I’m not really asking you the question as noted in the title of this post. I am actually asking it as a statement. A good many people take this for granted. We all hear about them as Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, and now Vista. But, again, what is an operating system? An operating system is an interface between you and the hardware of your computer. You can call it a “go between” or “middle man” so to speak. You can’t use your computer without it. Operating systems have really changed over the last 20 years. It all started out as different versions of DOS up through version 7 which was primarily for laptop users. Then Windows 95 came out thus changing everything. I sometimes miss those DOS years being a DOS specialist myself. The versions of DOS that are on the computers today are nothing more than an environment instead of what was real DOS back then. There are some differences between DOS of today and back then. Back then, you could do everything from DOS, today you can’t. With the command line features changing throughout the years, writing batch files isn’t the same either.
Using Windows Vista as an example here, a new system comes out and after people get used to one system, they are forced to learn a new one if they upgrade or purchase a new PC. In addition to learning a new system, one has to deal with any problems, short comings, errors that the new system has before being “patched” out so to speak.
One of the problem with new systems is that if a New PC User purchases a PC with the latest system on it, the hassle dealing with all the issues that come with a system that has problems can become a nightmare for the user. This is especially true if the New PC User started to learn off an earlier version of Windows. Ouch! Can you imagine what this kind of person would go through? It’s enough to begin as a new user let alone to encounter what I just mentioned.
The interface is only as good as the programmer’s who wrote it. Did I just say that? Well, the interface or operating system is nothing more than a program that is constantly running while the PC is turned on. It’s waiting there for the user to make use of it. Having never personally used Windows Vista, I think that Windows XP is a really good system.
Now, with that said, all systems have there down falls. I have used just about every kind of popular operating system available to date except for Vista. They all have there differences. You can run applications, communicate with people, print documents, use the Internet, play games and more. The night before publishing this post, I asked one of our foster kids the question “Do you know what an operating system is ?” I told him that it was referring to PC’s. His response was I don;t know. Granted he is 15 years old and is pretty good at using computers.
While I haven’t been in the market for a PC, I’ve been hearing that the only PC’s you can purchase now come loaded with Vista on them. It’s really hard to find one with Windows XP on them now. Personally I think that the consumer should have the choice on what they want and not Microsoft. Windows XP does a good job, so why not have both on the market and give the choice back to the consumer? Again, all an operating system is, is just an interface and the consumer should be able to choose what they want.
See also the following posts:
http://ihelp4pcu.wordpress.com/2007/04/04/windows-vista-the-latest/
http://ihelp4pcu.wordpress.com/2007/02/10/windows-vista-or-hasta-la-vista/
