U70909 Essential Academic Writing
Assignment 1: Compare, contrast & evaluate essay final draft:
Topic: Contrasting differences, resemblance and evaluation of two computer operating systems, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
The release of Windows 8 has divided the online community in two contradictory groups. Some users appear to enjoy the new features and performance of the newest Windows operating system, while others recommend choosing its well-received predecessor Windows 7 (Mikoluk, 2013). The purpose of this essay is to examine some of the primary characteristics of these operating systems. These comprise of: user interface, essential built-in software components, system requirements and finally, performance of two systems based on various computer test results. This essay has been organised in the following way, firstly it looks at vital characteristics of operating system user interface, it continues by analysing essential built-in software components, then proceeds by highlighting system requirements and finally, it will outline the performance of two systems based on various computer test results.
User interface is an outer layer and one of the key components of the operating system, which can be characterized and described by numerous aspects such as design strategy, start menu layout and touch screen functionality. Windows 7 keeps basic principles of conventional Windows interface building on “Aero” visual style features, such as subtle animations and translucent glass windows enabling a wide range of desktop personalisation possibilities (Bott et al., 2011). Incorporation of the Metro design language for Windows 8 introduces a completely new tile-based design strategy, which is radically different from traditional Windows representation ‘focusing on only what is needed — reducing to