Comparison of operating systems
The following table compares general and technical information for a number of operating systems. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.
The table specifically does not include subjective viewpoints on the merits of each operating system. For this kind of information, please see operating system advocacy.
| Operating System: | Windows XP | Windows 2000 | Mac OS X | Mac OS | Fedora Core (Linux) | SUSE Linux | FreeBSD | NetBSD | OpenBSD | Solaris | BeOS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Microsoft | Microsoft | Apple | Apple | Fedora Project | SUSE | The FreeBSD Project | The NetBSD project | OpenBSD project | Sun | Be | ||
| First public release date | October 2001 | February 2000 | March 2001 | January 1984 | November 2003 | March 1994 | December 1993 | May 1993 | October 1995 | July 1992 | November 1996 | ||
| Predecessor | Windows 2000 | Windows NT | OPENSTEP | None1 | Red Hat Linux | Slackware | 386BSD | 386BSD | NetBSD | SunOS | None | ||
| General | |||||||||||||
| Stable version | SP2 | SP4 | 10.3 (Panther) | 9.2 | 3 | 9.2 | 5.3 | 1.6.2 | 3.6 | 10 | 5.03 | ||
| Cost (US Dollars) | $184 (Home) $279 (Pro) | ? | $129 or bundled | Free (http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html) up to 7.5.5, 9.2 is $20 for Mac OS X owners | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free for noncommercial use | $49 Professional, Free Personal | ||
| Preferred License2 | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary Partially open source (APSL) | Proprietary | GPL | GPL | BSD | BSD | BSD | Proprietary | Proprietary | ||
| Target Audience | Home and Business Desktop | Business Desktop, Server | Artists, Designers, Home Desktop, Music creators | Artists, Designers, Home Desktop | Home Desktop, Enthusiast | Server, Home Desktop, Enthusiast | Server, Enthusiast | Server, Enthusiast | Server, Enthusiast | Server, Business Desktop | Home Desktop, Media creators | ||
| Technical | |||||||||||||
| Kernel type | Microkernel/ Monolithic hybrid | Microkernel/ Monolithic hybrid | Microkernel/ Monolithic hybrid (XNU) | Nanokernel | Module-loading monolithic (Linux) | Module-loading monolithic (Linux) | Module-loading monolithic | Monolithic | Monolithic | Module-loading Monolithic | Microkernel/ Monolithic hybrid | ||
| Default file system | NTFS | NTFS/FAT32 | HFS+ | HFS/HFS+ | ext3 | Reiserfs | UFS2 | UFS | UFS | UFS | BFS | ||
| Other major file systems supported | FAT, ISO 9660, UDF | ISO 9660, UDF | UFS, AFP, ISO 9660, FAT, UDF, NFS | ISO 9660, UDF | ext2, Reiserfs, FAT, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS | ext2, ext3, JFS, XFS, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS | ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS | ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, NFS | ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, NFS | ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS, ZFS | ext2, FAT, NTFS, UDF, ISO 9660, HFS | ||
| Architectural support (first, primary platform) | x86, | x86, | PPC | PPC | x86, x86-64 | x86, IA64, x86-64, PPC | x86, Alpha, x86-64, IA64, MIPS, PC98, SPARC64 | x86, 40+ others | x86, Alpha, x86-64, HP3000, PA-RISC, Mac/VME 68k, VME 88k, PPC, SPARC, SPARC64, VAX | SPARC, x86 | x86, PPC | ||
| Default online OS update tool | Windows Update | Windows Update | Software Update | Software Update | up2date | YAST | By source (CVSup) | By source (CVS) or (FTP) | By source (CVS) or (FTP) | ? | SoftwareValet | ||
| Default package management/ software installation tool | Setup executable, Microsoft Installer | Setup executable, Microsoft Installer | Installer | Apple Installer | yum | RPM, YAST | packages, ports tree | packages (pkg_add), pkgsrc tree | packages (pkg_add), ports tree | System V packages (pkgadd) | SoftwareValet | ||
| Main API and language for GUI applications | Win32 MFC .NET | Win32 MFC .NET | Cocoa/Application Kit Carbon | Carbon | Various (no default) | Various (no default) | Various (no default) | Various (no default) | Various (no default) | Various (no default) | Be API | ||
| Main API and language for textual/CLI applications | Win32 MFC .NET | Win32 MFC .NET | Cocoa/Foundation Kit with Objective-C | N/A | LSB with C, various other (POSIX conforming) | LSB with C, various other (POSIX conforming) | BSD with C, various other (POSIX conforming) | BSD with C, various other (POSIX conforming) | BSD with C, various other (POSIX conforming) | SysV with C, various other (POSIX conforming) | Be API with C++ (POSIX conforming) | ||
| Features | |||||||||||||
| Graphics software and capabilites3 | Kernel based | Kernel based | User level: Quartz Compositor | Kernel based | User program: X Window System | User program: X Window System | User program: X Window System | User program: X Window System | User program: X Window System | User program: X Window System | User/Kernel hybrid: Applications Server | ||
| Default Filesystem Browser</sup> | Windows Explorer | Windows Explorer | Finder | Finder | Nautilus | Konqueror | N/A | N/A | N/A | CDE file manager or Nautilus | Tracker | ||
| Default desktop environment | Windows Explorer | Windows Explorer | Quartz Compositor, Finder & Dock | Finder | GNOME | KDE | N/A | N/A | N/A | CDE or GNOME | Tracker | ||
| Default window manager | win32k.sys | win32k.sys | Quartz Compositor | Mac toolbox | Metacity | kwin | twm (not installing GNOME/KDE at install) | twm | fvwm | dtwm (for CDE), Metacity for GNOME | Applications Server | ||
| Default GUI styling | Luna-styled interface | Classic-styled interface | Aqua | Platinum | Bluecurve theme | plastik theme | twm default (not installing GNOME/KDE at install) | twm default | fvwm default | CDE/Gnome | Applications Server default. | ||
| Operating System: | Windows XP | Windows 2000 | Mac OS X | Mac OS | Fedora Core (Linux) | SUSE Linux | FreeBSD | NetBSD | OpenBSD | Solaris | BeOS | ||
Notes
1 Although Lisa OS ran on the same microprocessor and was being developed at the same time by the same company as Mac OS, very little code was shared between the two. [1] (http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Hungarian.txt)
2 Most OS distributions include bundled software with various other licenses.
3 Graphics software is either kernel-based or can run as a user-level program.
See also
Reference
- Operating system comparisons (http://www.commercialventvac.com/~jeffs/OS_comparison.html)
- Rosetta Stone for Unix (http://bhami.com/rosetta.html)
es:Comparación de sistemas operativos