ADVANTAGES OF MAC OS: Macintosh computers offer easier, more versatile networking.

Every Macintosh since 1984 has included easy-to-use, built-in networking. The AppleTalk protocol allows you to connect a network of multiple Macintosh computers and printers together in just a few minutes. Every Macintosh includes simple and inexpensive LocalTalk networking, and most Macintosh computers also include industry standard Ethernet, a claim most PCs cannot make. And Macintosh computers can communicate with virtually any other computer, since TCP/IP is a standard protocol. Networking in the Windows world, however, can be difficult and confusing. For example, in Windows 95, you might see the "Network Neighborhood" icon even if you aren't connected to a network. And, though Windows 95 and Windows NT include networking capability, there is no guarantee that the computer has the hardware to support this, nor is it capable of being set up for networking as quickly as the Macintosh. The Macintosh computer's built-in SCSI port makes it easy to add peripherals. Today many users want to be able to quickly connect peripheral devices, such as scanners, external hard disk drives, and recordable CD-ROM drives. Macintosh computers allow access to such devices through the use of the built-in SCSI port, a standard feature on Macintosh computers for more than 10 years. The SCSI interface allows a user to simply connect a device such as a scanner to the Macintosh and use it within minutes. The average PC does not come with a SCSI port, so the PC user is left to struggle to add devices by installing complex SCSI cards. Utilities to uninstall applications are very popular for Windows. Macintosh users don't really need them. There is a reason why one of the most popular utilities on the Windows platform is uninstaller software. As it is installed, Windows software tends to scatter parts of itself all over a user's hard disk. Those parts can have cryptic names, such as "DWSPTDLL.DLL" or "W3CTRS.INI," making it impossible to determine whether a file is necessary. And while Windows 95 and Windows NT include an "Add/Remove Programs" feature, it doesn't always work for every program or get rid of all the correct files, or it tries to eliminate files that shouldn't be eliminated. Macintosh users know that deleting most Macintosh applications is as easy as dragging the application or its folder to the trash. If the application installed extensions or control panel files, the updated Extensions Manager in Mac OS 7.6 can locate them quickly, enabling you to easily disable and delete them.

Macintosh files stay linked to the applications that created them; with Windows, this isn't always the case. Double-clicking a Macintosh document icon automatically opens the application that created it - no matter where the application resides on your hard disk (or connected server) and no matter what the file is called. With Windows 95, it's not that simple. The association between applications and files is still governed by pathnames and the three character filename extension. That means that doubleclicking a document sometimes opens the application that created it and sometimes doesn't. The complexity of the Windows 95 and Windows NT Registries is a disadvantage compared with the Mac OS. Windows 95 and Windows NT both contain a "Registry," a complex text file that keeps track of OS settings. A single character in the wrong place in the Registry file can render Windows unusable. Because of Registry incompatibilities, upgrading Windows is not as easy as upgrading the Mac OS. For instance, it is not possible to upgrade an existing hard disk from Windows 95 to Windows NT because of differences in the Registry file. Resolving system-level problems on a Macintosh is easy when compared with editing the Windows Registry. End users calling for PC support are frequently directed to edit their system files to resolve problems, and any erroneous entries will often make the Windows based PC unusable. DISADVANTAGES OF MAC OS: Theyre only more secure because fewer people use them. If everybody used Macs, there would be a lot more viruses and malware for them. If Apple computers became more popular, they would become less secure. Cannot be upgraded/customized. There are upgrade options when you buy a Mac, but unlike a Windows PC, you cannot mix and match components. The easiest way to upgrade a Mac is to buy a new one. Price. Macs are very expensive. Even the cheapest laptop costs $999.99. Windows machines cost as little as $500. Playing games requires Windows. There are very few games available for the Mac. If you are a gamer, a Mac is probably not the best choice. You could run Bootcamp, but if you are going to spend most of your time on a Mac running Windows, you have to ask yourself if it is worth it. Another option (and the one I have taken) is to play games on a video game console, such as a PS3 or Wii, and simply use your computer for computing.

It requires adjustment. Its a Windows-based world. Most people are used to using Windows. Changing to a Mac requires that you get used to a number of differences. Some people are simply not willing to make that change.

ADVANTAGES OF LINUX OS:

Cost The most obvious advantage of using Linux is the fact that it is free to obtain, while Microsoft products are available for a hefty and sometimes recurring fee. Microsoft licenses typically are only allowed to be installed on a single computer, whereas a Linux distribution can be installed on any number of computers, without paying a single dime. Security In line with the costs, the security aspect of Linux is much stronger than that of Windows. Why should you have to spend extra money for virus protection software? The Linux operating system has been around since the early nineties and has managed to stay secure in the realm of widespread viruses, spyware and adware for all these years. Sure, the argument of the Linux desktop not being as widely used is a factor as to why there are no viruses. My rebuttle is that theLinux operating system is open source and if there were a widespread Linux virus released today, there would be hundreds of patches released tomorrow, either by ordinary people that use the operating system or by the distribution maintainers. We wouldnt need to wait for a patch from a single company like we do with Windows. Choice (Freedom) The power of choice is a great Linux advantage. With Linux, you have the power to control just about every aspect of the operating system. Two major features you have control of are your desktops look and feel by way of numerous Window Managers, and the kernel. In Windows, your either stuck using the boring default desktop theme, or risking corruption or failure by installing a third-party shell. Software - There are so many software choices when it comes to doing any specific task. You could search for a text editor on Freshmeat and yield hundreds, if not thousands of results. My article on 5 Linux text editors you should know about explains how there are so many options just for editing text on the command-line due to the open source nature of Linux. Regular users and programmers contribute applications all the time. Sometimes its a simple modification or feature enhancement of a already existing piece of software, sometimes its a brand new application. In addition, software on Linux tends to be packed with more features and greater usability than software onWindows. Best of all, the vast majority of Linux software is free and open source . Not only are you getting the software for no charge, but you have the option to modify the source code and add more features if you understand the programming language. What more could you ask for? Hardware - Linux is perfect for those old computers with barely any processing power or memory you have sitting in your garage or basement collecting dust. Install Linux and use it as a firewall, a file server, or a backup server. There are

endless possibilities. Old 386 or 486 computers with barely any RAM run Linux without any issue. Good luck running Windows on these machines and actually finding a use for them.

DISADVANTAGES OF LINUX OS:

Understanding Becoming familiar with the Linux operating system requires patience as well as a strong learning curve. You must have the desire to read and figure things out on your own, rather than having everything done for you. Check out the 20 must read howtos and guides for Linux. Compatibility Because of its free nature, Linux is sometimes behind the curve when it comes to brand new hardware compatibility. Though the kernel contributors and maintainers work hard at keeping the kernel up to date, Linux does not have as much of a corporate backing as alternative operating systems. Sometimes you can find third party applications, sometimes you cant. Alternative Programs Though Linux developers have done a great job at creating alternatives to popular Windows applications, there are still some applications that exist on Windows that have no equivalent Linux application. Read Alternatives to Windows Applications to find out some of the popular alternatives. Equivalent programs-While I gave the example before of an office suite of programs that is working well, there are still applications that do not exist in Linux. Thankfully, this list has become much more narrow in recent months. You will want to think carefully when you switch to Linux about what programs you currently use, and if they have Linux support for them. It may not make sense for you to switch if you are going to spend tons of time converting databases and application data. More technical ability needed-You will want to make sure that you train someone in Linux really well. Alternately, you could hire someone who has experience with Linux. A good Linux administrator needs to be on hand as you start to migrate your systems over. This is a disadvantage financially, at least in the beginning. You may find over time, however, that you only need a temporary administrator to handle the routine tasks.

ADVANTAGE OF WINDOWS OS : 1.Microsoft has made several advancements and changes that have made it a much easier to use Operating System, and although arguably it may not be the easiest Operating System, it is still Easier than Linux. 2.Because of the large amount of Microsoft Windows users, there is a much larger selection of available software programs, utilities, and games for Windows. 3.Microsoft Windows includes its own help section, has vast amount of available online documentation and help, as well as books on each of the versions of Windows. 4.Create Dynamic Intranet and Internet Web Sites-IIS 6.0, the Web server included in Windows Server 2003, provides enhanced security and a dependable architecture that offers application isolation and greatly improved performance. The result: higher overall reliability and uptime. And Microsoft Windows Media services makes it easy to build streaming media solutions with dynamic content programming as well as faster and more reliable performance. 5.Increase Document Protection and Availability via Intelligent File Storage With the new shadow copy restore feature, users can retrieve previous versions of files instantly, without requiring costly assistance from a support professional. Enhancements to the Distributed File System (DFS) and File Replication service (FRS) provide users with a consistent way to access their files wherever they are. DISADVANTAGE OF WINDOWS OS : 1.Microsoft Windows can run between $50.00 - $150.00 US dollars per each license copy. 2.Although Microsoft Windows has made great improvements in reliability over the last few versions of Windows, it still cannot match the reliability of Linux. 3.Although Windows does have software programs, utilities, and games for free, the majority of the programs will cost anywhere between $20.00 - $200.00+ US dollars per copy. 4.Although Microsoft has made great improvements over the years with security on their Operating System, their Operating System continues to be the most vulnerable to viruses and other attacks. 5.The reason for using linux os than windows os is that linux is more secure than windows while using internet.

ADVANTAGE OF WIN2000 SERVER: STABILITY Windows XP Home Edition is suitable for most novice users of computers in a home environment, as they are not likely to require some of the advanced features that XP Pro offers. However, you should bear in mind that it is less flexible in terms of configuration, so if you have any aspirations above simple email and web browsing, you should consider XP Pro instead. HARDWARE & SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY While many Win9x/ME/NT4 applications are compatible with Windows 2000/XP, the same is not necessarily true of drivers or utilities. This is because the low-level interaction of utilities and drivers with the OS can change between versions of the OS, and many changes have been made at the OS level in a concerted effort to improve stability. Another blessing with Win2K/XP is that you no longer have to rely on 3rd party tools for memory management,or for anti-crash protection, or any of that other mess that Win9x was so famous for. The only 3rd party tools you really need are anti-virus tools and defraggers (if you want more features than the native app offers). Beyond that, I would stay away from the "Disk Doctor" or "System Doctor" type products that vendors are going to want to carry over from Win9x. They're not needed in the least, and are likely to cause more grief than they solve. Because XP is based on 2000 (it's officially listed as NT 5.1) it will support many of the drivers that work under 2000 -- but not all of them. Thankfully, XP supports Driver Rollback, which will help you if you install a driver that the OS is not fond of. UPGRADING CONSIDERATIONS In most instances, unless you have taken very good care of your system under its current OS, you wont want to upgrade to the new OS -- you'll want to make clean installation.

This is particularly true of Win9x to anything, but upgrades from NT to 2000/XP or 2000 to XP are very easy to manage, and do not suffer from the typical loss of performance that you will likely experience when upgrading a Win9x system. If you are unsure of the proper approach to take,try dual-booting first, to get a feel for the new environment without losing all your settings. FEATURE SET Here is an overview of the functionality that XP Pro supports, but XP Home does not: Advanced Security ...... Advanced NTFS Permissions and User Rights Dynamic Disks .......... On-the-fly manipulation of Storage Domain Support ......... Allows Membership in an NT/2000/XP domain Group Policies ......... Allows Central Configuration of Policies EFS .................... Encrypted File System MultiLingual Support ... Change Dialog Boxes based on Language Offline Folders ........ File Synchronization for Mobile Systems Remote Desktop ......... Remote Control via Terminal Services SMP .................... Dual Processor support XP Home is a good bet for folks who never aspired to the feature set of Win2K Pro, and have no desire to set sophisticated access controls on their systems. If you share your system with multiple users, and you want to be able to lock things down outside the "Documents and Settings" area, then you *really* need to get XP Pro. XP Home is limited to 5 simultaneous inbound connections. In the event that you outgrow XP Home, it is a fairly painless upgrade to XP Pro -- be sure to disable AV software and other 3rd party utils. XP ADVANTAGES From my testing, XP has a number of advantages over Windows 2000, in particular, Remote Desktop. And it is vastly superior to all previous versions of Windows. Remote Desktop New, Improved HELP System Enhanced Application/Game compatibility Better Hibernation (and Power Management, in general) USB Storage Devices can be undocked without issue Better support for docking stations System Restore

 Driver Rollback Defrag has command line parameters (easy scheduling) Cool Interface (very subjective) Remote Assistance Support for secondary IP configuration Virtual Desktops (via PowerToys) Easy manipulation of images (via PowerToys) More, built-in commands (e.g. TASKLIST) Improved Command Shell capabilities Fast User Switching (not available in a domain, though) REGEDIT (now supports Permissions and MultiString) Visual Themes Files and Settings Migration Wizard ICF Proper Hyperthreading support Expanded NETSH functionality More built-in admin tools Support for IDE drives over 137GB DISADVANTAGE OF WIN2000 SERVER: Unlike Unix, Windows 2000 Server requires more system resource. You need a powerful machine to run Windows 2000 Server. The Windows 2000 Server does not have a good reputation in term of server stability. The Windows 2000 Server needs reboot more frequent than Unix. If you are using Windows 2000 Server hosting services, you may find yourself investing a lot of money in the development tools. Most of them are Microsoft products. The costs of applications that can run on your web site are usually higher than that of Unix. For example, you can find a lot of free scripts to run web board, chat room, web stats, email (and more) for your Unix-based web site, but you won't find many free applications in Windows 2000 Server world.

ADVANTAGE OF NETWARE: Depending on the version of NetWare, the HTTP and web application servers vary. With NetWare 6, both the older NetWare Enterprise Server web server and the Apache HTTP Server combined with the TOMCAT application server are supplied. NetWare strengths versus Unix: Administration advantages: - Use and integration of eDirectory/NDS. - Easier user account administration. - More flexible user access control features. - Easier to use and setup core OS services: - DHCP services (Applies to NetWare 5.1 and 6 only) - File services (Applies to all NetWare versions) - FTP services (Applies to NetWare 5.1 and 6 only) - HTTP services (Applies to NetWare 5.1 and 6 only) - Print services (Applies to all NetWare versions) - Remote administration services - Java and WWW standards based (Applies to NetWare 5.1 and 6 only) - More sophisticated file and print services. End user advantages: - Seamless, familiar and uniform end user interface of file and print services with Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP and newer Mac Operating System clients. - Support for multiple file systems:

- MS-DOS/PC-DOS (FAT 12 and FAT 16) (All versions of NetWare above 3.0) - Intel PC based long file naming systems - FAT32 (NetWare 4 and higher) - HPFS (Traditional NetWare volumes only) - NTFS (NetWare 4 and higher) - NFS (NetWare 5 and higher) - Apple MacIntosh file system (NetWare 3.10 and higher) - Single password used if the end user is using eDirectory/NDS to access network resources. - Web based access to both file and print services. - This is only currently available to Microsoft Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XPclient Operating System users in aNetWare 6 environment. - Native file access for Microsoft Windows98/Me/NT/2000/XP, Mac and NFS clients.(NetWare 5.1 add-on and NetWare 6 only) DISADVANTAGE OF NETWARE: Unix strength versus NetWare: Application serving: - Excluding Java based applications run on the host platform, Unix platforms generally offer a more robust host platform environment for running third party host based applications writen in other languages that are likely to misbehave from a memory management perspective. Kernel reconfiguration: - The ability to reconfigure kernel services at a very low level can provide greater scalabilty of the host operating system if the person doing the reconfiguration knows what they are doing. Process management: - Application priorities can be adjusted moreeasily than on NetWare. Scripting tools:

- Unix environments have more powerful text based processing tools and abilities available at the command prompt outside of using a any programming/scripting language based tool at the host's console. Depending on your viewpoint, they can be significant enough for you to abandon the idea of life as a contractor. When weighed against the advantages, an IT professional or a career changer can decide whether contracting is the way to go. Some of the disadvantages that I have encountered include elusive security, periodic downtimes, financial responsibilities, and travel. The last major disadvantage of life as an IT contractor is travel. Life as a contractor is often spent on the road in hotels, away from family. This can take a terrible toll on one's life. You can make a lot of money as a contractor, but you have to be aware of the time and emotional costs involved. I know of many people who spend 3050 weeks a year on the road. They have bank accounts that are unreal, but little in the way of family time. There is a way around that. If you live in a major city, contractors can often limit travel and make a good living by marketing themselves in their local city. I have avoided extensive travel by diversifying what I do and what I offer clients. Travel is often the straw that breaks the camel's back when an individual considers life as a contractor.

ADVANTAGE OF OS/2WARP SERVER: It is very stable; excellent GUI; can run DOS, Win3.1, and, thanks to the Odin Project, a growing number of Win32 programs; excellent Java support. DISADVANTAGE OF OS/2WARP SERVER: IBM appears to have quashed notions of a Warp 5 aka "Aurora" aka OS/2 Warp for e-business "fat client," so it's not clear whether its facilities, e.g. the journaling file system or SMP support will get to the rest of us; some peripheral/card makers tend to not bother to write device drivers for OS/2; Microsoft tends to try to break OS/2's ability to run Windows software, as evidenced by Win32s 1.30--I don't doubt that they'll try it again if Project Odin succeeds.

ONLINE VOTING SYSTEM: Title of the project Online Voting System Abstract of the project On-line Voting System is a web based system that facilitates the running of elections and surveys online. This system has been developed to simplify the process of organizing elections and make it convenient for voters to vote remotely from their home computers while taking into consideration security, anonymity and providing auditioning capabilities. Users are individuals who interact with the system. All user interaction is performed remotely through the user's web browser. Users are categorized into three classes: Administrator, Returning Officers and Voters. A running version of the system will have only one Administrator but it typically has multiple returning officers and voters. The administrator is responsible for managing user accounts, polls, system resources and logs and for the health and safekeeping of the system. Returning officers have the responsibility of managing a poll as assigned by the administrator, whereas voters only have the ability to submit ballots on polls in which they are admitted. Online Voting Project Technical Modification of the Voting System: The previous voting system included the following steps: -Registration of Voting -Issue of Voting Documents -Voting phase -Request of blinded Voter Signature - Issue of blinded Voting Register Signature -Delivery of the Vote -Confirmation of Ballot Box -Confirmation for Register of Voters - Confirmation of Register of Voters -Initiate counting -Receipt Votes for counting The project entails the physical and administrative separation of the voting register and the ballot box. The Validator element provides the electronic voter register and the Ballot Box which contains the electronic ballot box used in the system .There is a need for Separated storage of persistent dates is a problem in the server. The identity of the people is strictly separated in the communication time.

The voting protocol has five main players: 1) Voting Client present in a home, in a working station, or a polling booth 2) Mix Net The mix net separates the identity of the user , randoms the order and encrypts the vote. 3)Tallier This part counts the encrypted votes. 4)Validator It provides the proof that the voter is authorized 5) Bulletin Board It is the database for all the participants. visit this pd for details: http://www.e-voting.cc/static/evoting/fi...Voting.pdf This page has an online voting system: http://kenai.com/projects/voting-system There is also details in these threads: http://www.seminarprojects.com/Thread-on...al-polling

ONLINE NATIONAL POLLING: Online National Polling Objective The aim of the project is to create and manage polling and election details like general user details, nominated users, election and result details efficiently.

Existing System It is manual system. Complexity in Management of Polling Station. The existing system may not provide security to Polling Station. Maintain nominee, filed officers, user details is risky tasks. This system is not providing secure registration and profile management of all the users properly. Proposed System The development of this new system contains the following activities, which try to automate the entire process keeping in the view of database integration approach. Automates information related to polling stations. Avoid mismanagement (verify users profiles, accept, reject users). We can maintain all type of users details properly. Rich user interface. Modules Description 1. Commissioner and Field Officers Modules: In this module the role of commissioner is to maintain the field officers and take responsibility of users request to make forward to Field Officers and he has privileges to accept or reject the nominees requests who can participates in election. 2. Users Registration Modules: This module a general user is willing to participates in voting then first he has to make request to commissioner by filling registration form. After getting the permissions he will get a username, password, using that username, password he/she attends in election. 3. Constituency and Zone Modules In this specified module the commissioner is enter the details of each constituency and zone details. Total area is divided into zones and each zone contain many constituencies to select the nominated persons. 4. Party and Nominations Modules In this election the members/nominees whose participating in election may belongs to a particular party and each party contain its own party symbol, agenda/manifesto and campaigns. The persons (nominated) who participating in election may belongs to party. 5. Election and result Modules In this module nominated peoples are participating in election and based on the users who participates in polling the nominated person will be elected.

Users of System A. Commissioner B. Filed Officer C. Nominee D. User E. Normal Users Software Requirements Operating System : Windows XP/2003 or Linux User Interface : HTML, CSS Client-side Scripting : JavaScript Programming Language : Java Web Applications : JDBC, Servlets, JSP IDE/Workbench : My Eclipse 6.0 Database : Oracle 10g Server Deployment : Tomcat 5.x Hardware Requirements Processor : Pentium IV Hard Disk : 40GB RAM : 512MB or more