ricafranca, quijano rrl (comments in parentheses in between sentences)

Review of Related Literature
(intro?organization of this chapter?)
Definition of Operating Systems
An operating system (OS), according to Burgess (2001), is a mediating software between the user and the computer hardware whose main function is to handle the more technical operations that are happening in the machine. It is the one that executes the functionalities of the programs that a use has in his or her computer (Krane, 2005). It is basically the one responsible for bridging application programs to the hardware, thus making the machine readily usable (Oak, n.d.). If not for the operating system, a computer is simply a piece of expensive furniture in your office.
However, there is no precise definition of what really makes up an operating system and what exactly it is for according to Rinard (1997). He said the purpose of the operating system changes as the needs of the people increases in complexity as well. According to him, the goals of the operating systems also varied depending on the “relative cost” of the user and of the hardware where it is installed. As he said, during the early days of computing, there was an “Expensive Hardware, Cheap People” trend – meaning to say machines during those times were very much expensive while people did not have sufficient income to buy these expensive machines. This made the purchasing of computers so hard. Thus the goal of the OS back then was to maximize the use of the computer. However the trend today is “Cheap Hardware, Expensive People” meaning to say purchasing of machines becomes relatively easy. The goal, according to Rinard, eventually became to make the computer much easier to be used for the growing number of users. It can be derived from this analysis that the sociability or usability of the OSs has changed from being exclusive to the hardcore programmers to being as broad as even children who wish to use the computer can easily understand how it works.
The structure of OSs has also developed as manufacturers restructure their products to make room for more middleware (Rinard, 1997). A middleware is like “glue” software that connects an application to other applications in the system (Middleware.org, 2008). A Java Application Programming Interface (API) for example, according to Rinard, is changing the way how operating systems are structured. He said instead of having a “set of system calls” and develop commands unique to its own, OSs are slowly adapting to the need of accommodating a middleware like Java.
The functionalities of OSs has also evolved as it has to cater the demands of mobility and disconnected operation (Rinard, 1997). And as computers nowadays are getting more “personal,” OSs has also improved their functionalities to cater “pseudo-real time” components like video- and voice- capturing software, Rinard added.
Despite this diversity among operating softwares, an OS has basically three major components. According to Burgess (2001), it contains a technical layer of software whose main responsibility is to drive the hardware components in the system. Second, it has a filesystem that organizes the files and programs of the system in a logical manner. Third, an OS has a basic command language which allows the user to execute programs and manipulate files.
Brown (2000) states that an OS has four basic functions. He said it has to “(1) initialize the hardware of the computer system, (2) provide basic routines for device control, (3) provide for the management, scheduling and interaction of tasks, and (4) maintain system integrity and handle errors.” These are basically the four main tasks that an operating system must fulfill.
Operating systems are classified according to (1) how many tasks it can perform at a time and (2) how many users can access or use the system at a certain time (Burgess, 2001). According to him, they are classified whether they are single-user or multi-user and single-task or multi-task. Multi-user OSs has to be multi-tasking OSs, too, he added. These two categories are the most basic categories of computer operating systems.
History of Operating Systems
Back in 1940s, according to Moumina (2001), the earliest digital systems had no operating systems. Instructions were encoded one bit at a time on several rows of mechanical switches. It was just in the 1950s when machine languages were introduced where execution of series of intructions became faster. Machine languages are the set of strings consisted of the binary digits 0 and 1. Systems during those times were often single-task and single-user he added.
During those times, Moumina adds, if a programmer wants to implement a certain application, he or she has to fully write the very complex and detailed input/output instructions. Later, this very tedious process was consolidated to be knowned as the Input/Output Control System (IOCS). Programmers would only follow certain routines in the IOCS to implement a common instruction. This has relatively increased the speed of encoding the program and eventually, increased the speed of the whole computational process Moumina stated. This system has made a great advancement in the history of computing thus, this may have laid the foundations of modern operating system concepts he stated.
It was in the 1960s when computer programmers have started to share on a single system, as they noticed that some instructions can be executed in I/O devices while the Central Processing Unit (CPU) is being occupied by a different instruction. Consequently, the CPU can be also utilized if only the I/O devices are being used in that specific point in time. They found out that optimizing the use of the machine was the key in using it. This full utilization of the computer’s features started to allow the sharing of users at a certain time. This was known as multiprogramming. However, this was still limited due to the system’s memory capacity. And despite this great advancement, the process was still relatively slow. Programmers have to write their programs on punch cards or magnetic tapes, queue it to the series of other programs that other programmers made, and leave it there for hours or even days until it is their turn. The slightest mistake of missing periods or commas would eventually “dump” the whole program and the programmer has to start with the entire process again (Moumina, 2001).
The Making of Windows
It was in 1975 when two computer enthusiasts, in the name of Paul Allen and Bill Gates, have teamed up to create a partnership called Microsoft (Alfred, 2008). It was in 1980 where they had their biggest break when IBM, a known computer hardware manufacturer that time, approached Microsoft about a project code-named as “Chess.” The project aims to create a software that would manage or run the hardware, and at the same time “bridge the gap” among hardware and application programs. An instance would be a word processor. This is the “foundation on which computer programs can run.” This new operating system would be known to the world as the MS-DOS or the Microsoft Disk Operating System (Microsoft, 2011).
The MS-DOS has become a part of people’s daily work in 1981 (Microsoft, 2011). Although effective, it proved to be difficult to understand to most users, Microsoft adds. Thus, the creation of Windows 1.0 in 1983. Instead of purely typing, now a user has the ability to drag a pointer by the use of a mouse to virtual boxes that represents the application programs. These “boxes” were namedwindows (Microsoft, 2011).
As time passed, Microsoft has continuously developed their line of operating systems. From Windows 1.0, the company has launched Windows 2.0-2.11, Windows 3.0, Windows NT, Windows 95, its last operating system based on MS-DOS, the Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows Vista and the most recent Windows 7 (Microsoft, 2011). All for the goal of improving every previous edition’s features like speed, memory capacity, graphics, program handling, privacy and security, media playback, Internet connectivity, etc.
The profits from MS-DOS alone have sufficiently supplied Microsoft to develop on its operating systems and its own software applications (Moumina, 2001). Their sales had them stable despite their separation to IBM in early 1990s, Mounina adds. Their intimate knowledge on the source codes of their operating systems had them “dominate” most of the years since the 1990s until a movement of free software sharing advocates steps in (Mounina, 2001).

The Early Start of Linux
The field of computing in the early nineties saw the boom of the innovative computer hardwares and the hype of the end users to push their computers to their limits. This lead (check) to everyone seeking for a portable operating system with free source code, different from that of minix and unix, the widely adopted operating system by academic institutions and businesses to copy and modify, which cost too much to develop (Mathpal, 2011). Empathizing with the rest of the computing industry, a young programmer, Linus Torvalds, developed the kernel for Linux out of his need for a free operating system (Rahman, 2011).
The humble beginnings of Linux, was first developed by the then twenty-year-old Linus Torvalds back in August of 1991. Without any thoughts to commercialize, or expand it, the young Torvalds modestly described the project as “Just a hobby, won’t be anything big and professional like GNU”, (put the comma inside the quote) as seen in one of the first introductory e-mails about Linux (Noyes, 2011). Unique in it’s (check) open source nature, Linux was released under the GNU Public License, allowing the end users to modify the software as they see fit, and in return share their work to the rest of the computing community. This characteristic makes Linux excel in the different platforms in the history of computing, expanding as a desktop operating system and in the mobile computing area as well (Merill, 2011).
In the words of Jim Zemlin, executive director of the non-profit Linux Foundation, Linux’s open source nature has give (check) rise to the operating system’s growing popularity among the users by expanding and trending the system across all platforms through the user communities it creates, “from mainframes to desktop computers to telephones to embedded devices inside televisions and automobiles” (Merill, 2011). Jim Whitehurst on the otherhand (punctuation) the CEO of a Linux based operating system called Red Hat, expresses his fascination with Linux’s success through the years acknowledging the cause to be: it’s flexibility to let companies and developers try new things with the source code; enabling them to develop the ideas like cloud computing, and big data to name a few (Brockmeier, 2011).
Undeniably, Linux has come a long way from Linus Torvald’s modest assumptions when he first started developing its kernel. With it’s twenty-year anniversary, the debut of the kernel’s version 3.0 just proves how far the operating system has taken over the computing industry. In fact majority of the worldwide “stock exchange now run Linux, as do the servers that power big-time companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon” (Noyes, 2011). With all the innovations gaining popularity with the help of the open source Linux, just as the programmers of old have predicted (Merill, 2011), its own rival: Microsoft, has in recent years taken interest in the enterprise’s distributions to further improve their own company. If predictions of Linux serving as an enabler for future technologies and industries to arise (Brockmeier, 2011), more than anything, Microsoft’s recent move to use its kernel serves to highlight the potential of Linux to reach the highest position in the hierarchy of computing (Latif, 2011).

Ubuntu, a Linux-based Operating System
According to Mark Shuttleworth (2011), Open Source has accelerated innovation, change and dynamism in the computing industry. He also cites that in these times, where people are using the Web more and more, licensing softwares has become less relevant; which brings the open-source world at a point of possibly having an advantage to make a great decision to take charge of the software industry (Mcleod, 2011).
Taking the challenge to uplift the open-source industry, Mark Shuttleworth, a South African internet mogul, decided to create a more user-friendly Linux distribution; developed to give new users a trouble free experience with Linux (Jose, 2011). Tweaking the Debian source code, Shuttleworth started to develop Ubuntu to deviate the public view of Linux as an operating system for nerds and geeks. By selling the new distribution for free, as opposed to the traditional Operating Systems in the market and the proprietary Linux distributions like SUSE and Red Hat, users get the economic incentive over Windows; which attracted programmers to develop the Linux source code and established Ubuntu as a distinct operating system (Hodgin, 2007).
In line with this, Shuttleworth built Ubuntu’s parent company: Canonical, backing the operating system’s financial costs through the years of its existence. He integrated the company with two main lines of business besides its Linux server support; which is to partner with operating-system technology for netbook support and selling support for Ubuntu’s recent cloud computing technology. Despite having no profits, Ubuntu and Canonical supports and advances the development of new technology as opposed to the privatized commercialization of softwares. Ubuntu, through its parent company, Canonical, also encourages the computing industry for the reform of the patent system; which abolishes the monopolizing of certain ideas but instead give other developers the freedom to expound on the idea and create something better (Shankland, 2009).
Ubuntu’s launch was the gateway to most of the end-user’s thinking about Linux and the Open Source Way (Jose, 2011). It showed them the world beyond the Windows Operating System and the different alternative operating systems far from the traditional Mac and Windows Operating Systems most of the world have been made to see at a younger age (Jose, 2011). Although, Ubuntu has never been hard to use, it’s difference from the traditional operating systems has put a divide between it’s users. This lead to the development of it’s interface to adopt aspects that would make it easier for Window’s users to feel welcome and get used to (Noyes, 2011). By, enhancing it’s user interface and adding attention to detail, aspects that were never used to describe Linux distributions, Ubuntu’s revamp gave way to another boost to it’s popularity, giving leeway for more developers to flock to their computers and instigate new technology and contributions from the available source code (Jose, 2010).
Recent developments in the operating system has enabled Ubuntu to be competitive with the traditional Operating Systems in the computing industry, pushing the company to keep up with the new innovations of it’s adversaries; This enabled the company to take great leaps in innovations these past years: partnering with organizations and companies like Dell enabled Ubuntu to become the primary operating system in some netbooks and laptops and developing Ubuntu’s cloud computing technology have been some of its biggest achievements yet. By taking on the challenge to broaden the company’s base in the next years, Shuttleworth is confident Ubuntu and the Open Source Movement would make a greater impact in the computing industry (Moody, 2008).
(synthesis?so how would your problem relate to the mentioned ideas?)