Microsoft And Windows Competitors

7 Pages 1751 Words

s of UNIX were backward compatible with older versions, making it easier for companies to upgrade in an orderly manner.

UNIX comes with hundreds of programs that can be divided into two classes: integral utilities that are absolutely necessary for the operation of the computer, such as the command interpreter, and tools that aren't necessary for the operation of UNIX but provide the user with additional capabilities, such as typesetting capabilities and e-mail; the tools can be added or removed from a UNIX system, depending upon the applications required.

The UNIX system is functionally organized at three levels: the kernel, which schedules tasks and manages storage; the shell, which connects and interprets users' commands, calls programs from memory, and executes them; and the tools and applications that offer additional functionality to the operating system.

The kernel, the heart of the operating system, controls the hardware and turns part of the system on and off at the programmer's command. If you ask the computer to list (ls) all the files in a directory, the kernel tells the computer to read all the files in that directory from the disk and display them on your screen.

There are several types of shell, mos...