Operating System Wars: Who Will Win?

Written by: guest blogger

May 25th, 2011 3:00 pm - 12 Comments

There was a time when I used to stare at the black blank screen, type some code and wait for things to happen. Those were the early days of Microsoft plain vanilla operating system. Things were simple back then. And then, Windows burst on the scene. Those were heady days for the coding or software community. For more than a decade, Windows operating system had no competition. I am talking about desktop operating systems. IBM remained mainly a main frame player, though it tried to break into desktop but in vain.

Entry of Linux into the OS market

While Microsoft was chugging along nicely with its Windows variants, internet came along to spoil the show. Microsoft could not convert HTML into proprietary software. System guys started using Linux as the main operating system for the web servers since it was open source and free. Moreover LAMP or Linux, Apache , MySQL and Perl/PHP/Python worked well together as a package. Microsoft Windows server offering started playing second fiddle and continues to do so even today. Slowly Linux is being used as a desktop operating system as well but is not as popular as Windows.

Entry of Mobiles

The entry of Mobiles blew the lid out of the entire system software apparatus. The heavy duty desktop operating system were out of contention. Mobiles meant lightweight OS. Nokia a Mobile hardware giant chose Symbian which became a de facto OS for mobiles till Microsoft woke up and realized that Mobile was the next big market. Meanwhile thousands of software guys had created zillions of games and applications based on Symbian. Even today, though Nokia is phasing out this OS and Symbian remains a huge presence in the mobile market. So far so good. Microsoft created its own version of Mobile OS and even goaded some Mobile manufacturers to adopt their Windows Mobile platform. It worked to an extent but then the party was once again spoilt by Google.

Smartphone’s, E-readers, Tablets and Hand Held Devices

New devices started appearing on the scene. These were cross breeds between mobiles and personal computers. These devices required operating systems which were more robust and powerful than the pared down stuff used for mobiles. Google which was waiting in the sidelines jumped into the fray with its Android offering. This created frenzy in the market. With Android 3.0 designed specifically for tablets, Google has now several tracks going simultaneously.

The Apple Tune

Meanwhile, apple was playing its own tune, as usual. iPad and iPhone were launched with much fanfare and were grabbed by a rapturous crowd . Apple has its own operating system. Many software guys started churning out applications for this market.

Conclusion

It is an open war now with several operating systems fighting it out in the market. Microsoft is trying hard to push its own version of lightweight Windows. Symbian is losing ground but is still fighting valiantly. Google has brought Android to checkmate its rivals. Apple is playing a powerful tune. Who will win is a moot question. There will be more bloodbaths before a winner emerges from the fight. There will be consolidation as we move ahead. We can look forward to some exciting times ahead.

This article has been contributed by Nitin Aggarwal, a young entrepreneur who owns the company Offshore Ally. His company is one of the leading providers of dedicated link builders and virtual assistants online. Connect with him via Twitter.

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Article Written by guest blogger (80 Articles Published)

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Brian@boulder homes

I have never found one OS to be superior than another, yes we can argue that Linux is way better security wise and now it's also friendlier as well but until unless computer vendors start selling their systems with Linux, it won't get better because there are always one or two issues with Linux and hardware compatibility whereas on Windows there aren't much compatibility issues.

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Justin Germino

Linux route is definitely cheaper since there is no OS cost.

Isha Singh

Linux is a suitable operating system and is greatly used by various professionals. the only thing is it is not much popular as windows.

rijans@Technology Gainer

I have been using Symbian for a long time and found the most powerful OS for mobile when compared to any cell OS like iOS, android, palm, WinCE or anything else. So why nokia's symbian is loosing market? Cause the big giants are there like Apple, Google or Microsoft! However Very recently I'm a little fan of Android.

Raymund@Remanufactured Ink Cartridges

Well, competition is good to us consumers, right?

Travis@TradeTechSports

+1 ^^^^ Smartphone, OS, and computer competition now days is awesome. It greatly benefits us little consumer people.

Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing

Just to add to my comment a little.....look what happened to the search engine wars.

Andreas@Online Advertising

For me google;s chrome for cloud notebooks and computers will probably win in the long run. I currently optimize for firefox and chrome in this order. IE is only secondary.

Jason Mitchev

I actually agree with Denis's comment above. I like choices as it keeps competition in place.

Stephen@Free Recipes

I've just got hold of my first Android Smartphone and it's amazing. The only reason I don't use it for blogging etc is because the screen is so small. I'm looking at a Samsung Galaxy Tablet to fit between the SP and the laptop.

I don't think there will be an overall winner in the OS market, they all have to find their own little niche and do the best they can to grab bits of the market from others.