OS/2 Shareware BBS: 36 Tips/36-Tips.zip/choices.txt

Text File | 1995-11-11 | 8KB | 159 lines

Making an Intelligent Choice
Key Criteria for Selecting the Right Operating System
How Windows 95 stacks up against OS/2 Warp?

The operating system is both the brain and the central nervous system
of your computer. It affects everything that happens on your computer.
So if  you are thinking about buying a computer or want to upgrade your
current model, choosing the right operating system is a key decision.
You need to consider four critical areas when evaluating your choice
in operating system: reliability, usability, productivity enhancement
and technology advantages.

Reliability

How does the operating system protect itself and the computer when
something goes wrong with your software programs?

OS/2 Warp is designed with a feature called OS/2 Crash Protection,
which allows the computer to continue running even if an application
fails. The premise of this safeguard is that all applications run
protected in their own address space. The fate of one
application does not affect the system or any other application.
OS/2 Warp merely shuts down the faulty application while other programs
continue to run.   This robust design makes for an extremely reliable
operating system capable of handling mission critical,
line-of-business applications.

Windows 95 is not fully protected from all application failures.  The
new applications written specifically for Windows 95 can process
information in the same area of the computer's memory as the operating
system. Therefore, if a problem occurs in that common portion of
memory, the application can crash the entire operating system.  Older,
16-bit application that fail can cause other applications  -- and
possibly the whole system -- to lock up as well.  Once this happens,
you can only recover by rebooting your system. Unlike OS/2 Warp,
applications in Windows 95 are not completely protected in their own
address space.  DOS applications have an additional problem because
Windows 95 lets them manipulate the hardware directly. This too can
cause the entire system to crash.

Can the operating system corrupt my data?  How can we be confident of
data integrity?

With OS/2 Warp,  your data is secure. Data, applications, and the
operating system, itself,  are processed in separate "rooms" within
the computer's memory.  Furthermore, if you have more than one
application running at a time, each application is processed in its
own separate "room."

With Windows 95, situations occur where data can be corrupted.  For
example, data is vulnerable when an application stores it in an area
called the system cache, prior to writing the data to its permanent
storage location. If the system crashes before the contents of the
cache are saved,  then the data is lost. Furthermore, if a second
application stores data in the cache before the original contents are
saved,  this overwrite also causes the data to be lost.

Usability

Since the icons on my desktop represent actual files in my computer --
and I can move them from one place to another -- how does the operating
system track the relationship between these icons and the actual files?

With OS/2, the system tracks the icons dynamically.  What this means
to you, the user, is that every time you make a change to the file,
the icon knows it.

It's easy to break the Windows 95 icon structure with shortcuts. When
you create a shortcut,  a pointer to the file location is created. If
you then move the file, the pointer is not updated to the new location.
So when you click on the icon to get to the file, the system has to
search the entire hard file for the file based only the file size and
date stamp. If your computer is attached to a network, Windows 95 will
search the entire network and this can take a very long time. If you
move the file to a different disk volume, the system will not find the
file at all.

Learning and using a system is much easier if you do all the tasks in
the same way.  Does the operating system use a consistent interface
for all functions?

The OS/2 Warp user interface is completely consistent. For example,
the drag-and-drop capability applies to all functions.

Windows 95 does not maintain a consistent interface. The Win 95
drag-and-drop features are only applicable to some objects.  There are
exceptions that you need to remember.  For instance,  you cannot drag
objects to the My Computer  folder.  If you want to delete a dial-up
networking connection because you no longer need it,you cannot drag
its icon to the Windows 95 Recycler.  Windows 95 does not let you drag
items to the start menu either. In addition to the drag-and-drop
inconsistencies, use of the right mouse button is inconsistent.  In
most places you can push the right mouse button to invoke a pop-up
menu.  If you try to do this at the Start button, it will not work.

Productivity

If you don't buy applications specifically written for the 32-bit
operating system and instead keep running the  applications you already
own, will the operating system still improve your productivity?

Improvements in productivity come from an operating system's ability
to perform preemptive multitasking.  With preemptive multitasking, an
operating system controls which application is running at any time.
In an operating system without preemptive multitasking, an application
can wrest control of the computer and not release it until its work is
complete.  There are no caveats to OS/2 Warp's multitasking
capability. Consequently, with OS/2 Warp,  you can simultaneously fax
a note to someone, download a file from the Internet and more,  while
you run your favorite 16-bit Windows application.

Windows 95 cannot perform preemptive multitasking when 16-bit
applications are running. Therefore if you plan to use mostly older
16-bit applications,  you should not expect to see productivity
improvements.  There are also times when Windows 95 cannot multitask
32-bit applications.   Windows 95 uses older 16-bit code for
two very important modules( Window management and Graphics Device
Interface).  When an application needs to use these modules, they have
to wait in line until the previous application gives up control, the
operating system cannot preempt it.  If a 32-bit application needs to
use one of these two modules, it may have to wait for it. That
application is not able to multitask while it waits.  In addition,
16-bit applications can inhibit the multitasking related performance
of the 32-bit applications.   When you run a mix of 16-bit and 32-bit
applications, Windows 95 resorts to a less sophisticated  form of
multitasking called cooperative multitasking.

How well does the system run multimedia applications when its doing
other functions at the same time?

With OS/2 Warp's preemptive multitasking, multimedia applications run
smoothly even when the system is doing other functions. Therefore a
video clip running while other tasks work in the background will look
the same as a clip running by itself.

The multitasking problems mentioned previously compromise Windows 95's
performance as a serious multimedia production platform. If a Windows
95 system is doing other operations while running an audio or video
clip, you can perceive break-up in the sound and jumpiness in the
pictures.

Technology Advantages

Are the new 32-bit operating systems based on the old DOS technology?
What are the benefits or drawbacks of this design implementation?

OS/2 was designed to overcome the shortcomings of the older (DOS)
technology.  Furthermore, each new release of OS/2 improves the
implementation of that design.  Shedding the confines of DOS technology
allowed OS/2 to become a robust and  enduring operating system.

Windows 95 is based on DOS technology that dates back to the early
1980's.  The older technology affects Windows 95's ability to multitask
and to effectively manage the memory in your PC. For example,  Windows
95 may report "out of memory" messages, when, with the same amount of
memory, another operating system such as OS/2 Warp can would continue
to work and even launch more work.  From a technology perspective,
Windows 95 offers nothing new.