Rian Booyer
Professor Terance Carlson
CISS 370 DEA – Operating Systems
3/02/2018
Hmm I think I Need to Limit My Category Intake, My Pants Won’t Fit
Introduction
Well it’s that time again to talk about operating systems and this time we have three different categories we are going to approach: Stand-Alone, Network, and Embedded Operating systems.
Now like me you may be wondering about the categories because there are so many ways to categorize operating systems these days because so many have been produced for specific or nonspecific jobs so let’s try to define our categories shall we.
Stand-Alone Single-User operating systems tend to be single-user operating systems where a single person operates the computer at one time in either a single-task or multi-task environment. Many operating systems that are in use today for home users designed by companies such as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X are examples of Stand-Alone operating systems (1). Now I know the question you are thinking is “Can’t Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X have multiple users and be included into a network either at home or at work?”. The answer is yes to that question because the years since the days of programming computers by proprietary means are over and with the need for networks to be in the home to share files, print to network printers, and share the internet which didn’t really exist back in the days of the Commodore 64, so yes modern Stand-Alone operating systems are programed to be multi-user as far as who can login and use local resources blurs the line between Stand-Alone and Multi-User Network operating systems. The main difference between Stand-Alone single/multi (local) user operating systems and Network Multi-User operating systems is the fact that in a Network Multi-User operating system the key component is the network.
As mentioned earlier in the Stand-Alone Single-User category the big difference between the Stand-Alone Single-User and Network Multi-User is the network involved in connecting the users together. A Network Multi-User operating system allows many users connected by a network to access resources on the network as well as having the option to interact with each other in some fashion (1).
Embedded operating systems on the other hand are designed not to be installed on a regular computer that you and I use every day but are actually designed into a product and according to Stallings are “designed to perform a dedicated function” and “In many cases…are part of a larger system or product” (2, pg 572).
Now that the basic definitions of these categories are out of the way let’s get into some more details.
Stand-Alone Single-User Operating Systems
As stated earlier these systems are basically what a consumer end-user would use in their home or even in their office for basic word processing needs and indeed when computers started becoming common in the workplace they were Stand-Alone Single-user machines that really had only a few purposes and uses for. According to BBC magazine a Xerox researcher by the name of George E Pake in 1975 made a more accurate prediction than Thomas Watson’s of IBM in 1943. Pake believed that over the next two decades computers would resemble a “television display terminal” and would have the capability of “call[ing] up documents from my files on the screen, or by pressing a button…I can get my mail or any messages.” (3). This was of course in a different time then when Watson supposedly made the prediction that there would be a market of maybe five computers which some sites claim to be a tech prediction disaster; however, neither geekHistory.com nor I have been able to find a source for this quote (4).
Indeed Pake’s predictions were almost prophetic since over the next 20 years computers did in fact get smaller, started to use an optical display to give output to the user, allow the user to perform word processing using a computer console instead of a typewriter, and eventually the internet came about letting us send messages to one another through the magic of cyberspace instead of through the postal system and has all but eliminated the written letter to ask grandma how she is feeling and ask for her fabulous pie recipes. Now you just text her on her phone and she just pops them over to you in an email. Many people just go to a web browser and punch in a search for pie recipes on Google search and off to the store for the supplies.
One thing to discuss is examples of these operating systems that have gone into the computers. As mentioned earlier many modern operating systems are designed where they could easily be Stand-Alone Single-User operating systems but be converted into a Network Multi-User operating system easily and many if not most homes now have networks built into them even for the simple use of sharing the internet to multiple devices either running an operating system such as Microsoft Windows on a personal computer to having a phone running an embedded operating system like Google’s Android or Macintosh’s IOS for iPhone.
Before these operating systems became a sort of hybrid between Stand-Alone and Network Operating systems there were a few that were Stand-Alone only. I am going to keep these examples to the basics that the Stand-Alone operating systems were not designed for network usage except with add on software similar to Novell NetWare. These operating systems included the different flavors of DOS (Disk Operating System) that has been owned by several companies including Xerox and Microsoft, Early versions of Microsoft Windows (up to NT versions and versions after the 9x series) where even though you could add Novell Netware in to authenticate users all it added was assignment of networked drives and printers and some networkable software at the time. Unfortunately for me this is where I must stop because finding information on Stand-Alone single user operating systems has become almost impossible to do since the hybridization to Single/Multi-User Stand-Alone/Network Operating Systems happened with operating systems like Microsoft Windows NT and Macintosh Mac OSX.
Network Multi-User Operating Systems
Since the key word here is network I’m going to start there. As I mentioned above a Network Multi-User Operating System is an operating system that is operated by many users and connected to a network of some fashion to share resources and interact with other users on the network. Many of these operating systems include four management functions of a network such as the memory management, process scheduling, file management, and device management plus they are responsible for the network communication functions such as handling protocols for communication between the different workstations and servers on the network. Network operating systems can run applications as other operating systems can but the main focus is on the sharing of resources available on the workstation (if acting as a server for some resources) or on the server itself. Many of the functions a network operating system uses basically go to sleep if the system is not being used as a server or as a workstation accessing a server (5 pg 345)
Now it used to be that when you selected a network multi-user operating system you were limited to a specific brand of operating systems, if you used windows server it wouldn’t talk to a Macintosh operating system for example but as the demand for having more choice and the availability of conflicting operating systems and even system architectures. For Example, when I was a computer service technician at a local computer company we did service calls to a local newspaper. The newspaper used Microsoft Windows on its server and most of the workstations because most of the employees were familiar with how Microsoft Windows works because they use them on their home machines, however, the editorial staff used Macintosh computers running Mac OSX because they felt that the software that Macintosh offered for word processing and photo editing was far superior than the software available on a Microsoft Windows workstation. Even though they used two different operating systems they were able to use the same network servers because newer versions of the operating systems were coded with support to allow them to work together in a mixed operating system network (6).
Embedded Operating Systems
Many Embedded Operating Systems exist today and in so many devices. In my house alone, I can see several dozen devices from where I sit that operate with these types of operating systems. Being embedded the operating system must be coded to not only be able to run with limited resources, able to be adaptable for many different devices or types of devices but also have a lot of flexibility in how they can retrieve and store information (2 pg 573-574).
With the internet almost everywhere and bandwidth availability constantly on the rise the prevalence for devices with embedded operating systems has exploded in the last decade and has even had a term called “The internet of things” that states that anything that can have an operating system must have an operating system (7). When I mentioned I could see several dozen devices from where I am sitting I am not kidding, let me just list a few: Netgear router running its internal operating system to route information on my network and allow wireless internet access and security services to my network, three phones each running a flavor of Android’s embedded operating system as well as one tablet running Android, a Nvidia Shield Android TV box to serve applications for entertainment, a dell printer with an embedded operating system to not only handle print operations but an internal web server to change the settings on the printer remotely from a workstation in the house, my uncles pacemaker that wirelessly sends data to his doctor about how his heart is functioning and how often it has to shock his heart back into rhythm. Now remember this is just one room and I didn’t even list all the devices. Does this remind you of Skynet anyone?
In conclusion I’ve talked about the categories but the real truth is that in the future the blurred lines between these three categories are going to get even blurrier. I would estimate within the next twenty or so years there probably won’t be much difference between the operating systems at all because even now corporations are looking to use mainly portable embedded systems such as tablets to do all of the day to day business and computing needs of their users. It’s already happening in my area where you can go to a local lumber yard and your purchase is made at a cashier that looks up everything you need and takes your money then the information is sent to the different departments to fulfill your needs for everything from masonry, lumber, even a complete bathroom is brought out (albeit in pieces…assembly is still required).
Works Cited
- Unknown Author, “Different Types of Operating Systems”, Differencebetween.info, unknown writing date, http://www.differencebetween.info/different-types-of-operating-system , Accessed 2nd March 2018
- Stallings, William. Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles. Eighth ed., Pearson, 2018.
- Unknown Author, “How the computer changed the office forever”, BBC.com Magazine, 1 August 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23509153 , Accessed 2nd March 2018
- Unknown Author, “Urban Legend: I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”, geekhistory.com, http://geekhistory.com/content/urban-legend-i-think-there-world-market-maybe-five-computers , Accessed 2nd March 2018
- McHoes, Ann McIver. Understanding Operating Systems. Cengage Learning, 2013.
- Anthony, “ Using Multiple Operating Systems On The Same Network” remoteutilities.com, 8th January 2014, https://www.remoteutilities.com/about/blog/Remote_Utilities/UsingMultipleOperatingSystemsontheSameNetwork/ . accessed 2nd March 2018
- Morgan, Jacob. “A Simple Explanation Of ‘The Internet Of Things’.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 20 Apr. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-explanation-internet-things-that-anyone-can-understand/#678617ae1d09 , accessed 2nd March 2018