Microsoft Windows 8 Versus Windows 10 Operating Systems, in a Recessed Economy

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1 African Journal of Science Education Volume 1 Issue 1, June Microsoft Windows 8 Versus Windows 10 Operating Systems, in a Recessed Economy Department of Computer Science, Delta State College of Education, Mosogar, Delta State. ISSN:

2 Microsoft Windows 8 Versus Windows 10 Operating Systems, in a Recessed Economy Article Info Article History Received: February 2018 Accepted: May 2018 Keywords Microsoft windows 8 Windows 10 Operating system recessed economy Abstract Microsoft Windows operating systems has become widely in use. Windows 10 is the latest Microsoft s operating system release and the immediate successor to Windows 8. The need to compare the timing performance features of this two operating systems in terms of seven selected criteria, namely, (boot time, wake up time from hybrid sleep, wake up time from hibernation, test of running applications, gaming performance, battery life performance while system is working normally, and battery life while watching a movie with the system e.t.c) as checklist method was adopted for the analysis. This paper, made a comparison with a view to choose the advantageous of OS in a recessed economy. The steps taken in carrying out the tests include the use of a single laptop PC with Microsoft Windows 8, the selected criteria were tested on the system, after which the operating system was upgraded to Microsoft Windows 10 and repeat tests were carried out for same set of selected criteria. Introduction Often abbreviated as OS, an operating system is a powerful, and usually large, program that controls and manages the hardware and other software on a computer (Fisher, 2016). All computers and computer-like devices have operating systems, including laptops, tablets, desktops, smartphones, smartwatches, routers, etc. Some examples of OSes include versions of Microsoft Windows (like Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP), Apple's Mac OS (formerly OS X) Chrome OS, and flavors of the open source operating system Linux. Windows OS, more formally called Microsoft Windows, is Microsoft s flagship operating system, the de facto standard for personal computers, home and business computers. Introduced in 1985, the GUI-based OS was released in many versions. The term Windows collectively describes any or all of

3 several generations of Microsoft operating system products. Windows is developed and sold by Microsoft Incorporation, based in Seattle, USA. Microsoft, originally named "Traf-O-Data" in 1972, was renamed "Micro-soft" in November 1975, then "Microsoft" on November 26, 1976 (ccm.net, 2016). Windows dominates the personal computer world, running, by some estimates, more than 90 percent of all personal computers the remainder running Linux and Mac operating systems (Beal, 2012). Figure 1.1 illustrates the market share statistics of Windows OS products compared to other OSes. Fig 1.1: Market Share Statistics of Windows OS Source: Beal (2012) Windows provides a graphical user interface (GUI), virtual memory management, multitasking, and support for many peripheral devices. In addition to Windows OS for personal computers, Microsoft also offers operating systems for servers and personal mobile devices. Versions of Microsoft windows Microsoft was shot into the marketplace with the release of its first version 1.0 of MS-DOS in August 1981 which was 16-bit command-line operating system. In November 1985, Microsoft released the first version of Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Windows 1.0). It had a graphical user interface, being inspired by the user interface of the Apple computers of the time. Windows 1.0 was not a successful system within the public, and Microsoft Windows 2.0, launched December 9, 1987, did not do much better (Bourque, 2015). In 1990, Microsoft Windows became a success, with the release of Windows 3.0, and then Windows 3.1 in 1992, as well as Microsoft Windows for Workgroups, later renamed Windows 3.11, which included network capabilities. In 1995, Microsoft launched and released the Microsoft Windows 95, which signified its willingness to transfer some of MS-DOS's capabilities into Windows, but was based more on 16-bit DOS and retained the limitations of the FAT16 file system, which was impossible to use long file names. The next version, Windows 98 was released in 1998 following minor revisions of Microsoft Windows 95. Windows 98 supported features other than those of MS-DOS but was still based upon it. It however suffered from poor memory handling when multiple applications were running, which could cause system malfunctions and instability. Windows 98 SE

4 (for "Second Edition"), which was a second edition of Windows 98 was then released on February 17, 2000.Microsoft then released Windows Me (for Millennium Edition), also called Windows Millennium on September 14, Windows Millennium was based largely on Windows 98 (and therefore on MS-DOS), but added additional multimedia and software capabilities. Furthermore, Windows Millennium included a systemrestore mechanism for returning to a previous state in the event of a crash. However, since 1993, Microsoft had been distributing Windows NT (for Windows "New Technology"), an entirely 32-bit operating system (which therefore was not based on MS-DOS) for professional use concurrently with those Windows releases, at a time when business primarily used mainframes. Windows NT was not a new version of Windows 95 or an improvement on it, but an entirely different operating system. Windows NT 3.1, the first version of Windows NT was released on May 24, It was followed by Windows NT 3.5 in September 1994 and Windows 3.51 in June With Windows NT 4.0, launched for sale on August 24, 1996, Windows NT finally became a true success. In July 1998, Microsoft released Windows NT 4.0 TSE (Terminal Server Emulation), the first Windows system that allowed terminals to be plugged into a server, i.e. use thin clients to open a session on the server. The next version of NT 4.0, Windows 2000 (instead of Windows NT 5.0), was released in This was in order to highlight the unification of "NT" with the "Windows 9x" systems. Windows 2000 is an entirely 32-bit system with characteristics of Windows NT, as well as an improved task manager and full compatibility with USB and FireWire peripherals. Then, on October 25, 2001, Windows XP arrived on the scene. The XP merged features of the preceding operating systems. Finally, on April 24, 2003, a server operating system was released by Microsoft: Windows Server The Server OS also has variants, with Server 2013 being the latest. Figure 1.2 is a graphical representation of the Windows up till Source: Branscombe et al, (2016) Figure 1.2: Historical representation of Windows From the Figure, the features of all other previous releases were merged.

5 Background information Windows 8 Windows 8 (Windows NT 6.2) carne in October 2012, and contained a new graphical interface known as Metro, which is used for tablets, laptops, desktops and Windows phone. Optimized for touch screens, Metro can also be controlled with a mouse and keyboard. Additionally, Windows 8 has a faster and more stable startup than previous versions of Windows. However, Windows 8 was found awkward by many users, like switching between an interface made for a touch screen and one made for a mouse. Generally, this led to Windows 7 retaining the market leadership. (Rouse, 2104). Windows 8 is the version of Windows operating system after Windows 7 (Sharma, 2013). It comes with improved file system, security components, network stacks, drivers, media and graphic support. It supports high resolution graphics and multi-core CPUs. Windows 8 has Internet Explorer 10 as a built-in web browser for improved web accessibility. One of the main features of Window 8 is the app platform with touch screen input. Apps can be downloaded from the Windows Store. Windows 8 is a personal computer operating system developed by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. Development of Windows 8 started before the release of its predecessor, Windows 7, in It was announced in 2011, and followed by the release of three pre-release versions from September 2011 to May The operating system was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, and was released for general availability on October 26, (Wikipedia) Windows 8 introduced major changes to the operating system's platform and user interface to improve its user experience on tablets, where Windows was now competing with mobile operating systems, including Android and ios. In particular, these changes included a touch-optimized Windows shell based on Microsoft's "Metro" design language, the Start screen (which displays programs and dynamically updated content on a grid of tiles), a new platform for developing "apps" with an emphasis on touchscreen input, integration with online services (including the ability to synchronize apps and settings between devices), and Windows Store, an online store for downloading and purchasing new software. Windows 8 added support for USB 3.0, Advanced Format hard drives, near field communications, and cloud computing. Additional security features were introduced, such as built-in antivirus software, integration with Microsoft SmartScreen phishing filtering service and support for UEFI Secure Boot on supported devices with UEFI firmware, to prevent malware from infecting the boot process (Einar, 2015). Windows 8 was released to a mixed critical reception. Although reaction towards its performance improvements, security enhancements, and improved support for touchscreen devices was positive, the new user interface of the operating system was widely criticized for being potentially confusing and difficult to learn,

6 especially when used with a keyboard and mouse instead of a touchscreen. Despite these shortcomings, 60 million Windows 8 licenses have been sold through January 2013, a number that included both upgrades and sales to OEMs for new PCs (Foley, 2013). Windows 10 Windows 10 is the latest release of Microsoft's Windows operating system and the successor to the underwhelming Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (Stroud, 2016). With Windows 8 suffering from mostly negative reactions by both enterprises and consumers, Microsoft chose to eschew going with the logical next iteration of Windows, Windows 9, opting instead for the name Windows 10. Windows 10 is designed to have a consistent interface across user devices including PCs, laptops, phones and tablets. Windows 10 is developed and released as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems, and was officially unveiled in September The first version of the operating system entered a public beta testing process in October 2014, leading up to its consumer release on July 29, 2015.On November 12, 2015, an update to Windows 10, version 1511, was released. This update can be activated with a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 product key as well as Windows 10 product keys. Features include new icons and right-click context menus, default printer management, four times as many tiles allowed in the Start menu, Find My Device, and Edge updates. Windows 10 introduced a number of new elements, including the option to use a touch-optimized interface (known as tablet mode) or a traditional desktop interface similar to that of Windows 7 along with live tiles from Windows 8. However, unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 10 continues to receive major features and changes beyond its initial release to market. Microsoft described Windows 10 as an 'operating system as a service' that would receive ongoing updates to its features and functionality, augmented with the ability for enterprise environments to receive non-critical updates at a slower pace, or use long-term support milestones that will only receive critical updates, such as security patches, over their five-year lifespan of mainstream support. Analysis of Windows 8 and Windows 10 The features of the two windows operating system as proposed by (Sheridan, 2015) that was used as criteria for comparison is outlined as follows: Boot time For boot time tests, Microsoft Windows Performance Toolkit was used. These tools are also used by software and hardware makers to test the impact of battery life and performance of their products on typical machines.

7 Hybrid sleep Hybrid sleep is a combination of sleep and hibernate meant to prevent users from losing work in case of a power failure. Here we measured the time it takes for the system to wake up from sleep. The test stops the moment the desktop is loaded and we induced sleep with a custom shortcut. Hibernation The system shall be hibernated (shut down not completely) on both OSes and the time to wake up from hibernation measured. Application test The test for applications performances was carried out with the aid of PC Mark 8 for selected applications: MS Excel 2013, such as converting and calculating a huge Excel file Internet Explorer, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. Gaming test Tomb Raider was used with DirectX 11 (high quality), with resolution 1680 x Battery life The system battery life was tested using PCMark 8's work tests (in loop) until the battery runs dry. Two scenarios would be tested for the battery life performance: While working While watching a video clip Microsoft windows 8 and windows 10 are both operating system with almost same features. It was however compared in term of timing and was noted from the critical examinations of their timing performance that Windows 10 outperforms Windows 8 in four key areas, while Windows 8 outperforms Windows 10 in just two areas. In other four areas, the differences in performance are quite insignificant, though Windows 10 tends to have an advantage. This implies that Microsoft windows 10 operating system is best used/more economical due to its battery longevity and lesser time consuming. Thereby making it fit in a recessed economy. Table 1: checklist observation S/N Performance Criteria Windows 8 Time Windows 10 Time Millisecond (MS) Millisecond (MS) 1 Boot test (using BootRacer) 4000 ( 4 Sec) 6000 (6 sec)

8 2 Wake from hybrid sleep (12 sec) (10 sec) 3 Wake from hibernation (23 sec) (21 sec ) 4 Excel 2013 Performance 5700 (5.7 sec) 5500 (5.5sec) 5 Internet explorer set up time 1732 (1.73sec) 1711(1.71sec) 6 Mozilla Firefox load time 963 (0.96 sec) 1030 (1.03sec) 7 Google chrome run time 930 (0.93 sec) 919 (0.92 sec) 8 Gaming performance load time for tombraider (0.11 sec) (0.11 sec) 9 Battery life while working 7.92x10 6 (7920 sec) 8.46 x 10 6 (8460 sec) 10 Battery life while watching a movie 8.7 x 10 6 (8700 sec) x 10 7 (10860 sec) Table 2: checklist findings Findings Performance criteria Windows 8. Windows 10 Remark Startup time Faster Windows 8.1 is faster Wake from hybrid sleep Faster Windows 10 is faster Wake from Hibernation Faster Windows 10 is faster Test of Excel 2013 application Test of Internet Explorer 11 browser Insignificant Insignificant Test of Mozilla Firefox 32 load time Faster Windows 8 outperforms 10 Test of Chrome run time Insignificant Gaming performance - - Same experience Battery in Windows 10 lasts Battery life while working Test of battery life while watching movie Longer Longer longer Battery in Windows 10 lasts longer Conclusion and Recommendation The operating systems were evaluated using the exact same hardware, benchmarking software and methodology. With many users still holding onto Windows 7 and XP, it makes a lot of sense for Microsoft s newest operating system to focus on the classic desktop experience while featuring the best of what Windows 10 has to offer.

9 Windows 10 even in its first release is a tad faster than Windows 8. But it isn't magic. Some areas improved only marginally, though battery life did jump up noticeably for movies. It shouldn't be surprising if certain aspects of Windows 10's performance are improved over the coming months and into next year, but most importantly today, you can feel free to upgrade and know you won't be sacrificing performance in the process (Beal, 2012). To this end the following recommendation have become necessary: 1. Users of windows 10 OS should be aware of the speedy nature of the OS in choice making. 2. Microsoft windows 10 OS user should be alert in newest upgrade/version. 3. Microsoft should create awareness on their newest upgrade/versions. 4. User should accustom with all important performance feature of windows 10 OS in use. 5. Windows 10 o.s creative nature should be more emphasis to users, so as to solve the problem of monopoly recession in an economy. References Beal, V. (2012). The History of Windows Operating Systems. Retrieved from ng_system.html on 18th September, Bourque, B. (2014). What s the difference between Windows 8 and 10? Branscombe, M. &Grabham, D. (2016). Operating systems. Retrieved from on 17th September, CCM.NET (2016). Introduction to Microsoft Windows. Retrieved from introduction-to-microsoft-windows on 16th September, Einar, K. (2015). An introduction to Windows Operating System. Retrieved from Bookboon.com on 22nd September, Fisher, T. (2016). Operating System. Retrieved from com/od/termshm/g/term_os.htm on 25th September Foley, M. J (2013). "Microsoft: 60 million Windows 8 licenses sold to date". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Rouse, M. (2014). Microsoft Windows. Retrieved from windowsserver.techtarget.com/definition/windows on 17th September, Sharma, P. (2013). Windows 8 Advantage and Disadvantage. advantage-and-disadvantage/

10 Sheridan, K (2015). Windows 10: 9 Killer Features. Retrieved from Stroud, F. (2016). Windows 10. Retrieved from TERM/M/Microsoft_Windows.html on 20th September, 2016.