Case Study For Acuscan, Inc

Similarities of X Windows and Windows

Darryl Harris

University of Phoenix

Introduction to Unix POS/420

Hassan Shamim

Microsoft Windows and X Windows share many similarities when viewed with the human eye, but they have their share of differences. X Windows is one of the most powerful and important software packages available for Linux and Unix. Microsoft windows was arguably designed after X windows, only with an exceptional number of added features with the user in mind.

X WINDOWS

The original purpose of X windows was to allow users using graphic terminals to access remote graphics workstations without regard to the workstation's operating system or hardware. Due to the excellent performance and open source nature, the X Window System has become the standard windowing system for virtually all Unix and Linux operating systems. X is based on a client-server model in which the X server is a program that runs on your system and handles all access to the graphics hardware. An X client is an applications program that communicates with the server, sending it requests such as "draw a line" or "pay attention to keyboard input." The X server takes care of servicing these requests by drawing a line on the display or sending user input (via the keyboard, mouse, or whatever) to the client application. Examples of X clients are xterm (which emulates a terminal within a window) or xman (an X-based manual-page reader). It is important to note that X is a network-oriented graphics system. That is, X clients can run either locally on the same system that the server is running on or remotely.

MS WINDOWS

Microsoft created its windows PC with the intended purpose of providing a new software environment for developing and running applications that use bitmap displays and mouse pointing devices. Before Windows, PC users relied on the MS-DOS® method of typing commands at the C prompt (C:\). With Windows, users moved a mouse to point and click their way through tasks, such as starting applications.

SIMILARITIES

Similarities that are shared between X Windows and MS Windows are begin with the flexibility of the two. Major features of the two are their abilities to be manipulated easily with little or no instruction. The ways in which they can be manipulated usually include (1) opening (such as by clicking on an icon and starting an application program) and closing, (2) moving to any area of the screen by dragging (i.e., moving by placing the pointer over the window and moving the mouse with a button held down), (3) repositioning so that they appear to be behind or in front of other windows or objects on the screen, (4) adjusting size (i.e., horizontal and/or vertical dimensions) and (5) scrolling to any section of the window contents (by using scroll bars along the bottom and right edges, the mouse wheel or keyboard commands). Another major feature of X windows and MS windows is the ability for multiple windows to be open simultaneously. This is particularly valuable in a multitasking environment, i.e., an operating system in which multiple programs can run seemingly simultaneously and without interfering with each other. Each window can display a different application, or it can display different files that have been opened or created with a single application (e.g., text, image or spreadsheet files).

Advantages/Disadvantages