Full Circle Magazine FR

I remember years ago when Windows was trying to integrate Internet Explorer (IE) into Windows so you couldn't remove it without breaking the operating system. Well, Windows 10 is at it again. With OneDrive. Microsoft (MS) has been the big player in the computer world and its goal is to control the industry. MS knew when the Internet was coming of age that it would take over the way mankind did business and communicate with one another. They wanted to be the top dog with IE browser, but that didn't happen. Now the big thing today is cloud storage and they want to be top dog with their OneDrive, but that is not happening. We have DropBox, Google Cloud and many others competing with them. The Question is, have you tried to remove OneDrive? You will see Windows 10 OneDrive is built in. The connections are so tight, in fact, that OneDrive has its own node in File Explorer; with no obvious way to remove it. But the options to disconnect OneDrive are there if you know where to look, and if you go to the link it will tell you how to do this. But be warned that you have to make a simple registry edit. Any time you get into the registry you can break things. Okay, I am going to tell you a little secret. I have a great workaround for this problem, I don't use Windows because I don't like Microsoft's tactics, I use Linux. I do keep a copy of Windows on my laptop for odds and ends, but I use Linux as my main Operating System (OS).

Je me rappelle il y a pas mal d'années, quand Windows essayait d'intégré Internet Explorer (IE) dans Windows de façon à ce que vous ne pouviez pas l'enlever sans casser tout le système.

I hear people say, Linux is too techie for me. That is not completely true. There is a learning curve in using a different OS, but you can do most everything in a Graphical User Interface (GUI) just like Windows, but you have more control over what you do, and Linux is not trying to take over the world and shove things down your throat and force you into using things you don't want or need. And just a little side note, you have different choices to choose from when it comes to GUIs. There is always a reason a company does things, and it is always for the benefit of the company. This just stands to reason. Have you ever asked why MS started giving away Windows 10? Most Linux distributions are free and MS knows this and they also know that Linux is becoming very popular. Just check out Distrowatch. The number of Linux users today is getting close to 87 million according to Linux Counter. My feelings are MS wants to make sure Windows OS doesn't lose ground in the number of users. We know that there are many more Window users in the world than Linux users, but it isn't about numbers. Linux users use their OS because they know it is better than what MS is offering. Yes, Windows has its place but it's not on the desk of a Linux user. There are many people using tablets and phones that don't even give it a second thought that they are using Linux when they fire up their Android device. And we can't talk about OSs without mentioning Apple's OS. Now, to make myself clear, I am not an Apple guy so I can't say anything bad or good about it. The only reason I have never used it was the cost of ownership. I felt that if I went with Apple I would have to go all the way, iPad, iPhone, iEverything, and I was afraid I would run out of money. From what I know about the early days of the Macintosh's OS, it was a lot like the Atari ST and TT computers. The Mac's OS came along in 1984, and Atari ST and TT OS were built on TOS. TOS was Atari's answer to DOS but when MiNT came along in 1989 (not to be confused with Linux Mint OS of today), it added a nice GUI that looked a lot like Mac's OS in the earlier days so I went in that direction.

Seeing that I grew up on this OS, let me give you just a little history on MiNT. It was developed by Eric Smith, who was trying to port the GNU library and related utilities on the Atari ST TOS. But the funny part was it was easier to add a Unix-like layer to the TOS than to patch all of the GNU software, and MiNT began as a TOS extension to help in porting. I think it was back in 1990 that the new Kernel got started or at least it was building traction with other contributors to this work. What came about was the ability to do multitasking in a Graphical Environment Manager (GEM). Don't you just love these Acronyms? So it was no longer called just TOS, but MultiTOS and was installed using a floppy disk. Okay, that's enough history. I did this to show you how far we have come with OSs and we ain't done yet. I mention two things above, 'Unix' and a 'Kernel,' and thought I would make these clear to those who might not know what I am talking about. First, let me explain what Unix is and then what the Kernel has to do with the OS. First, Linux is a Unix-like OS, but the Kernel is different. For now, just think of the Disk Operating System (DOS) in earlier computers as the underlying workings of the early Windows OS. Windows 98 was the last version to run on top of DOS. I read somewhere that Windows NT 3.1 was the first non-DOS based OS. DOS was an early OS where Unix was an early OS as well. There are Unix OSs still in use today, but they have grown just like Linux. BSD is one that comes to mind and is in the list of Distros at Distrowatch. But it is not pure Unix and is referred to as Unix-like. Apple's OSX. the X is for ‘graphical Unix OS’ that was developed by Apple Inc. Nov. 15, 2010. I got this off the Internet because like I said earlier, I don't know much about Apple.

Every good Linux user should know that the Linux Kernel is the heart of Linux and was developed by Linus Torvalds and thousands of others. This next tidbit is for the upcoming programmers. The first programming language that I learned (and I was not very good at it) was assembly language. This was the first computer language that was used to develop Unix. It was back in 1969 and was done at Bell Labs. Later development was changed to the C language. History tells us a lot about what we are using today. I could have started this article out by saying; 'In the beginning there was Unix and then DOS came along. And then came so much more.' And maybe we should end this article by answering a few questions. Is Linux Unix? Is Windows Unix? And what is Linux? Let me start out by telling you what Unix is. Unix is a registered trademark. This means that the code is not free. There are various companies that sell and have sold code that was derived from the original system. Some examples are Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and you can also see Evolution of Operating systems from Unix for more information. This next statement can be found on the Internet by asking; what is Unix used for? Unix, multi-user computer OS, is widely used for Internet servers, workstations, and mainframe computers. It was developed by AT&T Corporation's Bell Laboratories in the late 1960s as a result of efforts to create a time-sharing computer system.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's move on to the question, Is Linux Unix? Linux is the kernel that runs the OS. Or maybe I could say it this way. Linux is the OS kernel that was and is being designed like Unix's Kernel. That's where we get the saying ‘Unix-like OS’. It does not use the Unix Kernel but it uses the Linux Kernel. So, to answer this question, I would have to say, Linux is not Unix. As many of the tools outside the kernel are part of the Gnu project, such systems are often known as GNU/Linux. Gnu is not Unix, with means Gnu isn't based on Unix original code, not that Gnu doesn't want to implement Unix spec. I could carry this further but I think you get the point. Next question. Is Windows Unix? Just like Linux is referred to as Unix-like, so we find Windows in that same category. It is Unix-like. In fact, we can include all these OSs: Mac OS X, Android, IOS, Chrome OS, and Orbis OS used on the PlayStation 4. We could also include all the firmware that is running on your routers. Every one of these OSs is considered Unix-like. So to answer this question I will have to say Windows is not Unix. For the last question, “What is Linux?” We already said it was Unix-like, and we also said it was a computer OS, but we didn't say it was assembled under the model of free and open-source software development and distribution. We already mention the heart of Linux is its kernel. The first release of Linux was on October 5, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux has come of age because of the many ways it is used today. Linux is showing up on device after device, and one of the reasons is the open-source software development and distribution. This is going to keep growing because of this reason. There are so many that have not tried Linux on the desktop because Windows comes preinstalled on most computers. You need to special order one with Linux but someday this all might change.