Windows 7 sales broke all previous

records
In just one month from its launch, the spread of Window 7 is much
higher i.e. around 10 times faster as compared to Windows Vista.
Expansion of Windows 7 is much faster than expected in both
enterprise market and consumer market. A Korean reseller company
said that the market share of the Windows 7 computers have exceeded
70% not only in online market but in offline market as well. Statistics
says that the market share will exceed 90% by the end of this year
which was just 5% for Vista in the given duration.

Scenario is not much different in the global market as well. Within just
18 days after the launch of Windows 7, it occupied 4% of the entire OS
market. Vista reached the same statistics after 6 months. Microsoft’s
most versions of Windows OS were first expanded in enterprise
market. On the contrary Windows 7 is getting more popular among the
general consumers. The Korean branch of Microsoft reported that it
sold out 4000 copies of Windows 7 in one month.

Since Windows 7 has no limitation of high-end PC, more and more

consumers are installing the full package product through retailers as
said by team chief at Intech and Company. General public want to
upgrade to Windows 7. As compared to Vista, sales of Windows 7 are
twice higher around the world.

Steve Ballmer declared about the shooting sales of Windows 7

operating system. However, he has not revealed any sales figure. In
the same meeting the announcement for the beta version of Microsoft
Office 2010 is also announced. A number of proposals from Microsoft
including the economic downturns and employees layoff was also
announced in the annual shareholder meeting in Bellevue.

First look at Windows 7's User

Interface
Microsoft has given us a first glimpse as Windows 7. The taskbar has
changed significantly, and there are a number of other changes we
have screenshots of.
At PDC today, Microsoft gave the first public demonstration of Windows
7. Until now, the company has been uncharacteristically secretive
about its new OS; over the past few months, Microsoft has let on that
the taskbar will undergo a number of changes, and that many bundled
applications would be unbundled and shipped with Windows Live
instead. There have also been occasional screenshots of some of the
new applets like Calculator and Paint. Now that the covers are finally
off, the scale of the new OS becomes clear. The user interface has
undergone the most radical overhaul and update since the introduction
of Windows 95 thirteen years ago.

First, however, it's important to note what Windows 7 isn't. Windows 7

will not contain anything like the kind of far-reaching architectural
modifications that Microsoft made with Windows Vista. Vista brought a
new display layer and vastly improved security, but that came at a
cost: a significant number of (badly-written) applications had difficulty
running on Vista. Applications expecting to run with Administrator
access were still widespread when Vista was released, and though
many software vendors do a great job, there are still those that haven't
updated or fixed their software. Similarly, at its launch many hardware
vendors did not have drivers that worked with the new sound or video
subsystems, leaving many users frustrated.

While windows 7 doesn't undo these architectural changes—they were

essential for the long-term health of the platform—it equally hasn't
made any more. Any hardware or software that works with Windows
Vista should also work correctly with Windows 7, so unlike the
transition from XP to Vista, the transition from Vista to 7 won't show
any regressions; nothing that used to work will stop working.

So, rather than low-level, largely invisible system changes, the work on
Windows 7 has focused much more on the user experience. The way
people use computers is changing; for example, it's increasingly the
case that new PCs are bought to augment existing home machines
rather than replacement, so there are more home networks and shared
devices. Business users are switching to laptops, with the result that
people expect to seamlessly use their (Domain-joined) office PC on
their home network.

As well as these broader industry trends, Microsoft also has extensive

data on how people use its software. Through the Customer Experience
Improvement Program (CEIP), an optional, off-by-default feature of
many Microsoft programs, the company has learned a great deal about
the things that users do. For example, from CEIP data Microsoft knows
that 70% of users have between 5 and 15 windows open at any one
time, and that most of the time they only actively use one or two of
those windows. With this kind of data, Microsoft has streamlined and
refined the user experience.

The biggest visible result of all this is the taskbar. The taskbar in
Windows 7 is worlds apart from the taskbar we've known and loved
ever since the days of Chicago.

Windows 7 Sells Faster Than

Vista
Despite being released in a more challenging economic time,
Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 7 is selling at a much
faster pace than its predecessor Vista. Microsoft’s chief executive,
Steve Ballmer, informed in the annual share holder meeting of
Microsoft that Windows 7 has sold twice as much copy as of Windows
Vista in its first month. Statistics says that instead of bad reviews Vista
sold about 20 million copies in first month which gives us an idea that,
according to Ballmer statement, Windows 7 must have sold more than
40 million copies in its first month. In fact according to a market
tracker NPD, Windows 7 sold 239% over Vista.

At Microsoft’s annual meeting, Ballmer told that Windows 7 has given

Microsoft the power to get back the customers who have adopted Mac
OSX. In the down economy, Mac OS is costlier as compared to Windows
for the same PC. He also added that young people who are usually
fond of Mac OS will outgrow their feeling as a result of the influential
marketing strategy of Windows 7 and some people will do that as a
phase of life

The statistics from New Zealand’s two highly traffic Website (NBR.co.nz
and Trademe-easily) will give you a fair idea about the market share
of different OS. The amazing thing is the consistency of Windows XP
since long.
Windows 7 startup time tends to degrade with time

The PC tune-up developers reveal that Microsoft’s new operating

system, Windows 7, starts up much slower than Windows Vista and its
booting speed tends to go slower with time. This statement contradicts
the statement made by Microsoft company.

The Los Angeles maker of PC software, iolo Technologies, contradict

Microsoft’s claim by remarking that Windows 7 doesn’t boot faster.
Corresponds to iolo tests, Windows 7 boots 42% slower than its
predecessor, the company also reveals the study result on a brand new
machine – Windows 7 take one minute 34 seconds whereas one minute
six seconds is taken by Windows Vista to boot up. It seems that
Windows 7 boot faster but iolo measured the startup with a low load on
the fully usable computer.

Microsoft stated that they have devoted significant resources to make

Windows 7 boot and regain from the sleep and hibernation faster than
Vista, after they got severe criticism in 2007 for Windows Vista starting
slowly. PC World, a sister publication of Computerworld also measured
the new operating system, Windows 7, against Windows Vista and
reported that Windows 7 boots 10% slower than Vista in case of 32-bit
version and boots 14% faster on 64-bit, when compared.

The statement released by iolo also states that the booting time for
new operating system tends to degrade over time like windows Vista.
After many commonly based applications have been installed in
Windows 7 box, its startup time increases to two minutes, 34 seconds
which is an increase of about 64%. Over the time, Windows 7 will
respond much slower. And by the end of two years, the startup time
for Windows 7 would increase to 330%.

Gina

Windows 7 – A Success Story For Microsoft

A research market research done recently clearly states that Windows
7 is increasing its market share by manifolds. Rate of growth at which
Windows 7 is gaining popularity is much more than its predecessor,
Windows Vista. Vista took several months to set its popularity amongst
the users, whereas Windows 7 has reportedly shown increase in its
market share in relatively short time.

Users are even ready to dumb off their old XP boxes and are buying
new PCs that are more compatible with Windows 7. There is not a
single reason that makes Windows 7 a widely demanded OS, but it is a
host of factors that users are not even thinking once to replace their XP
PCs with Windows 7 PCs. Listed here are few of them:

• Enhanced version of ReadyBoost, which is a new tool that aids in

booting of the computer even under a low memory situation and
uses flash memory
• Increased graphic performance
• Detection of battery status with BattCursor
• Highly useful mini-applications gadgets to keep you updated by
providing access to changing information such as current time,
weather, stock quotes, new feeds
• Enhanced desktop to manage workplace in an easier manner

Further, this operating system is available at the most economical

prices, which again makes Windows 7 one of the most rapidly
increasing OS on the world. If you are a professional, upgrading your
systems to Windows 7 will cost you approximately $200, where as The
Home Premium is available at $120.
Owner of Microsoft, Bill Gates, in an interview said that Windows 7 is a
“user-centric” operating system and would focus on performance
improvements. Keeping to his words, Windows 7 launched by Microsoft
is user friendly OS with advanced features. Some of the features are as
follows:

• Touch and handwriting recognition

• Support for virtual hard disks
• Improved performance on multi-core processors
• Improved boot performance
• DirectAccess
• Kernel improvements

It had been reported that within eight hours of its launch, pre-orders of
Windows 7 at Amazon.co.uk surpassed the demand Windows Vista had
in its first 17 weeks and thus, became the highest grossing order in
online shopping history. Even the reviews of Windows 7 by the experts
were far more positive and they even praised its usability in
comparison to Windows Vista. Leading media companies and
magazines, such as CNER and PC magazine rated it 4 stars and
appraised this operating system as it has lesser compatibility
problems, a retooled taskbar, simpler home networking and faster
start-up.

Marketed as “Making your PC simpler”, Windows Vista provides the

real value of people’s money and has helped Microsoft in adding one
more star to its success.

Windows 7 betters the mark of Vista

 Microsoft is riding high on the
success of Windows 7 after Vista was poorly received by enterprises.

Windows 7 so far has been doing a lot better than Vista and is quickly
commanding a good share in the computer market. Early reports
revealed that the retail box sales of Windows 7 were up by a whopping
234% in comparison to sales of Vista at the same given point of time. A
fresh report has now been disclosed by Net Applications that shows
that the new Windows 7 has significantly enhanced its share of the
overall PC market since its release.

The migration rate among users is much more than the adoption rate
of Vista over the same period. Windows 7 has grown 84% in market
share when it took Vista nearly about six months to to generate 4 % of
the OS market when it was launched. Windows operating systems of all
designs own 92.5% of the OS market, a little less than 93.06% that it
owned in August 2009. Linux has a hold of 0.96% of the OS market
with Mac owning 5.27%.

The software giant is continuously promoting the new operating

system with discounts and promotional schemes and partnering up
with retailers like Best Buy. It is also trying to make upgrades from
operating systems like XP to Windows 7 a lot more simplified because
there is no provision for a direct upgrade path between the two
operating systems.

Microsoft has claimed that sales of Windows 7 will be attached to the

sales of PCs moving ahead, which have plummeted due to the poor
economy. All is well; however, PC sales are currently growing with a
95% increase in the weeks before and after Windows 7 was released.
This is an area where Vista holds an edge over Windows 7. PC sales
soared to 170% after the Vista was released.Microsoft’s marketing
investment to support its Windows 7 operating system looks like it has
paid off.

Another development is Microsoft’s “Buzz”. It is actually purely a

measure to figure out if people have listened to positive or negative
statements about the brand, it soared from 5.2 on 9 October to 23.7 in
a month. The campaign, featuring a caption “I’m a PC and Windows 7
was my idea”, was released on 22 October. However nothing is still too
sure and uncertainty looms large. This resulted with the Buzz rating
rose to 10.5, just the day before launch. Microsoft is upbeat to
establish Windows 7 as the best thing from its scheme of things before
Google launches its operating system Chrome.

OS
Real time

A real-time operating system (RTOS) is a multitasking operating

system intended for real-time applications. Such applications include
embedded systems (programmable thermostats, household appliance
controllers), industrial robots, spacecraft, industrial control (see
SCADA), and scientific research equipment.

A RTOS facilitates the creation of a real-time system, but does not

guarantee the final result will be real-time; this requires correct
development of the software. An RTOS does not necessarily have high
throughput; rather, an RTOS provides facilities which, if used properly,
guarantee deadlines can be met generally or deterministically (known
as soft or hard real-time, respectively). An RTOS will typically use
specialized scheduling algorithms in order to provide the real-time
developer with the tools necessary to produce deterministic behavior
in the final system. An RTOS is valued more for how quickly and/or
predictably it can respond to a particular event than for the amount of
work it can perform over a given period of time. Key factors in an RTOS
are therefore a minimal interrupt latency and a minimal thread
switching latency.

Multi tasking
In computing, multitasking is a method by which multiple tasks, also
known as processes, share common processing resources such as a
CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said
to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively
executing instructions for that task. Multitasking solves the problem by
scheduling which task may be the one running at any given time, and
when another waiting task gets a turn. The act of reassigning a CPU
from one task to another one is called a context switch.
Multi threading

In computer science, a thread of execution results from a fork of a

computer program into two or more concurrently running tasks. The
implementation of threads and processes differs from one operating
system to another, but in most cases, a thread is contained inside a
process. Multiple threads can exist within the same process and share
resources such as memory, while different processes do not share
these resources.

On a single processor, multithreading generally occurs by time-

division multiplexing (as in multitasking): the processor switches
between different threads. This context switching generally happens
frequently enough that the user perceives the threads or tasks as
running at the same time. On a multiprocessor or multi-core system,
the threads or tasks will generally run at the same time, with each
processor or core running a particular thread or task. Support for
threads in programming languages varies. A number of languages
support multiple threads but do not allow them to execute at the same
time. Examples of such languages include Python (at least the C
version, also known as CPython, but not IronPython or Jython), and
OCaml, because the parallel support of their runtime environment is
based on a central lock, called the "Global Interpreter Lock" in Python
and the "master lock" in Ocaml. Other languages may be limited
because they use threads that are user threads, which are not visible
to the kernel, and thus cannot be scheduled to run concurrently. On
the other hand, kernel threads, which are visible to the kernel, can run
concurrently.

Multi processing

Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units

(CPUs) within a single computer system. The term also refers to the
ability of a system to support more than one processor and/or the
ability to allocate tasks between them.[1] There are many variations on
this basic theme, and the definition of multiprocessing can vary with
context, mostly as a function of how CPUs are defined (multiple cores
on one die, multiple chips in one package, multiple packages in one
system unit, etc.).

Multiprocessing sometimes refers to the execution of multiple

concurrent software processes in a system as opposed to a single
process at any one instant. However, the terms multitasking or
multiprogramming are more appropriate to describe this concept,
which is implemented mostly in software, whereas multiprocessing is
more appropriate to describe the use of multiple hardware CPUs. A
system can be both multiprocessing and multiprogramming, only one
of the two, or neither of the two.

Multi-user is a term that defines an operating system or application

software that allows concurrent access by multiple users of a
computer. Time-sharing systems are multi-user systems. Most batch
processing systems for mainframe computers may also be considered
"multi-user", to avoid leaving the CPU idle while it waits for I/O
operations to complete. However, the term "multitasking" is more
common in this context.

An example is a Unix server where multiple remote users have access

(such as via Secure Shell) to the Unix shell prompt at the same time.
Another example uses multiple X Window sessions spread across
multiple terminals powered by a single machine - this is an example of
the use of thin client.

UNIX
computer science) An operating system that was designed for use with
microprocessors and with the C programming language, and that has
been adopted for use with several 16-bit-microprocessor
microcomputers.

MAC
Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user
interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. (formerly
Apple Computer, Inc.) for their Macintosh line of computer systems.
The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the
graphical user interface. The original form of what Apple would later
name the "Mac OS" was the integral and unnamed system software
first introduced in 1984 with the original Macintosh, usually referred to
simply as the System software.

MS WINDOWS

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and

graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first
introduced an operating environment named Windows in November
1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in
graphical user interfaces (GUIs).[1] Microsoft Windows came to
dominate the world's personal computer market, overtaking Mac OS,
which had been introduced previously. As of October 2009, Windows
had approximately 91% of the market share of the client operating
systems for usage on the Internet.[2][3][4] The most recent client version
of Windows is Windows 7; the most recent server version is Windows
Server 2008 R2.

Windows NT
was released in July 1993. It was originally designed to be a powerful
high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing,
multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was
intended to complement consumer versions of Windows that were
based on MS-DOS. NT was the first fully 32-bit version of Windows,
whereas its consumer-oriented counterparts, Windows 3.1x and
Windows 9x, were 16-bit/32-bit hybrids. Windows 2000, Windows XP,
Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Home Server, Windows
Server 2008 and Windows 7 are based on Windows NT, although they
are not branded as Windows NT

LINUX

Linux (commonly pronounced /ˈlɪnʌks/, LI-nuks in English[5][6], also

pronounced /ˈlɪnʊks/[7]) is a generic term referring to Unix-like
computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their
development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open
source software collaboration;[citation needed] typically all the underlying
source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed, both
commercially and non-commercially, by anyone under licenses such as
the GNU GPL.

Linux is predominantly known for its use in servers, although can be

installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from
embedded devices, mobile phones and even some watches[8] to
supercomputers.[9] Linux distributions, installed on both desktop and
laptop computers, have become increasingly commonplace in recent
years, partly owing to the popular Ubuntu distribution[10] and the
emergence of netbooks.[11]

The name "Linux" comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in
1991 by Linus Torvalds. The rest of the system usually comprises
components such as the Apache HTTP Server, the X Window System,
the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, and utilities and libraries
from the GNU Project (announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman).
Commonly-used applications with desktop Linux systems include the
Mozilla Firefox web-browser and the OpenOffice.org office application
suite. The GNU contribution is the basis for the Free Software
Foundation's preferred name GNU/Linux.[12][13]
Ubuntu

Ubuntu (pronounced /uːˈbuːntuː/),[2][3] is a computer operating system

based on the Debian Linux distribution. It is named after the Southern
African ethical ideology Ubuntu ("humanity towards others")[4] and is
distributed as free and open source software. Ubuntu provides an up-
to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong
focus on usability and ease of installation. Ubuntu has been selected
by readers of desktoplinux.com as the most popular Linux distribution
for the desktop, claiming approximately 30% of Linux desktop
installations in both 2006 and 2007.[5][6]

Ubuntu is composed of multiple software packages of which the vast

majority is distributed under a free software license (also known as
open source). The main license used is the GNU General Public License
(GNU GPL) which, along with the GNU Lesser General Public License
(GNU LGPL), explicitly declare that users are free to run, copy,
distribute, study, change, develop and improve the software. Ubuntu is
sponsored by the UK based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South
African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. By keeping Ubuntu free and
open source, Canonical is able to utilize the talents of community
developers in Ubuntu's constituent components. Instead of selling
Ubuntu for profit, Canonical creates revenue by selling technical
support and from creating several services tied to Ubuntu.