Purpose, features and functions of Windows Vista and MAC operating system

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is a line of operating system developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home, business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs and media centre PCs. Windows Vista is the current Microsoft operating system for 2008, the development for Windows Vista was completed on November 8 2006.

Windows Vista was released more than 5 years after windows XP was released. Windows Vista contains many changes and new features. The new features of Windows Vista are:
· Graphical user interface
· Visual style
· Windows Aero
· Searching features
· Multimedia creation tools
· Windows DVD maker
· Redesigned networking
· Audio
· Print
· Display sub systems

Windows Vista is aiming to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the. NET Framework, it is aiming to make it significantly easier for software developers to write applications than Windows API.

Windows Vista includes new input, output functions; they are intended to shorten the time taken to boot the system, improve responsiveness of the system and to improve the reliability of data storage.

MAC operating system

MAC OS is a line of operating system developed, marketed and sold by Apple Inc. The latest operating system is pre loaded on all currently Macintosh computers. Mac OS X is a UNIX based operating system. Mac OS X Server 1.0 was the first version released in 1999. Five distinct end user and server versions was released after 1999, Mac OS X v10.5 is the most recent one.

Mac OS X introduced new capabilities to provide more stable and reliable platform than its predecessor, Mac OS 9. pre emptive multi tasking and memory protection improved the systems ability to run multiple applications without them interrupting or corrupting each other. The most visible change was the Aqua theme, the use of soft edges, translucent colours and pinstripes – similar to the hardware design of the first iMacs – brought more texture and colour to the user interface when compared to what OS 9’s offered.
Prominent features:
· Aqua Graphical User Interface
· Colour sync
· Drop shadows
· Human interface guidelines
· Dashboard
· Quick look
· Spotlight
· Screen sharing
· Spaces
· Front row

Description of Utility Software

Software Utilities	Description
Compression	All multimedia files for the web must be compressed so they are small enough to be downloaded
Encryption	The process of encoding electronic transaction information, to allow secure transmission of data over the Internet
Virus scanner	A program that checks if there are any viruses in the computer. A Virus Scanner has to be up-to-date, because viruses change continuously and new viruses are developed everyday
Disk defragmenters	Reorganize file structure so that all file fragments are contiguous on the disk
Registry cleaners	Clean and optimize the windows registry by removing old registry keys that are no longer in use