What is an OS?! What is it for and how does it work? An OS is an operating system which is the computer software that manages the computer hardware. The operating system is for applications as most applications will need and OS on the computer to work. The operating system works by managing these 6 categories:

Strengths and weaknesses of MAC OS: MAC OS is an operating system de-

Windows 7 – Strengths/ Advantages

veloped by Apple Inc. for the Macintosh computer system. From 1984 to 2000 it was called the classic Mac OS and from 2001 to present it was renamed MAC OS X and now just OS X. It is a Unix-like operating system based on the NeXT STEP operating system. The original core system software was held on a ROM with updates provided by Apple dealers. The earliest version of Mac OS was only compatible with the Motorola 68000. MAC OS 8.1 was the last version that was able to run on a “68K” processor.



Customisable



Compatible with most hardware.



Compatible with most software.



Quite easy & quick to install.



Processor management.

OS X is the latest version of apple’s OS, it’s the successor of MAC OS 9 and classic MAC OS. There



Has both 32bit & 64bit editions.



Memory management.

have been ten releases of OS X, the most recent being 10.9 also known as Mavericks. Before 10.9



Sleek user friendly OS



Device management.

was 10.8 which came with the mountain lion package and before 10.7 which came with the lion



Fast and stable OS.



Storage management

package and so on until 10.0 which came with the cheetah package.



Good security built in.



Application interface.



User interface.

Comparing windows 7 and MAC OS strengths and weaknesses:

Windows 7 – Weaknesses/ Disadvantages

The operating system Windows 7 has much better software compatibility than MAC OS X for example



Bulky on the HD

Microsoft office 2010, on windows 7 you have a large verity of office programs like Excel 2010, Word



Expensive

What is Windows 7: Windows 7's new features are advances in touch

2010, Access 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Publisher 2010, Outlook 2010. Whereas MAC OS



Only the high end computers can install

and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved

X only supports Excel 2011, Word 2011, PowerPoint 2011 and Outlook 2011. This shows that Windows

the windows 7 and it can be used only in

performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance as

7 is better for software compatibility than MAC OS X. Windows 7 desktop is more organized than MAC

highly configured systems.

well as support for systems using multiple non-related graphic cards.

OS X’s desktop, yet they are both quite easy to use. Although if you’re a person who does not care

There were also improvements to the control panel with new items be-

about how organized a desktop is then MAC OS X is a good choice but if you care about organization

ing added etc.

then Windows 7 is the one to get.

MAC OS - Strengths/ Advantages

Some features were removed before the release of Windows 7 such as

MAC OS X has more pre-installed programs than Windows 7, but Windows 7 is better with programs



Very fast

some Windows Explorer features, a few toolbar features and a couple of

that are not pre-installed programs because developers create more programs for Windows 7 than



More robust

applications which were bundled in the Windows Vista, the Windows 7’s

MAC OS X because of Microsoft’s Direct X for example games are better to play on windows 7 than MAC OS X



User friendly

predecessor.

because of the Direct X installed on the windows 7 OS. MAC OS X has a better verity of Media programs than Win-



Good security

The most useful feature of Windows 7 is the Aero Snap that automatical-

dows 7, MAC OS X’s media programs can do a lot more than what windows live can do which is on the operating

ly maximises a window when it is dragged to the top of the screen. Drag-

system windows 7. MAC OS X even has its own store to buy media ranging from TV shows to albums to films these

ging windows to the left/right edges of the screen allows users to snap

can all be bought on the app store, whereas windows does not provide this service.

MAC OS - Weaknesses/ Disadvantages

documents or files on either side of the screen for comparison between

Resources:

windows, such that the windows vertically take up half the screen. Ad-

Accessed on 23/10/2013

ditionally, there is a feature called Aero Peek that allows users to hide or

http://www.gameinformer.com/blogs/members/b/apricot_blog/archive/2012/10/14/windows-7-vs-mac-os-x-

show all visible windows on screen when a button is pressed, which is

lion-which-operating-system-is-better.aspx

Strengths and weaknesses of Windows 7:

located next to the system clock.



Difficult to theme



Limited preferences



Problems have to be taken to an apple store



Hard to convert to windows Chris Gardner