Pos 355 - Open and Close Source Systems

Open and Close Source Systems

Courtney Gardner

POS/355

10-22, 2012

Terance Carlson

Open and Close Source Systems

On my day to day I have the chance to use more than one particular operating system to complete a number of tasks. Having always been interested in different operating systems and things upside the mainstream, I wanted to learn the open source world of Linux. In this paper I will give a comparison of Windows 7, Windows Vista, Ubuntu and Backtrack operating systems. I used Virtual Box with a Triple Boot of Windows Vista, Linux Mint and Backbox VM and my other laptop which I have a Dual Boot of Windows 7 and Backtrack setup on to run this experiment. I have used Windows XP ever since its release and later began using Win7, but I have used Linux for just as long. After the rather lengthy installation without including the numerous updates thereafter, I admit I enjoy the ease of use that the Windows OS has to offer, and at the same time after a not so time consuming install, I really enjoy the programmer feel and power to modify gained through the terminal within Linux.

Linux in my opinion is the more secure of the two platforms, mainly due to the use of the SETUID function. Not to say Windows isn’t secure, because my particular environments are all secure. Mostly because I use anti-viruses and firewalls on my Windows machines, be it virtual or physical. Another difference is the hardware support f or the devices you want to install on OS on to. The support for older models is phased out much quicker for Windows for example drivers. If you have a 5-6 year old computer, chances are you will have a much harder time finder suitable drivers for your graphics, sounds and internet to work correctly if you installed Windows 7 on that system. And the chances become even lease favorable depending on the make model on the machine.

Now, if we take the same machine and install Ubuntu on it you will have drivers that work

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