gOS - Operating System - Free

gOS is an freely distributed operating system based off of the Ubuntu distribution and Enlightenment window manager. Most notably, it comes pre-installed on the affordable Everex series of PCs. It is marketed as an alternative O/S that includes a minimal amount of installed desktop software, relying heavily on online web applications like GMail, and Google docs for productivity. gOS does come with open-source pre-installed software packages like GIMP and OpenOffice. gOS can be downloaded for free, and fits compactly on under 2GB of disk space.

Microsoft's rivalry with Google heated up considerably this past year when rumors surfaced that Google might release its own operating system to compete with Windows. Has Google finally jumped into the fray with its own OS?

Unfortunately, no; gOS is not a "Google OS" nor is it affiliated with Google (though Desktop Linux has reported that Google has seen gOS and approved inclusion of the Google toolbar with the operating system).

gOS is developed by Good OS LLC out of Los Angeles. It's based on Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and runs the Enlightenment E17 interface instead of KDE or Gnome. Despite not being created by Google, the focus of gOS is Google's online applications such as GMail, Google News, Google Maps, Google Calendar, YouTube, etc. It's a neat concept for a Linux distribution, but how practical is it?

Pros & Cons

Pros:

•Can be downloaded for free
•Slick, customizable interface reminiscent of OS X
•Includes productivity software like GIMP and OpenOffice
•Helps keep PC costs down

Cons:

•Additional applications need to be downloaded via Synaptic package manager
•No recycle bin
•Minimize, maximize, close buttons are at the top-left of the window
•Downloadable version can't play DVDs or mp3s without additional library installation and configuration.

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Versions History

gOS 1.0.1 was launched in November, 2007 and was featured in the Everex gPC. At CES 2008, on January 7th, 2008 the current version (v2.0) debuted and is known as gOS Rocket.

Download the gOS 2.0 beta here - http://thinkgos.com/downloads.php


• gOS official site - http://thinkgos.com/

Microsoft Windows XP - Operating System

Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. The letters "XP" stand for eXPerience. It was codenamed "Whistler", after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort during its development. Windows XP is the successor to both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me, and is the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel and architecture. Windows XP was first released on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst. It is succeeded by Windows Vista, which was released to volume license customers on November 8, 2006, and worldwide to the general public on January 30, 2007.

Cons:

•No Microsoft support for the mainstream after April 14 2009

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The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which has additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users and business clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is designed to run the ink-aware Tablet PC platform. Two separate 64-bit versions of Windows XP were also released, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 (Itanium) processors and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for x86-64.

Windows XP is known for its improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows. It presents a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. New software management capabilities were introduced to avoid the "DLL hell" that plagued older consumer-oriented 9x versions of Windows. It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat software piracy, a restriction that did not sit well with some users and privacy advocates. Windows XP has also been criticized by some users for security vulnerabilities, tight integration of applications such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, and for aspects of its default user interface.

Windows XP had been in development since early 1999, when Microsoft started working on Windows Neptune, an operating system intended to be the "Home Edition" equivalent to Windows 2000 Professional. It was eventually merged into the Whistler project, which later became Windows XP.