software written for the old Amiga OS should only need a recompile to work). • AROS has great potential as a light and fast OS for low-end netbooks and tablets.

36. 2. ReactOSOpen source Windows clone that could save businesses a fortune www.reactos.org • If you've dabbled in Linux, you may have heard of WINE, a compatibility layer that lets certain Windows programs run on Linux. Effectively, it intercepts calls to the Windows API, replacing them with Linux equivalents. It includes its own batch of DLLs, but it can use native Windows DLLs too for improved software compatibility.

37. WINE's compatibility ranges from superb to terrible, with the focus on triple-A applications such as Microsoft Office and Photoshop. Generally, older applications work better, and anything that doesn't poke around in the undocumented internals of Windows has a chance of running. • However, WINE mixes up the Windows and Unix approaches to operating systems, with the end result being a pretty ugly mess. It also can't use Windows drivers.

39. ReactOS aims to fix all this. Instead of being a layer on top of another OS, ReactOS is a completely standalone project, bootable from an install or live CD. It does use WINE DLLs, but it has its own bootloader, kernel and other low-level facilities that should - in theory - make it compatible with Windows drivers. • ReactOS aims to be an open source, drop-in replacement for Windows. This gives it potential to radically shake up the market. ReactOS, a Windows clone, could one day be the next Windows - at least, for a good chunk of people. That sounds outrageous, but the vast majority of Windows boxes run a very small range of programs: IE or Firefox, MS Office and a couple of games, with a bit of Photoshop or Dreamweaver.

40. ReactOS doesn't have to run 50,000 Windows applications adequately; it just needs to run the top 10 well. Imagine you're a netbook manufacturer in a crowded market, and you want to get your prices down as low as possible. Instead of paying licenses to Microsoft for Windows, you could install ReactOS on your machines for free, put a list of ticks on the box saying 'Runs Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Photoshop and World of Warcraft' and save a lot of money. • Or imagine that you're a business with 5,000 Windows PCs that need upgrading because XP is end of life. Instead of buying 5,000 Windows 7 licenses, you could drop ReactOS any PCs that just run Office and Outlook. • These scenarios are still a while off: ReactOS is only at version 0.3.12, having been developed since the late '90s, and there's still a lot of work to be done. But compatibility is improving and you can see the status of your favourite programs at www.reactos.org/compat.

41. HaikuThe lightning-fast BeOS lives on in the speedy, simple Haikuwww.haiku-os.org • And so we come to the number one project - the OS most likely to be the next big desktop hit. Why have we chosen Haiku for this slot?

42. Firstly, it intends to simply recreate an existing operating system, BeOS, but as open source. There's no room for changes of direction, random new features or endless arguments on mailing lists about trivial design decisions. • Secondly, the developers are passionate about their work - they love BeOS. • Thirdly, a great deal of attention has been paid to presentation, documentation and the other bits developers often ignore because they'd rather be hacking code. • If you were active in the PC world in the late 1990s, you may remember BeOS. Designed for the PowerPC, it was ported to the x86 PC architecture, offering a unique experience that was designed from the ground-up for desktop computing.

43. BeOS demos typically showed several spinning OpenGL teapots running flawlessly on screen as multiple MP3s played in the background. In the days of Windows 9x and Mac OS 8/9, BeOS's stellar performance, simplicity and lack of historical baggage won it an army of hardcore fans. • Its file system supported attributes for storing metadata, with features making it rather like a database. • However, from a commercial perspective, BeOS suffered greatly. Be Inc, the OS's makers, found it very hard to break into the Windows-dominated PC market. Ultimately, Be Inc sued Microsoft for allegedly preventing PC makers from selling BeOS machines; Microsoft never admitted guilt, but settled out of court for $23 million. However, by this point it was too late for BeOS to gain a serious foothold in the market.

44. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOSExtensive Wikipedia Links below • BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing modular I/O bandwidth, pervasive multithreading, preemptive multitasking and a custom 64-bitjournaling file system known as BFS. The BeOS GUI was developed on the principles of clarity and a clean, uncluttered design. It used Unicode as the default encoding in the GUI, yet support for input methods, such as bidirectional input was never realized. The API was written in C++ for ease of programming. It has partial POSIX compatibility and access to a command-line interface through Bash, although internally it is not a Unix-derived operating system. • BeOS was positioned as a multimedia platform which could be used by a substantial population of desktop users and a competitor to Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. However, it was ultimately unable to achieve a significant market share and proved commercially unviable for Be Inc. The company was acquired by Palm Inc. and today BeOS is mainly used and developed by a small population of enthusiasts. • The open-source OS Haiku is designed to start up where BeOS left off. Alpha 2 of Haiku was released in May 2010.

46. Haiku, formerly known as OpenBeOS, began life in 2001 and is now capable of running many older BeOS programs (along with newer ports like Firefox). It retains the clean, modern architecture and desktop design of BeOS, but with added support for more recent hardware devices. • The developers are huge BeOS fans - they stuck by the OS in hard times and still champion its strengths today. They've also put a lot of effort into making the website look smart and ensuring the documentation is thorough. • Haiku offers a chance to bring speed, simplicity and enjoyment back to computing. It's a system designed purely as a modern, graphical desktop operating system without carrying sacks of historical baggage.

47. Comments on the article. • linuxsandbox • March 14th • 1. I happened upon Beos in '98 and was stunned at it's performance on my celeron 400 with 64mb ram. Till date i still feel it's the best OS i've ever used. I'm still mad at microsoft for denying the world the opportunity to use an excellent product.

48. losethos • March 14th • 2. How could you not list LoseThos? Google search "64-bit operating system" and what's the first altewrnative OS you see? • tzimisce • March 14th • 3. I • I do agree with linuxsandbox about Beos, so far as i tested it haiku does feel very nice. • reactos is quite a piece of joke, don't missinterpret me it can be something usefull one day but right now it's too way bugy and alpha. • Aros, my favorite one, i came from Amiga world so can't help it, Aros isn't only lightweight but very portable, runing on x86 (32 & 64bits), ppc, arm, m68k (can run Amiga binary on m68k) • well to conclude i must say, for once it's nice to read an article about alternatives OS that don't just speak about Linux Distros :)

49. Solidwood • March 15th • 4. I am surprised that QNX is not on the list. It's been around since the late 70's, and is a real-time microkernel OS. It is the best combination of fast and complete that you can buy, but it's not free. • johnkurtz • March 17th • 5. Can any of these operating systems properly make use of multi-core processors? • Thanks! • losethos • March 17th • 6. LoseThos supports multicore.

50. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operating_systemshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_Systemshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operating_systemshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_Systems • List of operating systems is expanded below. • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Operating systems can be categorized by technology, ownership, licensing, working state, usage, and by many other characteristics. In practice, many of these groupings may overlap.