In our previous post, we spoke about the stable operating system. Recall that we consider the operating system as the foundation upon which we will be building our technology enablers, i.e. our software tools. And we won’t be building them; rather, we will be installing them on top of the operating system. We can’t quite get away from the physical building metaphors, as they are so apropos for the situation. We are unabashedly unrepentant.
Ok, back to the stable operating system. What do we mean by that? First, let’s not quite get into the Mac vs PC argument here, or more specifically, the UNIX vs Windows slugfest. We are going to approach this in a more conceptual manner, such that the salient points may be applied equally well to whatever operating system your choose. After all, in specific cases, your choice of an operating system may come down to the requirements of the application you need.
In a nutshell, stable means less crashing. Note that we explicitly do not use the term “no crashing.” Frankly, there’s no such thing. But there is such a thing as fewer crash instances, and so that is what we mean when we say stable. Stability is not necessarily linked to a specific operating system, and really it is not the sole domain of any OS in the market today. Yes, stability is a byproduct of a well constructed OS to begin with, but what you do to it in terms of maintaining it, as well as the frequency of support coming from the manufacturer will factor greatly in the degree to which an operating system is “stable.”
Thus it unfolds like this: stability is two-way street. You want the supplier of your operating system to be on top issues, and we’re not talking just performance issues here, but the whole gamut including security; moreover, you yourself must be on top of the maintenance effort.
Any software product will require maintenance in the long run, and OS stability is a shared effort between yourself and the manufacturer, as OS is in fact software. No doubt some OS will be inherently more stable coming out of production, but ultimately, in the long run, stability is a product of diligence: coming out of the manufacturer, and out of you.
Lesson here is that your OS stability is only as effective as you and the manufacturer make it. Should the manufacturer be on top of their game and deliver timely updates which you fail to apply, then stability will not be realized. Likewise, a shoddy OS out of the gate coupled with shoddy manufacturer support will never end up in stability nirvana, no matter how diligent you are.
In our next installment, we will look at a specific OS, inspect its pedigree and expected stability and evaluate its potential to provide us with the stable foundation we seek as we build our portfolio of software tools in support of our business processes.
Stay tuned.
Kold Kat