OS/2, 
NeXTSTEP, or 
Solaris, as well as excellent free operating systems
such as 
LINUX, 
FreeBSD, 
NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
For those still using MS-DOS, IBM has released an updated and
improved version called PC-DOS-2000.
Windows 98 é um sistema operativo de 'desktop' feitos pela Microsoft que correm em processadores Intel Pentium and Intel 80x86. Só 'low end servers' conseguem correr este sistema...
Tipo de SO: proprietary
Intel Pentium, 486DX
Número máximo de processadores:
Kernel: proprietary
POSIX: not supported
Periféricos:
Ficheiros de sistema suportáveis:
Operador de interface(texto): linha de comandos do DOS
Operador de interface(gráfico): Explorer
One of the major features of Windows 98 is a closer merger of Microsoft’s operating system and web browser. This isn’t done for any technological reasons or for the convenience of the customer (many customers find the blurring between the graphic command shell and web browser to be confusing), but instead serves the interests of Microsoft by extending their operating system monopoly into the Internet.
“You may have noticed that a new TV ad for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer e-mail program uses the musical theme of the ‘Confutatis Maledictis’ from Mozart’s Requiem. ‘Where do you want to go today?’ is the cheery line on the screen. Meanwhile, the chorus sings "Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis," which means, ‘The damned and accursed are convicted to flames of hell.’ ” —Gary Pavek
opiniões
The big question of the moment about Windows 98 is “Should I switch to Windows 98?”
The answer is “maybe”. The easiest answer is: if you buy a new Wintel computer, get it with Windows 98, but if your existing system is stable and working, don’t mess with it.
Windows 98 offers a large number of minor improvements over Windows 95, including the addition of several more features that were available on the Macintosh in the mid and late 1980s. Windows 98 major feature is that it blurs the distinction between the operating system and the web browser, furthering Microsoft’s own monopolistic goals of eliminiating Netscape, but by moving some important operating system functionality to the web browser, Windows 98 actually runs approximately 5-20% slower than Windows 95 on the same hardware. Windows 98 also includes numerous attempts at fixes of some of the worst problems in Windows 95, but more than 5,000 known bugs from Windows 95 still exist in Windows 98, because Microsoft views bug fixes as unprofitable.
As one example, Windows 98 now supports multiple monitors. Multiple monitors is a gimmick for typical home and business use, but is an essential requirement for professional content creation. For page layout, pre-press, illustration, animation, and other graphics work it is common to have all the software tools on one screen and the artwork in progress on a screen by itself. For video and music it is common to have one complete monitor for each source and destination in use (which in a complex project could easily include several sources). The addition of this feature is an example of Microsoft closing the gap between Windows and Macintosh. The Macintosh had the ability to support multiple monitors back in 1987. And this feature highlights the Microsoft approach to closing the gap, because the version available in 1987 on the Macintosh is still superior to that newly available with Windows 98. On the Macintosh, there is no limit (other than user hardware purchases) on the number of monitors, each monitor can be of a different size (14", 17", 21", 25", etc.), can be of a different resolution (72 ppi, 75 ppi, 150 ppi, etc.), and can be of a different color depth (16, 256, thousands, millions of colors). Additionally, the resolution and color depth of any one (or all) of the monitors can be changed on the fly without rebooting. And the Macintosh supports on the fly changing of the ordering of the monitors, changing the monitor that has the menu bar, and changing which monitor windows open into.
The downside is that the release of Windows 98 set new records for the most technical support calls in a single day. Windows 98 was released with more than 10,000 known bugs and is so bug-filled that it crashed during Microsoft’s official televised introduction. Many individuals and businesses have found it so trouble-filled that they have given up on attempts to install it and returned to Windows 95. These widespread reliability problems have spawned humor, such as the error list shown below.
Bill Gates, when questioned about the more than 10,000 bugs Microsoft acknowledged existed in Windows 98, claimed “There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed.…The reason we come up with new versions is not to fix bugs.…It’s the stupidest reason to buy a new version I ever heard.”
Microsoft took the approach that it was only profitable for them to fix bugs that affected a large number of users.
The result is that if your computer is a mainstream model with only simple and mainstream hardware and you only use a few select mainstream programs, Windows 98 will work with no trouble at all. Windows 98 should also work fine (at least initially) when pre-installed on a new computer.
The more your own work or your choice of hardware or software deviates from the mainstream, the more likely that Windows 98 will present all kinds of problems and that you will probably need to pay for hours or days of expensive professional tech support to get it running.
If your business is still using Windows 3.1 or MS-DOS, then the reasons that caused you to avoid Windows 95 apply even more strongly for avoiding Windows 98.
There are many high quality operating systems
available for existing Intel-based hardware, including excellent
commercial operating systems such as OS/2, NeXTSTEP, or Solaris, as well as excellent free operating systems
such as LINUX, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
For those still using MS-DOS, IBM has released an updated and
improved version called PC-DOS-2000.
For
those considering the purchase of new computers, the Macintosh
line includes both high end graphics machines and a new consumer
model, the iMac, which is actually up to two times faster than
any Pentium II computer.
Opiniões
“Microsoft enjoyed its great success not because it had great software but because people were stuck with it. Market domination, not innovation, drove the company’s success,” wrote James Wallace in the book “Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace”, John Wiley &#amp; Sons, September 1997.
Quite simply, Windows guarantees more work for the M.I.S. departments — because it computers require far more technical support to do the same work. And when the M.I.S. departments make computer recommendations to management, they tend to look out for their own job security over the best interests of the business. The same reason that many retail stores also push Wintel machines — it guarantees more work for their highly profitable service departments.
Study after study has shown that Macintoshes are less expensive to support and maintain than Wintel machines. Wintel computers typically cost four to 10 times as much in support costs. Even Intel’s own internal study showed that it was costing them four times as much to support Windows machines as it did to support their Macintoshes (yes, Intel used Macintoshes for mission critical work — and since that study they have been expanding their use of Macintoshes).
Independent studies over the years continually show that worker productivity is substantially higher on Macintoshes than on Wintel computers. And the difference is greatest in the creative fields (pre-press, illustration, digital photography, 2-D and 3-D animation, 3-D modelling and rendering, film special effects, broadcast video editting, CD-ROM production, multi-media, music composition and performance, sound editting, and web site production), where the Macintosh is the most prevalent computer (even more than the high end graphics work stations).
Rhapsody (which combines the ease of use and professional content creation capabilities of the Macintosh with the power, reliability, and speed of NeXT version of UNIX) will be available for both PowerPC and Intel Pentium machines late this year. BeOS and OS/2 also offer excellent desktop alternatives to the Windows family of operating systems. Any of the many free and commercial versions of UNIX offer a better high end operating system than Windows NT.
