Holcombe Jane - ISE EBook for Survey of Operating Systems 7e

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survey of	Operating Systems
Seventh Edition Jane Holcombe

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SURVEY OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

Published by McGraw Hill LLC, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. Copyright 2023 by McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.

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This book is printed on acid-free paper.

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ISBN 978-1-265-26469-7

MHID 1-265-26469-4

Cover Image: sdecoret/Shutterstock

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mheducation.com/highered

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About the Author

JANE HOLCOMBE was the tech support person for a small financial planning company, a role she was assigned at a time when technology was about connecting specialized terminals to expensive industry-specific systems across telephone lines . These systems were limited in the reports they generated, and far from user-friendly. Her job was to research the emerging technologies of the time, including desktop PCs and local area networks . Jane would often discover bookmarked technical magazines on her desk, along with a note from the boss instructing her to check out the articles and research how to move their accounting and contact management systems to PCs. After months of research and after consulting with various experts, she oversaw the move of the accounting and contact management functions to IBM PCs connected via a local area network (LAN). The network was slow, and the software for accounting and contact management required memorizing keystrokes for each function. However, the boss was pleased with the ability to make quick changes to the reports these systems generatedsomething not possible with the old, mainframe-based systems. This project showed Jane the potential of personal computing in business.

She learned that one roadblock to bringing PCs into business was the lack of knowledgeable PC support staff. So, her next project was a career move, as she created appropriate courseware and co-founded a company that presented technical PC and network support courses nationwide.

Later, she sold her interest in the training company and returned to independent technical consulting and instruction, acquiring experience and certifications for desktop and server operating systems. Today, as a technical writer, she draws on this background as well as her continuing exploration of new technologies.

About the Contributors

This book was greatly influenced by the comments, suggestions, and feedback from the following group of dedicated instructors. To them I give my heartfelt thanks.

Acknowledgments

When Alan Palmer, Senior Product Developer, notified me that McGraw Hill Higher Education had approved the seventh edition of the Survey of Operating Systems, I carefully reviewed the content in the last edition and created a suggested Table of Contents that Alan sent to appropriate instructors, along with a survey for them to complete. The results of this survey helped me create the outline for the seventh edition.

As with previous editions, knowledgeable peer reviewers scrutinized each chapter, providing invaluable feedback on the relevancy and accuracy of the content. I cant imagine writing a book like this without these technical reviews.

I thank every member of the talented team of people at McGraw Hill who ensured the books integrity. They include Wyatt Morris, Alan Palmer, Maria McGreal, and Mithun Kothandath from Straive. I particularly want to thank Wyatt and Alan for their unstinting support, professionalism, and patience. I love the design of this edition and greatly appreciate the expertise of the members of the production group who all worked hard to make the book look wonderful. Creating and laying out the many elements of this complex book design was a huge task, and they handled it skillfully.

I appreciate all who worked so hard to make this book what it is.

Thank you!

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About This Book

Important Technology Skills

Information technology (IT) offers many career paths, leading to occupations in such fields as PC repair, network administration, telecommunications, Web development, graphic design, and desktop support. To become competent in any IT field, however, you need certain basic computer skills. This book will help you build a foundation for success in the IT field by introducing you to fundamental information about popular desktop and mobile operating systems, a needed basis for working with all types of computing devices.