Comparison between Windows XP & the Linux operating system Essay

Comparison between Windows XP & the Linux operating system - Essay Example The world has been witnessing a revolution ever since the introduction of the windows operating system. This has been primarily due to the easy-to-use interface as also the user-friendly controls that it is equipped with. But, the advent of the 90s has seen the rise of another major operating system that was developed on a UNIX foundation. Linux, as this operating system is popularly known is a freely available version under the open source initiative. It was and continues to be a hit with hardcore software developers. Therefore, the present era is seeing a tug-of-war between the vendor-based Windows XP (the newest version of windows) and the Linux (open source) operating systems As such, the windows vs. Linux debate are a heated topic for discussion under the OS (operating systems) domain. As far as the current paper is concerned, the main aspects that will be discussed as part of the discussion include the following:The basic difference between Windows XP & Linux when it comes to t he issue of synchronization lies in the manner in which the different processes are related to the underlying kernel. 'Synchronization' is a term that is more often associated with an environment that comprises the execution of more than a single process concurrently. Under such situations, synchronization ensures that all the processes execute concurrently such that there is a sense of coordination between them for the purpose of getting a task to execute in perfect run-time order so as to prevent undesirable race conditions from occurring (A. Silberschatz, 2006). When it comes to the Linux operating system, there is a process scheduler that controls access to the processor. Therefore, the scheduler is assigned the task of governing the state of execution of the various processes present. The scheduler uses a set of timers to determine the various durations such as the amount of time that is supposed to be allocated to a particular process, the time for bringing out a process out o f the execution or waiting state etc. this governs the monitoring of the system for any occurrence of deadlocks that can be duly eliminated through efficient mechanisms (Gordon Fischer, Claudia Salzberg Rodriguez, Claudia Salzberg, Steven Smolski, 2005). As opposed to this, the various processes under Windows XP are directly attached to the kernel. This requires that the kernel (and thereby the scheduler as well) must keep track of all the various processes that are attached to the kernel, though they may not be in use. This increases the chances of a deadlock & in many cases there are serious aberrations in terms of proper execution sequence between the various processes that are connected to a particular task. This is the usual occurrence when one tries to open too many applications on a windows machine wherein the system fails to respond beyond a certain limit (system hang). Linux has been found to offer better performance in this regard, wherein a system hang-up occurs only when the system hardware can no longer maintain the pace. Process Management This is related to the synchronization problem in the sense that the discussion mainly revolves around the process. The process management deals with two aspects in particular. According to A. Tanenbaum (2001), the first case is the allocation of execution sate to various processes & the other one is the allocation of memory space to the programs (processes). While the first one is mainly concerned about deadlocks, the second one is aimed at the minimizing the time required to fetch a process from the memory to the waiting queue for the purpose of putting it under consideration for execution. Under Linux, very process is assigned a unique process number that is used to reference the particular process under all circumstances, be it to create child processes, execute it or for killing that particular