The Big 3

Lesson 2: Platform Technologies (ELEC4)

The Big 3
 What is Linux?
➢ Developed in 1991 by a University of Finland student Linus
Torvalds.
➢ Basically a kernel, it was combined with the various software
and compilers from GNU Project to form an OS, called
GNU/Linux
➢ RedHat, Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu, Debian are examples of Linux
distros
➢ Linux is supported by big names as IBM, Google, Sun, Novell,
Oracle, HP, Dell, and many more
 Advantages:
➢ It’s free!
➢ Open Source (modifiability, extensibility, …)
➢ Works on several platforms
➢ Robustness (after several revisions, and several
people working on it)
➢ Widespread Usage
 History of Linux
➢ First developed as a small but self-contained kernel in 1991
by Linus Torvalds, with the major design goal of UNIX
compatibility.
➢ Version 0.01 (May 1991) had no networking, ran only on
80386- compatible Intel processors and on PC hardware,
had extremely limited device-drive support, and supported
only the Minix file system.
➢ Linux 1.0 (March 1994) included these new features:
❑ Support for UNIX’s standard TCP/IP networking
protocols
❑ Device-driver support for running IP over an Ethernet
❑ Enhanced file system
❑ Extra hardware support
 History of Linux- Linux 2.0
➢ Released in June 1996, 2.0 added two major new capabilities:
- Support for multiprocessor architectures
➢ Other new features included:
- Improved memory-management code
- Improved TCP/IP performance
- Support for internal kernel threads, for handling dependencies
between loadable modules, and for automatic loading of
modules on demand.
- Standardized configuration interface
➢ Available for Motorola 68000-series processors, Sun Sparc systems,
and for PC and PowerMac systems
 Linux Distributors
➢ Today there are hundreds of different distributions
available popular Linux distributions include:
❑ SUSE Linux ❑ CentOS
❑ TurboLinux ❑ Linspire
❑ Fedora Linux ❑ ALT Linux
❑ Mandrake Linux ❑ Gentoo Linux
❑ Red Hat Enterprise Linux ❑ Ubuntu
❑ Lycoris Linux ❑ Slackware Linux
❑ Debian Linux
 Linux User Interface
➢ Can be controlled through command-line (CLI) or Graphical User Interface
(GUI)
➢ GUI run through Desktop Environments (DE)
➢ KDE, GNOME, Xfce, E17 are popular Des
➢ The GUI interface is easy-to-use and much like that of Windows and Mac
OSX
➢ The CLI is similar to that of UNIX/BSD
 Programming in Linux
➢ Modern languages are cross-platform, like Python, Ruby, Perl, Java
➢ Most Linux distros support these languages and have their runtimes pre-
installed
➢ GTK+ and Qt are widely used to design applications for Linux
➢ IDEs like NetBeans, Anjuta, KDevelop, MonoDevelop, Eclipse are available for
Linux too
 Linux on the Desktop
➢ Large number of distros targeted at Desktop users are available
➢ Linux desktop distros come with many commonly used pre-installed
software
➢ The modern Linux interface is user-friendly and makes the interaction
with computer easy
 Running Windows Software on Linux

➢ It is possible to install/run Windows software on Linux

➢ Wine helps run a wide range of Windows applications
➢ Cedega helps run huge number of Windows games
 Gaming on Linux
➢ Many native games are available, both 3D and 2D
➢ Wine and Cedega help run Windows-only games
➢ Popular games for Linux are: Quake, Unreal Tournament,
Counter Strike, Doom, Cube, CodeRED, Wesnoth,
OpenArena, SuperTux, Frozen Bubble, Medal of Honor,
and many more.
 Linux on Servers and Supercomputers
➢ Linux is the most used OS on servers
➢ 5 out of 10 reliable web hosting companies use Linux
➢ Linux is the cornerstone of the LAMP server-software combination
(Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python) which has achieved
popularity among developers
➢ Out of top 500 supercomputers, Linux is deployed on 426 of them
 Linux on Embedded Systems
➢ 16.7% of smartphones worldwide use Linux as OS
➢ Linux poses a major competition to the most popular
OS is this segment – Symbian
➢ Nokia, Openmoko supply Linux on their select
smartphones
 Linux on other devices

➢ Linux can be used on a wide range of electronic

devices, like PC, PDAs, Smartphones, iPods,
MP3 Players, PlayStation 2 & 3, mission critical
servers and so on…
 Adoption of Linux
➢ 1983 (September): GNU project was announced publicly
➢ 1991 (September): first version of the Linux kernel was released to the Internet
➢ 2001 (second quarter): Linux server unit shipments at 15% annual growth rate
➢ 2004: Linux shipped on approximately 50% of the worldwide server blade units, and 20% of all
rack-optimized servers
➢ 2005: Microsoft representatives accuse Brazilian college using Famelix of pirating Microsoft
Windows
➢ 2007: Dell announces it will ship select models with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed
➢ 2007: Lenovo announces it will ship select models with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 pre-
installed
➢ 2007: HP announces that it will begin shipping computers preinstalled with Red Hat Linux in
Australia
➢ 2007: ASUS launches the linux-based ASUS Eee PC
➢ 2008: Dell announces it will begin shipping Ubuntu based computers to Canada and Latin
America
➢ 2008: Dell is shipping systems with Ubuntu pre-installed in China
➢ 2008: Acer launches the linux-based Acer Aspire One
 Adoption by Governments
➢ Governments of many countries around the world
are shifting to Linux from Windows due to the
many benefits it offer
➢ Countries like India, France, Pakistan, Czech
Republic, Brazil, Germany, USA, Austria, Spain,
China, and Peru already use Linux
 Linux in Education
➢ The widely popular OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)
Project’s XO Laptop runs on Linux

➢ Universities in countries, like USA, Germany,

Netherlands, Philippines, Brazil, Russia,
Switzerland, India, use Linux on their workstations
and servers
 Why should We use Linux?
➢ No threat of viruses
➢ Linux systems are extremely stable
➢ Linux is Free
➢ Linux comes with most of the required software pre-installed
➢ Update all your software with minimum fuss
➢ Linux never gets slow
➢ Linux does not need defragmentation
➢ Linux can even run on oldest hardware
➢ Adding more software is a matter of a few clicks
➢ Most Windows-only apps have their either their native version or
alternatives for Linux
➢ With Linux, you get the highest degree of possible customizability
 Forget about viruses

➢ Security has always been the number one priority

with Linux
➢ Linux has a robust security system
➢ There do not exist viruses for the Linux platform
 Is your system unstable ?
➢ Have you ever lost your precious work because Windows
crashed? Have you ever gotten the "blue screen of death"
or error messages telling you that the computer needs to
be shut down for obscure reasons?
➢ Crashes or freezes are not prevalent in Linux
 Linux is Free

➢ Linux is free and always will be as compared

to the very costly Windows and Mac OSX

➢ Using pirated Windows is a bad thing

 Linux comes with software built-in

➢ When the system has installed, why would

you still need to install stuff ?

➢ Common software such as music player,

web browser, video player, image editor,
PDF reader, chat messenger, office apps
 Updating in a single click

➢ Just like Windows’

Update tool, Linux has a
more better alternative
to it to update all your
system in a few clicks
 Linux does not get slow
➢ As Linux is impervious to viruses,
trojans, spywares, which are the main
reasons to slow down the PC, systems
based on it do not get slower
➢ Linux consumes lesser system
resources
Linux does not need defragmentation

➢ If you already know what fragmentation is,

and are already used to defragmenting your
disk every month or so, here is the short
version : Linux doesn't need defragmenting.
➢ Whereas Windows-based system get
fragmented frequently and need attention
in this regard.
 Linux can run on older hardware

➢ Windows requires more and more hardware power

as its version number increases (95, 98, 2000, Me, XP,
etc.). So if you want to keep running Windows, you
need to constantly buy new hardware
➢ Linux runs perfectly well on older hardware, on which
Windows XP would probably even refuse to install, or
let you wait 20 seconds after each click
 Add new software in a few clicks
➢ With Linux, everything is much simpler. Linux has
what is called a "package manager": each piece of
software is contained in its own "package". If you
need some new software, just open the package
manager, type a few keywords, choose which
software you want to install and press "Apply" or
"OK". Or you can just browse existing software (that's
a lot of choice!) in categories.
 Linux is extremely customizable

➢ Due to the various options available in Linux, like a lot

of DEs, themes, Window Managers, and the modular
nature of DEs, Linux is very customizable
➢ The extent of customizability is clearly implied by the
fact that some people have gone as far as to
customize their Linux OS to make them look and feel
like Mac OSX and Windows
 Linux Licensing

➢ The Linux kernel is distributed under the GNU

General Public License (GPL), the terms of which are
set out by the Free Software Foundation.
➢ Anyone using Linux, or creating their own derivative
of Linux, may not make the derived product
proprietary; software released under the GPL may
not be redistributed as a binary only product.
 MICROSOFT
➢ Microsoft Corporation is an American
multinational corporation headquartered in
Redmond, Washington
➢ Providing Windows OS

Satya Nadella
CEO of Microsoft
 A history of Windows
➢ 1975–1981: Microsoft boots up
- In 1975, Gates and Allen form a partnership called
Microsoft. Like most start-ups, Microsoft begins
small, but has a huge vision—a computer on every
desktop and in every home.

Microsoft co-founders Paul

Allen (left) and Bill Gates
 A history of Windows
➢ • 1982–1985: Introducing Windows 1.0
Microsoft works on the first version of a new
operating system. Interface Manager is the code name
and is considered as the final name

Bill Gates says, “It is unique software

designed for the serious PC user.”
 A history of Windows
➢ 1990–1994: Windows 3.0–Windows NT—Getting the graphics

Bill Gates shows the newly-released

Windows 3.0

➢ "Windows NT represents nothing less than a fundamental

change in the way that companies can address their business
computing requirements“, Bill Gates
All together
 Apple Inc.
➢ Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology
company headquartered in Cupertino, California,
United States.
➢ Apple is the largest technology company by revenue
(totaling US$365.8 billion in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is
the world's biggest company by market capitalization,
the fourth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales
and second-largest mobile phone manufacturer.
 History of Apple
• 1976–1980: Founding and incorporation
❑ Apple Computer Company was founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne as a partnership.
❑ The company's first product was the Apple I, a computer designed
and hand-built entirely by Wozniak.
❑ The Apple II, also invented by Wozniak, was introduced on April 16,
1977, at the first West Coast Computer Faire.
❑ The Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for the first
"killer application" of the business world:
 History of Apple
• 1980–1990: Success with Macintosh
❑ A critical moment in the company's history came in December 1979
when Jobs and several Apple employees, including human–computer
interface expert Jef Raskin, visited Xerox PARC in to see a
demonstration of the Xerox Alto, a computer using a graphical user
interface.
❑ In 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh, the first personal computer to
be sold without a programming language. Its debut was signified by
"1984", a $1.5 million television advertisement directed by Ridley
Scott that aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January
22, 1984.