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Depending on your age - or possibly more important,
how long ago and at what age you were introduced to a
"modern" computer (let us say since 1980) -
you have probably seen and/or used a number of
different operating systems over the years. By sheer
numbers (over 90%) - nowadays - most of the computers
on this planet use some version of Microsoft
Windows. The other 10% or so are using
Linux,
BSD (UNIX), and
Mac
OS, with another small number using more obscure
systems like OS2,
BEOS,
Amiga, and
probably some hold-outs using CP/M
and DOS 3.3 remain out there.
But, despite the numbers, some
(or possibly most)
of the other "alternative" operating systems
may be an option for you to consider. Sometimes
a certain field you are in, or program availability
may dictate that you go elsewhere than Windows. Other
reasons could be for more security for your data - BSD
is much more secure out of the box than the Redmond
products - or maybe just the cost of licensing many
multiple copies of the OS as well as office software
may convince you to look at Open Source software such
as run mostly on Linux and
BSD
platforms, as well as some Windows versions. The most
popular BSD flavors are: FreeBSD,
NetBSD,
and OpenBSD.
There are many more large and small release versions
of Linux, which can be found here,
here,
and here
- among other
sites. Due
to the need for antiquated software that may be
running on "ancient" (as in 5 to 10 or more
years old) hardware that is hard to find replacement
parts, some scenarios may mean taking an older
proprietary board and/or OS, and installing in a new
motherboard. An example of this is a friend who has an
auto repair business with an analyzer that connects to
auto computers. That analyzer is basically a full
length ISA card in a Pentium 133 with 32 megs of RAM
and a quite small hard disk. Not only is it difficult
to find any recent technology generic motherboards that take ISA cards (I
found 3 - P4 based industrial boards), but it may be
difficult to get the program to install on XP or 2000
(or to find drivers for the proprietary card designed
for 95). But, it may be easier to install the board in
the industrial motherboard and run the program from
VMWare instead, eliminating the need to either retain
the old dinosaur computer or having to dual boot with
95 on the new P4 motherboard. |
