week three readings

"Introduction to Linux: A Hands On Guide"

I thought this article was a bit confusing to comprehend. From what I read, it was started in the early '90s by a man name Linus Torvalds, and basically created a "clone" of Unix. By this time most people had home computers, so he wanted to create an operating system that was free. Some complaints about Linux are that it's confusing for beginners and they question whether its open source software is trustworthy. I still don't fully understand what "open source" entails. There are also thousands of software packages to choose from, which may be overwhelming for people especially if they don't really know what they need or want. So it seems that Linux may not be right for everyone.

"What is Mac OS X?'

This was another difficult article to read, especially the section on Architecture of Mac OS X. I thought the speech interface was interesting to read about though. I recently got a Mac and still have a lot to learn, but so far I like it! As long as it doesn't crash on me midway through the year I'll be happy.

"An Update on the Windows Roadmap"

This article discussed the updates on Windows Vista and Windows XP and the launch of Windows 7. Most people in the world use Windows, so this email sent by Bill Veghte would probably be most relevant to them. Windows 7 was scheduled to be released after January 2007-is it out? The article mainly focused on the improvements of Windows Vista, which is recommended for new PCs. It was recommended that  those with older PCs stick with XP, until I'm assuming 2014 when Microsoft stops supporting it, which at that point I'm guessing they'll have to upgrade to a new computer if they haven't already. I'm not sure what the differences are though between XP and Vista.  From reading this though, making a decision about what kind of computer to invest in is even more difficult, especially when there are upgrades every few years or so.