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The Windows Market Role
Windows is hardly unique in its ability to provide essential functionality on several platforms. After all, numerous proprietary and open OSs have these features, and UNIX[1] and Linux have long been available on a wide range of systems. There are, however, significant advantages, both business and technical, to using Windows and to developing Windows applications.[1] UNIX comments always apply to Linux as well as to any other system that supports the POSIX API.
- Windows dominates the market, especially on the desktop, and has done so for many years with no change in sight.[2] Therefore, Windows applications have a large target market, numbering in the tens of millions and dwarfing other desktop systems, including UNIX, Linux, and Macintosh.
[2] Linux is occasionally mentioned as a threat to Windows' dominance, primarily as a server but also for personal applications. While extremely interesting, speculation regarding future developments, much less the comparative merits of Linux and Windows, is out of scope for this book.
- The market dominance of the Windows OSs means that applications and software development and integration tools are widely and inexpensively available for Windows. Furthermore, innovations often appear first on Windows systems.
- Windows applications can use a GUI familiar to tens of millions of users, and many Windows applications are customized or "localized" for the language and user interface requirements of users throughout the world.
- SMP systems are also supported by Windows. Windows is not confined to the desktop; it can support departmental and enterprise servers and high-performance workstations.[3]
[3] The range of Windows host systems can be appreciated by considering that programs in this book have been tested on systems spanning from an obsolete 486 system with 16MB of RAM to a four-processor, 8GB RAM, 2GHz Xeon-based enterprise server.
- Windows (although not Windows 9x and CE) is certified at the National Security Agency (NSA) C2 security level.
- Most OSs, other than UNIX, Linux, and Windows, are proprietary to systems from a single vendor.
- The Windows OSs have many features not available in standard UNIX, although they may be available in some UNIX implementations. C2-level security and NT Services are two examples.
