Alternative Computing

Computers are very versatile machines. I find it interesting that because computers are general purpose devices, they are generally slow at doing any of the possible work they can do. So the the question is, why buy a computer in the first place if you are not going to use all its flexibility? This is the reason why I think everyone should be aware of all the available operating systems and applications, and not only the well known ones available from Microsoft.

Operating Systems

Over the years I used various operating systems for the x86 PCs. Here I will describe them using my own experience as source of information. I cannot guarantee equal values to the "reviews" since I am not able to equally use each of the following OS. Each section will contain a short history of the operating system, its pros and cons and maybe some additional notes.

• Windows NT 4.0/2000
• Windows 95/98/ME
• OS/2 Warp 4
• BeOS R4/R5
• Linux 2.2
• FreeBSD 3.x/4.x
• Solaris, OpenBSD ? I'm looking forward testing these platforms!

Picture->Linna Yamazaki