Question:
Why do some Old Companies still use UNIX in their Computers?
ChOcoLaTe HoUseĀ®
2011-06-28 04:56:32 UTC
I visited some Old companies & banks..... and I found that, usually their 'Main Computer' which they use as Server (for keeping database & networking purposes) has UNIX Operating System.

What makes UNIX so special over Windows ???
It doesnt even hav GUI & its so difficult to operate.
Eight answers:
grcunning
2011-06-28 05:34:26 UTC
There are a lot of reasons.



1) Much of the custom software(databases, for example), were written before WIndows was created. Why spend tens of thousands replacing them when they work perfectly well?



2) Gui's use a whole lot of processing cycles. Processing cycles cost money. Why use them when you don't need them?



3) The people who manage these servers don't need a gui, and 'difficult to operate' is a relative term. If you know what you are doing, a GUI is just so much fluff that slows down the computer.



4) Unix is far more scalable. If you go to Top500.org(that lists the top 500 fastest computers in the world, (6 run windows, 494 run some version of unix(Unix, Linux, BSD, etc).



5) Windows doesn't run on mainframe hardware.



6) Windows was designed for the everyday person to use computers, not for backend software at large companies.



7) The software running at these companies, in large part, were written in languages that aren't supported very well in Windows(for example, most of the software for banking was(and is) written in COBOL(COmmon Business Oriented Language)). It is designed specifically for companies like banks. Windows COBOL support is practically non-existent.



8) Windows zealots may disagree, but in my opinion, Unix is a vastly superior, more secure, more capable at multi-user use, operating system.



9) The only reason that *nix(Linux specifically) isn't used more on the desktop is that most home users are morons. Their idea of computing is "if I click on the little 'e', I can go on the internet and look at more lolcats". They just aren't capable of using anything that requires a little thinking. Making an operating system 'simple' is a very important thing for home users. Businesses don't have to worry about that because they can hire people who are smart enough that they don't need to have their hand held.



10) etc, etc, etc.....
IULIAN
2011-06-28 05:26:50 UTC
Unix is more flexible and can be installed on many different types of machines, including main-frame computers, supercomputers and micro-computers.



- Unix is more stable and does not go down as often as Windows does, therefore requires less administration and maintenance.



- Unix has greater built-in security and permissions features than Windows.



- Unix possesses much greater processing power than Windows.



- Unix is the leader in serving the Web. About 90% of the Internet relies on Unix operating systems running Apache, the world's most widely used Web server.



- Software upgrades from Microsoft often require the user to purchase new or more hardware or prerequisite software. That is not the case with Unix.



- The mostly free or inexpensive open-source operating systems, such as Linux and BSD, with their flexibility and control, are very attractive to (aspiring) computer wizards. Many of the smartest programmers are developing state-of-the-art software free of charge for the fast growing "open-source movementā€.



- Unix also inspires novel approaches to software design, such as solving problems by interconnecting simpler tools instead of creating large monolithic application programs.
Rose D
2011-06-28 06:59:27 UTC
The same reason many new companies use Unix. It's stable. It's fast. It's efficient. It's secure. They have custom software that runs on Unix.



And every version of Unix has a GUI. By and large it's easy to use, even without the GUI, if you know what you're doing.
Alex Millson
2011-06-28 05:22:50 UTC
Unix is free so no costs....

Most servers usually have unix or linux as it tends to run better and there is no need for a gui on a server but one can be installed... On a standard pc you would install the gui with unix but as it is a server it just uses unnecessary space
2011-06-29 04:18:15 UTC
The Basic Fact that Unix Is an Open source Makes it best for Use ... You can't Dare to Make changes in the Source code for Windows/Macintosh's ... So Its Better To Take an Open Source O.S. and modify it to suit your Organisation Needs ....!!!



The other reasons are that its Not that vulnerable to security Problems And Is more Reliable than Windows ...



GUI is not a Problem when you see the Use of these issues .....
Khaleel
2011-06-28 05:21:50 UTC
Unix & Linux are Non-Dos operating systems higly secured and used to maintain large database in servers
2011-06-29 07:05:58 UTC
most of the great points about Unix has already covered , some from my side



1) Unix is very rich on commands , find, grep and networking commands are simply great.

2) Unix has many shell for support e.g. bash, ksh

4) Unix is multiuser OS. many user can login at same time.
?
2016-12-18 00:57:47 UTC
solaris is super area of interest and prefer quite a few different OS it is going to take time to grasp. the priority you've got is calling a job no longer many agencies use solaris, yet on the different hand there are not that many solaris sysops so there is far less opposition. Its on no account to late to earnings a clean OS yet me in my opinion might pick linux server admin


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