Slashdot Mirror


The Incredible Shrinking Operating System

snydeq writes "The center of gravity is shifting away from the traditional, massive operating systems of the past, as even the major OSes are slimming their footprint to make code bases easier to manage and secure, and to increase the variety of devices on which they can run, InfoWorld reports. Microsoft, for one, is cutting down the number of services that run at boot to ensure Windows 7 will run across a spectrum of hardware. Linux distros such as Ubuntu are stripping out functionality, including MySQL, CUPS, and LDAP, to cut footprints in half. And Apple appears headed for a slimmed-down OS X that will enable future iPhones or tablet devices to run the same OS as the Mac. Though these developments don't necessarily mean that the browser will supplant the OS, they do show that OS vendors realize they must adapt as virtualization, cloud computing, netbooks, and power concerns drive business users toward smaller, less costly, more efficient operating environments."

2 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. MySQL & LDAP? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If Ubuntu is looking to unseat Windows, why do they need a SQL server and a directory service? Granted I use Apache and MySQL on my Mac so I can develop on the road, but not everyone does.

    I use Black Viper's Windows services tutorial to decide what I can do without on XP. It makes a pretty decent difference in both RAM and CPU usage.

  2. No, not presumptuous at all.... by gbutler69 · · Score: 5, Informative

    All of the following are valid implementations of a "Data Base":

    • One big ASCII Flat-File
    • A series of ASCII Flat-Files in a Single Folder
    • A series of ASCII Flat-Files in a hierarchy of folders
    • An XML File
    • A Series of XML Files in a Single Folder
    • A Series of XML Files in a hierarchy of folders
    • A binary file...
    • etc...
    • PostgreSQL
    • MySQl
    • MS-SQL Server
    • Oracle
    • etc...

    Only some of those mentioned above are "RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS" that support SQL-style DDL (Data Definition Language) and DML (Data Modification Language) and DQL (Data Query Language). That doesn't make any of the other myriad of possibilities (Object Databases, Registries, Gnome Config, Berkley DB, custom whaznath binary flim-flam database) any less of "Data Bases".

    You simply possess a very limited understanding of what a Database is.

    --
    Over-the-top Response Guy! Giving "Over-the-Top Responses" since 1970.