Desktop Systems in OS

Overview

The control program that operates in a user’s machine is termed as the desktop system. Such a system is also referred as a client operating system. The client can be said as a computer in a network where the user performs some task or activity over the network.

Such computer operating systems do not have complete control over the resources but use the network to access them. Also, these operating system only use the network to carry out tasks such as downloading a file from the network or browsing the internet.

Desktop operating systems usually operate with a server computer which has the complete control over the resources. Also, the processing power remains completely in the hand of the server operating system. The server operating system is developed in such a way that it can fulfill all the requirements and requests of the client or the desktop operating system.

Desktop or the client operating system is completely dependent on the server operating systems and are ineffective in the absence of a server.

Basic Features

Some of the features of a client operating system are:

• Basic operating features such as data sharing, internet browsing, and detecting hardware.
• Needs minimal memory requirements
• Highly budget friendly
• Better utilization of resources
• Less operational complexity

Advantages

Some of the advantages of a client operating system are:

• Centralization of resources as all the resources are present at a common location.
• Better management of resources as the files are stored at a single place. This also avoids redundancy of resources such as printers and scanners.
• Remote access to the server gives processing power to every user.
• High security as only the server needs to be secured from threats and attacks.
• The server can play different roles for the different

Disadvantages

Some of the disadvantages of a client operating system are:

• Network congestion as multiple requests from the clients can block the network traffic.
• The architecture of request and response is not robust enough for heavy processing.
• If the server fails, all the desktop systems connected over the network fails.
• If the service interrupts, the task has to be started from scratch. For instance, if a desktop system requests a file download which gets interrupted, the file becomes corrupt, and the entire process needs to be carried out from the start.
• The operating system architecture is highly costly.
• A professional IT personnel is needed to manage and maintain such an operating environment.

Examples

• Windows 95
• Windows NT

Learn more about types of operating system here.