Module 4FTC1339: Operating Systems Analysis for Herts IT Solutions

This report provides a detailed comparison of the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, specifically tailored for the organizational use of Herts IT Solutions, an IT service provider. The report begins with an introduction to operating systems, outlining their fundamental role in computer hardware interaction and program execution. It then delves into the specifics of both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, discussing their features, advantages, and disadvantages. The Windows section covers aspects like its widespread adoption, low maintenance costs, user interface, security features, and enterprise versions, including tools like AppLocker, Device Guard, and Credential Guard. The Mac OS X section highlights its user-friendly interface, software integration, and security features. A comparative analysis follows, evaluating both operating systems in terms of their suitability for Herts IT Solutions. Finally, the report concludes with recommendations, guiding the company toward the most appropriate OS choice based on their needs, and references are provided for further study. The report aims to assist the company in making an informed decision regarding their operating system investment.

Running Head: OPERATING SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS
OPERATING SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS
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Executive Summary
Operating systems are an integral part for any computer user as they provide the environment to
the user to interact with the hardware of the computer. The basic need to interact and run
programs on the collection of hardware are fulfilled with the help of an Operating system.
Operating systems serves as the brain for the computer and there are many options available of
Operating system to choose from. Choosing the correct operating system according to the needs
of the user or for any organization is very important, in order to control the investment on the
computer hardware and software, and to reduce the cost of maintaining the operating system.
This report provides a detailed comparison of the two operating systems, the Windows OS and
the Mac OS X for the organizational use of the Herts IT Solutions. The company is an IT service
provider and believe to provide the best solutions to their customers. In conclusion, few
recommendations were made to choose the best operating system for the Herts IT Solutions and
the detailed report will help the company to choose the ideal OS according to their needs.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Microsoft Windows Operating System.......................................................................................4
Mac OS X....................................................................................................................................7
Compassion between the two operating system..............................................................................9
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
An Operating system or simply OS provides a user interface and an environment for the
user to interact with the hardware of the computer and to execute different programs to simplify
the task of the user (Peter et al. 2016). OS is mainly a system software to manage hardware and
software resources and provides primary services for the smooth running of the computer. The
operating system consists of two major parts, the kernel and the system programs.
The kernel is the also known as the heart of the operating system (Zakharov et al. 2015).
Kernel is the first program that is loaded in the computer system after the startup. The kernel is
responsible to manage the computer resources along with the handling of requests from the
system programs and the applications. The system programs are those programs which runs on
top of the kernel. The system programs are important because they are responsible for
connecting the kernel with the user applications and other peripheral devices of the system
(Silberschatz, Gagne and Galvin 2018). Some examples of system programs are device drivers,
networking programs, file systems and disk defragmenters.
The very first operating system was created back in 1959 by General Motors in order to
run only one mainframe computer of IBM (Galakhov 2017). The late 1960s witnessed the
introduction of UNIX OS written and developed in C language. In 1981, Microsoft bought the
86-DOS OS from the Seattle Computer Products, and with some modifications it was ready for
the IBM personal computers (Qin et al. 2018). The first Windows OS was known as MS-DOS
and the term ‘Windows’ was used in 1985 only after the introduction of the Graphical User
Interface (GUI) (Bush 2013). In this report, a discussion and comparison of the Operating
system, Windows and Mac OS X is provided in order to understand the usability of these two OS

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for the Herts IT Solutions. Some recommendations are also made to help the Herts IT Solutions
to choose the best option for them.
Discussion
Microsoft Windows Operating System
Windows OS is the most used OS in the world and then comes the Mac OS. Microsoft
Windows was founded and developed by Bill Gates, in the year 1983 (Chao and Kavadias 2017).
The earliest version of Microsoft Windows OS was known as MS-DOS, and later on the
Graphical User Interface were added and was released as the Windows Operating System. The
reasons behind the high adoption of Windows OS worldwide are the low maintenance cost and
the low hardware requirements, compatibility with many applications that were built for the
older versions of the OS. The improved search option for the Windows 7 made a great impact on
the market (Singh and Singh 2017). The different security and safety options provided in the
latest Windows version is also another reason for the high acceptance of the OS. The simple and
compact user interface with multi user and multi-tasking features are some of the major features
of Windows OS.
The GUI or the graphic user interface of the Windows OS is window based, which is a
rectangular display on the computer monitor and it shows the contents (Kyung and Lee 2008).
The GUI was initially developed by Alan Kay and Douglas Engelbart at the Xerox PARC, in
1981 (Errity 2016). The windows GUI enables the user to multi-task and run concurrent
windows simultaneously. The windows OS also provides a huge amount of customization to the
users for flexibility of the processes. The GUI is packed with colorful and large icon, which
makes the navigation efficient. The latest version of Microsoft Windows 10 has the most

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colorful, interactive and the most advanced security control for personal and enterprise use.
Windows 10 was unaffected during the largest ransom ware attack of the WannaCry, which
affected several businesses around the globe (O'Dowd 2017). The Advanced Threat Protection
(ATP) of Windows 10 provides advanced level of security (Bettany and Halsey 2017). The small
size as well as the mid-sized businesses will be benefited and will be able to leverage their cyber
security level and thus will increase the productivity of the business. The Windows 10 released
an Enterprise version which is mainly targeted and designed for the organizational use.
For any organization the individuals and the data about those individuals are very
important and proper security of these data are mandatory. The cost of implementing Windows
10 for an organization are very low and there are no unrealistic costs. The OS is very simple to
use and comprises of the enterprise level of security control. Various features and programs
provided by Windows 10 ensures the data encryption and security of the enterprise. The
AppLocker management is a tool provided by the Microsoft to help the administrators control
the access level of the data and files stored in the system (Salah et al. 2013). Some other tools
like the Device Guard help to protect the Windows systems of the organization and it is also
responsible for preventing the execution of untrusted programs and application, and this results
in the better management of the installed applications and software. Credential Guard is a very
useful tool to protect the identities of the employees and it stores the tokens for the user access
control inside a secure location. Another feature of Windows 10 is that it allows the management
of the endpoints from a single interface, which will allow businesses to acquire a full
visualization of their computing environment form only one control panel. It also shows the
threat statuses and the running and installed applications of the system.

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The Windows Operating System allows great productivity in the workplace with multi
window functionality and multi desktop screen functionality. Azure Active Directory also known
as Azure AD is a service by Microsoft, which can be used by the on-premise applications of any
organization, and offers the access control and the identity facilities for the applications which
run on the Microsoft Azure as well as the on premise enterprise applications (Betts et al. 2013).
Many small organizations today do not use the on-premise Windows Server Active Directory,
instead they use only the Azure AD that helps these small businesses to depend only on the
Microsoft Office 365 with the other SaaS (System as a Service) applications used by the
organization, in order to run their business.
Due to the low maintenance cost of the Windows OS the chances of scalability are high
for the organization. Windows is also provides affordable plans with their pay-as-you-go
subscription model. The monthly plans will provide great flexibility for small scale businesses.
On top of that applications like Cortana makes the searching process very easy with voice
control (Mehrotra et al. 2017). Microsoft is always working on the better delivery of their
services for every Windows 10 versions. The Windows updates for the business are provided for
the Enterprise version. The Enterprise version also provides an Enterprise mode for the Internet
Explorer. The advanced file explorer makes the navigation of files very simple but effective. The
Windows NT kernel is a hybrid kernel that provides full access to the system memory and the
hardware resources of the computer (Jithin, Satheesh Kumar and Jinu Kumar 2015). The user
mode has limited access in terms of the system resources, but the kernel mode provides
unrestricted access.
The Windows Enterprise version comes in two options the E3 and E5. These versions are
based on per user. This is very helpful for a small business because they can choose their

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subscription according to their employee base. The current subscription charge of Windows 10
E3 is $84 per user per year or $7 per user for a month, on the other hand the charge for E5 is
$168 per month for one user or $14 per user per month (Microsoft.com 2019). The difference
between these two are the E5 subscription includes the most important Advanced Threat
Protection (ATP).
Mac OS X
Mac OS is the Operating System developed and owned by Apple Inc. Initially, the name
of the OS was Mac OS X but later in 2016, the name was changed to OS X and now, this
operating system is only known as macOS. Macintosh, the first set of personal computers
produced and distributed by Apple Inc., used the Mac OS 9 (Evans 2014). The current mac OS is
based on a UNIX operating system, that is developed after apple bought the company NeXT
(Principe 2013). The first version of Mac OS X was released in 1999, and was named as Mac OS
X Server 1.0.
Mac OS X is always known for the simple and easy to use user interface. The mac OS is
also popular for the vast amount of free and open source software provided by the company. The
flat icons and the colorful yet very simple user interface of mac OS is very easy to use and
understand. The simplified user interface can be an advantage of the mac OS over the Windows
PC. All the applications are available in the App Store of the Apple Inc., and they are found in
the Launchpad after their installation. The Application folder contains all the information and the
details of the components that are installed in the system.
The Mac OS provides a better consistency of the system. The hardware and software
integration are in place and designed in such a way, to deliver efficient and optimized results
(Johansson, Nation and Nori 2013). The company Apple Inc., has both software and hardware

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development departments and the products thus developed are in sync with both the departments,
which results in smooth integration of the OS with the hardware. The mac OS has high level of
security and has lesser malware attacks. Windows is the most used OS over the world and thus
the major target of attackers are Windows systems and thus Windows OS has less susceptibility
and are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Although, with growing market and popularity of Mac
OS, malwares are being created to exploit the vulnerabilities and the security holes. The security
is controlled by Apple by restricting the users to use only the applications available through the
App Store, and restricting the use of third-party applications or programs. The available
applications in the App Store undergo several tests to ensure that they are malware free or do not
contain any suspicious program (A. Harris and P. Patten 2014).
Like the Microsoft Office Suite provides with several productive apps like the MS Word,
MS PowerPoint, MS Excel and other applications, the mac OS also has their own office suite.
Pages, Keynotes, Numbers are few of the applications provided by the mac OS and they are
equivalent in productivity with the Microsoft Office Suite products. The Mac OS is mostly used
in the field of design and creativity. The availability of the applications like the iMovies and
iPhotos for photo editing and video editing are very useful for the users and provides great
functionality. Soft wares like the Photoshop and Adobe Creative Suite began with Apple’s Mac
and thus they became popular and the more preferable system for content creation and design
tasks. The integration of the hardware and the software provides efficient optimization, as
discussed earlier in the report, for these kind of tasks and these are some of the reasons for which
mac OS is preferred over the Windows OS for the creative and design industry.
Mac OS provides better multitasking than Windows OS with the specialized keys and the
special track pad or mouse gesture. The effective integration of the components with the

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software provides smooth multi-tasking and the overall response time is very fast, even under
heavy usage. Like the Windows OS the Mac OS also provides with multiple desktop option but
the navigation between the multiple desktops are much more easy for the mac OS. Another
feature of mac OS is the integration with the other Apple products.
The implementation cost of iMac computers and MacBook laptops are very high. The
high price of the devices are a down side of the Mac OS but, the maintenance cost is low because
there are less number of updates in the Mac OS. There are limitations in upgrading the hardware
also and thus the Mac OS does not provide flexibility of upgrading the hardware components.
Most of the components in the Mac devices are soldered and embedded within the device which
are non-removable. The repair cost and the component cost of the Mac devices are also very
expensive. The Time Machine Tool helps in the automatic backup for the mac OS.
Compassion between the two operating system
The cost of implementation for Windows OS is much lower compared to the Mac OS.
The high level data security provided by the Windows 10 enterprise is a standout point for the
OS. The data security of Mac is also high but for an organizational use the Mac needs a lot of
investment. For a small business the investments and the budgets are not always high, so the use
of Windows is always a better option. Windows releases a lot of updates and patches over a year,
upgrading every system with the latest update can be a down side for the Windows OS, on top of
that the maintenance cost increases because of several updates. On the contrary the Mac OS has
a low maintenance cost with lesser number of updates in a year.
The Windows OS provides better hardware security and extra protection of the data with
the UEFI for secure boot (Wilkins and Richardson 2013). There are higher amount of malwares

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for the Windows but, with the high popularity the number of malwares for the mac OS is also
increasing. Mac devices provides better customer support than the Microsoft Windows. The
Windows systems often come with unwanted or bloatware applications and thus results in a
higher consumption of the storage space. There can be compatibility problems in Windows PC
because of the random assembly of the components which are sometimes not compatible with
the software of the OS. In Mac there is an operational recovery option which is not present in
Windows. Although, in case of Mac the components are soldered and cannot be removed so, in
case if there is some failure of one component, then the whole system gets affected.
Recommendations
The Windows 10 is used by most of the users and business now. The increased number of
user of Windows OS has also raised the number of attacks and malware for the Windows OS but,
still with the latest Windows 10 Enterprise edition the security level is very strong. The initial
cost of setup for Windows is also low compared to Mac OS. It is better to start with Windows if
the business is a small sized business. The use of Windows will also provide flexibility of
hardware and upgrading the hardware would be easier for the organization. Mac is preferable for
the creative industry.
Conclusion
Every operating system available in the market can be used according to the needs of the
specific organization. It completely depends on the organization that for what purpose they want
to use the computer. In some ways, every OS provides with the basic programs needed for the
everyday use. In this report, the functionality and the advantages as well as the disadvantages of
the two OS, the Mac OS X and the Windows OS were explored and a detailed report based on

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that is provided. In conclusion, it can be seen that both the OS have some advantages and
disadvantages based on the organizational needs. The cost of implementation is high for Mac
but, the maintenance cost is low compared to the Windows OS.

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