TMC1233 – Operating Systems
Case Study
Introduction
I have been employed as an IT officer in a financial company. My first assignment was to come up with a proposal to help the managing director decide what operating system should be mounted to upgrade the computer terminals in the office, taking into account that there would be a possible growth of staff placements and work loads. Another factor to consider is that the managing director is knowledgeable about the operating systems, having studied the subject about ten years ago, but is not up-to-date with the current technological advancement. I’m also looking at the following areas of consideration:
The employees are not familiar with other OS except for Windows Tight budget Computer network between employees with frequent internet usage Security from virus, malware, spyware, hackers, etc; and Any additional tools that can help the company improve it’s performance.
Knowing that my proposal could affect her decision and the company on the whole, I’ve chosen to shortlist my final decision based on these two operating systems:
Windows 2000; and Linux Fedora
Perhaps, I should point out briefly the general overview of Windows 2000 and Linux Fedora before going to the more complex issue of which operating systems I would recommend to the managing director.
Windows 2000 In one of the reviews I’ve read on a reliable Internet source, Windows 2000 is the most stable operating systems ever made by Microsoft and most financial companies, banks, insurance companies, etc preferred to have their computers installed with Windows 2000 compared to other versions of Microsoft Windows [1]. To summarize it’s advantages:
relatively not very consuming in resources system (RAM and CPU) journalized filing system (NTFS) really stable really PnP (Plug and Play) good choice for the plays really directed multi-user Very secure in terms of network breaches
It’s disadvantages are however, the price you have to pay to implement the system.
Linux Fedora Linux Fedora is a result of a split between community and the commercial versions of Red Hat Linux. With the reputation of Red Hat Linux, the Fedora project have created an
environment whereby open source developers can explore their creativity and expertise to bring high-quality software packages, with contents that would cost hundreds and even thousand of dollars if bought separately as commercial products [2]. Fedora is a set of projects, sponsored by Red Hat and guided by the Fedora Foundation. These projects are developed by a large community of people who strive to provide and maintain the very best in free, open source software and standards. Fedora Core, the central Fedora project, is an operating system and platform, based on Linux, that is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute [4]. Among these features are:
The ability to connect your computers to a LAN or the Internet.
Create documents and publish your work on paper or on the Web. Work with multimedia content to manipulate images, play music files, view video, and even master and burn your own CDs and DVD.
Communicate over the Internet using a variety of Web tools for browsing, chatting, transferring files, participating in newsgroups, and sending and receiving e-mail.
Protect your computing resources by having Fedora or RHEL act as a firewall or a router to protect against intruders coming in through public networks.
Configure a computer to act as a network server, such as a print server, Web server, file server, mail server, news server, and a database server.
The disadvantages are however, it will take a while for a Windows user to get familiar with running the Linux system and often this requires the user to undergo training sessions. Still relatively, the price to install and train the staffs is cheaper compared to purchasing a Windows operating system.
Recommendation: Based on the excerpt above, it’s clear that the company will be making a significant amount of savings if we choose to mount Linux Fedora to our existing system. Linux Fedora has all the features that the company needs when compared to Windows. Be it security, reliable file systems and networking capabilities. The open source OpenOffice™ also supports Microsoft Office documents and with the large support and online resources, the company’s existing database systems and other important file systems would have no trouble in the migration process from Microsoft Windows to Linux Fedora.
On the other side, with the “X Window Systems”, the Linux graphical user interface, unfamiliar users need not worry about starting to use the Linux Fedora [3]. Research has
shown that, if you’re familiar with Microsoft Windows, it won’t take users long enough to figure out how to operate Linux.
Conclusion Linux Fedora is the best collection of stable and innovative software available in the open source world. Comparing it with other platforms available, for example Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X, Linux Fedora best assets are it’s price, it’s reliability and the freedom it gives it’s users. Apart from it’s price, Linux capability of using inexpensive hardware to operate is perhaps another added bonus. Most commercially made operating systems like Microsoft Windows requires upgrading the hardware to mount their operating systems, for example, Microsoft XP’s minimum requirement is Intel Pentium Processor with 500Mhz and 128 RAM with 32MB RAM Graphics Card, whereas Linux Fedora can operate on a much smaller requirement mentioned above.
Another advantage of using Linux is that help is always available on the Internet. There are many web sites providing FAQ (Frequently asked questions), forums and so forth. With this in mind, fundamental problems can be solved quickly and users can perform their work more efficient without worrying if they’re operating system is going to crash or their word document file will be lost. This error usually is the case for Windows users.
Lastly, I genuinely recommend Linux Fedora to be the main platform for the computer systems in the office.
Citations: 1. Windows: Advantages and Disadvantages. En1heure Web Site. Available at http://www.en1heure.com/en/avantages_inconvenients_windows.php. Accessed on 06 February 2007. 2. Introducing Fedora Core 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. 2006. TechTarget Web Site. Available at http://searchsystemschannel.techtarget.com/general/0,295582,sid99_gci12255 85,00.html. Accessed on 06 February 2007. 3. Negus, Christopher. 2005. Fedora 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Bible. 4. The evolution of Fedora Core Linux. Linux-noob.com Web Site. Available at http://linux-noob.com/review/fedora/fcrh/. Accessed on 06 February 2007.