In the world of computing, there is Microsoft’s Windows operating system, any number of Linux, Unix and Berkeley Software Distribution flavors, and then Apple’s Mac OS. All three of these major classes are very similar in history, but very different in philosophy.
Windows, originally little more than a graphical shell for MS-DOS, is the dominant operating system in the world. It was based on OS/2, a joint IBM/Microsoft venture in the 1980s, which still has devout followers today.
MS-DOS, on the other hand, was bought from the original programmers, and was modified to become what it is today. DOS was originally a port of the BSD kernel to a less technical language.
All the "distros" of Linux have one thing in common – the Linux kernel. Written by Linus Torvalds from a reverse-engineered Unix kernel, this kernel now powers a good 50 percent or more of the Internet’s servers and backbone. A kernel is the central repository of code in an operating system; it is the core of the program. Linux and all of its derivatives are freely available under the General Public License. Linux is not known for its huge desktop presence.
BSD, while also written from a reverse-engineered Unix kernel, and also free, is licensed differently (under a BSD License) and has a slightly different architecture, making it more suitable for different tasks. It, like Linux, powers a large portion of the Internet’s backbone and has little other acceptance as a day-to-day operating system for Joe Sixpack.
Mac OS (in its most current major revision, X) is also written on top of the Unix kernel. Interestingly, it does not power much of the Internet, and has some market acceptance, though not as much as Apple would like. The graphical user interface is based on NeXTSTEP, a company formerly headed by Steve Jobs until its purchase by Apple in the 1990s.
Two of these four groups are free, while the other two aren’t. Oddly, the commercial offerings have greater market share. One would tend to think that free software would have better traction, but perhaps buyers want the knowledge that It Just Works. Linux, BSD and Unix have always been seen as largely a geeky, nerdy substitute to commercial products, and to a large extent, that is true. They have little support beyond online forums, and there is definitely a grease-monkey attitude needed when using them.
The for-profit companies who write and develop software can also support said software, but charge through the nose for the service and the software. Bill Gates and Jobs have their millions and billions, but Torvalds and other free and open-source software developers get paid next to nothing and may have to live on PayPal contributions.
Yet nobody is completely satisfied with the way his or her computer works. You may get the fanboys who scream that they’d never change a thing, but deep down they know there are a few things they’d like to be able to do and can’t.
But how are we supposed to get anyone to agree on a standard, when the current de-facto standard is so flawed? Find out next week, and learn what you can do to help.
This is the first of a series that asks where our software is, where it should be and how to get there.
