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What is an Operating System?
A review of the Los Angeles Computer Society January 2007 General Meeting Presented by Stephanie Nordlinger, Vice President, LACS
Written by Charlotte Semple, President, Los Angeles Computer Society, CA
www.lacspc.org
editor(at)lacspc.org

Stephanie asked the group, “What is an operating system?” An operating system (OS) is the guts of what makes a computer work – the ground upon which programs are built. An OS is the software that underlies all other programs that you install into your computer. Your programs will not install and cannot be run without an OS. 

Brief History of PC Operating Systems
Stephanie first came into the business during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s when people were using CP/M operating systems for their microcomputers. In 1981 IBM produced the first PC (Personal Computer) which was run by DOS (Disk Operating System). Several manufacturers including IBM and Microsoft offered several versions of DOS. MS (Microsoft) DOS continued through version 6.2. It did not have a graphical interface, and one had to be VERY careful to enter data on the command line correctly or nothing happened, or, worse yet, something that you did not want to have happen happened.  

After a few years, MS produced Windows 3.0, the first OS with a graphical user interface (GUI). You could now click on things instead of having to type every command. It did not work very well. Some months later, MS produced Windows 3.1, which did work and was a commercial success. In 1995 MS produced Windows 95, followed by Windows 98, Windows NT and Windows 2000 , Windows XP Home and Professional in 2001, and Windows Media Center in 2002. 

Stephanie was not able to install Vista Releases Candidate 1 on the LACS Toshiba laptop that was purchased in July 2006 and supposed to be Vista Compatible. It still might be, possibly by the end of January, when Vista’s shipping version is released. At this point, neither Microsoft nor Toshiba has not written or released software to make the video capability of the LACS laptop work with the video of the RC-1version of Vista. Microsoft did provide a large and wonderful book on Vista for Stephanie to use. Some parts of Vista are already available to people: Internet Explorer 7 and Microsoft Media Center. One does not have to buy Vista in order to have these two programs and some of the other features of Vista.   

Vista has a peculiar graphical interface; it can do 3-dimensional images of different pages of open windows that one is working in; part of the first or open page of each window is presented on the screen, instead of a list of the windows at the bottom of the screen.  However, the windows move a little too fast. Vista also has weird glassy shiny wavy see-through lines running through the pages, which can be quite annoying and takes up a lot of hardware to run. Many computers are not set up with sufficient hardware, particularly new video cards, to cope with this feature, or with Vista itself. Many do have enough RAM and speed, but not the video capability to run Vista.

Editions of Vista
The editions are designed for different types of customers:
Emerging Market - Is designed for those persons who do not have a state-of-the-art computer and who need something inexpensive.  It is not available in the U.S. The American versions are:
Home Basic – has very few new features but presumably better security than XP Home.
Home Premium – is designed to be an equivalent to Windows XP as it is now with new Vista graphics and security features.
Ultimate – is designed for persons who have computers at home, which are used as home and business computers. They would have a Media Center, more graphics, and special information designed for home based businesses.  
Business – is designed especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
Enterprise – is designed for very large corporations that need to do massive amounts of data base activities. 
Not all versions have the features that Stephanie discussed this evening. There is some integration with Office 2007, which MS is releasing at the end of January 2007.

Installation
Microsoft offers and encourages you to use a pre-installation assessment program to see how Vista ready your computer is: “Vista Compatible” vs. Vista premium ready vs. not suitable for installation of Vista.  The program, Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, is on MS’s website. It only runs with Windows XP, not Windows 98 or 2000. In the report including a Task List, it says what it thinks about your computer’s capabilities and whether you need to do something before trying to install Vista. Stephanie installed and ran it on the LACS Laptop and her home office computer. It ran quickly and easily.

When Stephanie originally ran it, the program did not catch the fact that the LACS Laptop does not have a proper interface between its 128 MB of video RAM, which is supposed to be enough, marginally enough, and Vista, which requires at least 128 MB of video RAM. It reported that two files on the LACS Toshiba laptop were not compatible and that many others (mostly utilities) would need upgrading. This new Toshiba laptop is supposed to be Vista Compatible!  It did NOT say that the VIDEO RAM was insufficient to install Vista – which, many hours and half a dozen attempts later, seemed to be the case. Toshiba may, or may not, be able to correct this. 

Toshiba, like other manufacturers, is trying to get its various computers ready for Vista, and they are chasing a moving target – Vista is going through at least 5 versions, including the shipping version. Even when the shipping version comes out, you will need to go to the MS website to update Vista because MS needs lead time to do the shipping, and MS will not have it all together by the time they send Vista to be manufactured.  
   
Advice:  Buy a computer with Vista installed – don’t try to upgrade a computer if you can avoid it.
You will still have to move your files though. Vista has a program within it to move your personal settings and files. It will NOT move programs. These will have to be re-installed from the original CDs, and then you will have to go to the individual vendor’s websites for any service pack or upgrades they had since you first bought their product. Many will wait until the Vista SP-1 is released to be sure most of the bugs are gone.

The Most Important Improvements 
1.   Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7)
IE 7 has a different, more compact menu bar that can disappear to give you more “real estate” (screen display).  It still has most of what was in IE 6: Pop-up protection, Spell Checker, etc. IE 7 is trying to be up-to-date with the new electronic “stuff, including RSS feeds.  IE 7 will condense a too-wide web page so that it can be printed correctly, where IE6 often left off the edge of a web page. Occasionally, IE 7 will over- condense a web page and print it in very small type. If you use the print preview function, you can see how the condensed page will appear and adjust the font size if it seems too small, before printing.  

IE 7 also can save a favorite group of tabs, so that if you wish to bring up several websites at the same time all you have to do is click on the one Favorite. For example, if you are doing investments and you want the Morningstar, Fidelity and Vanguard websites all available to you at a click, you don’t have to go in and out typing in a URL each time. Instead, you can click the one Favorite and you will get the desired web pages with tabs to click as you need them.

2. Windows Media Center and Media Player
Media Center is included in XP Pro and XP Media Center (2002). Media Player v. 11 (for music) is available as a free download from Microsoft. Media Center is an excellent product for downloading and playing TV, videos, music, etc. Your computer running Vista can interface with most electronic devices. It has great graphical capabilities, allowing you to do absolutely beautiful graphics, work with photos, etc. 

With Vista Home Premium or Ultimate (but not with the other versions without third party stuff), you can enjoy TV, music, photos, videos, home movies and on-line entertainment on your PC. With a TV Tuner and your PC, you can watch, pause, and record TV. With dual tuner support you can watch a pre-recorded program while recording another live program. With Media Center extenders, like the MS X-Box 360, you can extend the Media Center to other rooms in your home. You can also enjoy your Media Center “on the go” using Windows Mobile “Windows Plays For Sure” devices. Windows Media Center has limited digital imaging and editing of photographs – a third party program will do a better job. 

3. Improved Explorer Menus and Dialog Boxes
Vista’s graphics are designed for digital screens instead of CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes), but they will work on both. Vista has a new Aero Technology, with Aero Glass, a 3-D technology whereby you can have several images on the screen, one placed over another, all transparent (see-through glass), and sometimes with the transparent wavy line patterns that I spoke of earlier. The quality of the graphics is much better because you have better equipment, but I would choose to run Vista without the Aero floating lines experience.  

4. Clear Type and New Sans Serif Web Fonts 
Clear Type is type rendering that is optimized for flat LCD screens. While available in XP, it is turned on by default in Vista. There are six new sans serif fonts in Vista and Office 2007, with recommendations of which ones are appropriate for different kinds of activity. Using them is said to save 5% of your reading time, which is not insignificant, namely 24 minutes in an 8-hour day.

5. Gadgets
Screens are wider than they used to be and you don’t really need to use the whole screen to work in. With Explorer, you can have a movable column on the far left or right of the screen. It is used for your gadgets such as a clock, a weather report, calculator, mini files or Post-Its, etc. These functions are quickly accessible without having to open a browser or full program.  

6. Improved Security
How many security features you get depends upon which version of Vista you are using. All have automatic backup and restore, and automatic defragmentation. MS has redesigned ActiveX Files, limiting what they can do as a protection against malicious persons. They can’t wreck your computer as much as they could previously wreck it. 

Vista contains Windows Defender (a free download from MS that also runs on XP) that is designed to avoid malware (mostly spyware). Similar programs are available for little or no cost. You will probably still need a new version of third party anti-virus software or a subscription to Microsoft’s Windows One Care ($50.00 a year). Third party anti spyware venders are aware of Vista and will produce Vista versions of their products. 

The Vista Business version has some new tools that give you peace of mind that all the important data on your PC is protected automatically. The Windows Security Center puts all your essential security settings in one easy-to-find location to help protect your data. Although there is a lot of protection available against viruses and worms, threats continue to evolve as hackers become more sophisticated. Vista includes an anti-phishing filter for e-mail and websites (which load rather slowly if you use it).
  
Vista also has parental controls, which can control when a child is allowed to use the computer, what he or she may do and where he or she may visit. This previously required third party software.

7. Improved Linkage to Other Electronic Devices
You can sync your device with multiple computers and can use a MS Xbox 360 in the living room with the content on your computer elsewhere on your home network. Vista includes DVD creation software, so you may not need another CD or DVD creator program.

8. SuperFetch
SuperFetch searches for files anywhere on your computer. But to make full use of this, you have to index each file – i.e. provide key words, dates, authors, etc.   You have to provide key words for your photos since photos do not index themselves. File indexing is already available via Copernic (free downloadable software).

9. Automated Pre-Tech Support Data Collection
This allows for shorter calls to in-house or external support. It keeps track of what you have done so that if you have to call tech support, you don’t have to tell them all of the background data, including what program you’ve just installed that you have totally forgotten about which caused your system to crash. This program is designed to give faster tech support so neither you nor the tech support person has to lose a lot of precious time in trying to solve your problem. 

Vista facilitates IT management by allowing a company’s chief IT person to selectively turn off things that have changed and selectively turn them back on – to ease the learning curve for employees. Vista is also allegedly more reliable and fixable at a distance.  Networks are apparently easier to set up also; this was very difficult in previous versions of Windows.

10. New .XPS Document Format
“You can transform on-screen content into a document that can be easily viewed, printed, full text searched and securely protected and authenticated with the latest rights management and “digital signature technologies.” This is done using the new open XPS document format. Office 2007 users will have the option of “Save as XPS” file. There is also a Vista Compatibility wizard for XP files.
 
11. Other Features
Vista includes Windows Speech Recognition software, but Stephanie could not find any reports on this and does not know how it compares with available third party software.

Vista includes Ready Boost, which is a great feature. It allows a particular kind of thumb drive with special technology and a program to be recognized and used as extra RAM. If your computer (especially a laptop) needs more RAM, this is an excellent (and sometimes the only) way to add it. 

Vista includes the calendar function of Outlook, including a personal task list and calendaring for groups.

12. Improved Games are included and supported. Microsoft claims the Vista gaming experience is as 
good as when using dedicated gaming devices. Stephanie is not a gamer and couldn’t install Vista, so she did not pursue this.

13. Software for Transferring
Vista includes software to transfer your settings and data from another computer to your new Vista computer. Vista does NOT transfer programs – only your settings. You will have to reinstall programs from their CDs and sometimes get new ones or updates. Utilities NEVER transfer between operating systems. 

14. Microsoft Is a Service Business
Office Live lets you set up a small website via Microsoft. The program can be obtained from a special website, from free to $40 per month.  For more information, go to http://www.officelive.com/freeoffer. 

Microsoft is also offering Windows Live One Care service, an anti-malware program. 

This article may be published only by APCUG member user groups. All other uses are prohibited. When used, APCUG must be acknowledged as the source and the author credited. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.