Joseph Ramos

Operating Systems in a Global Environment

During the 21st century companies such as Microsoft and Apple have continued to operate the same influence and control on the international market which they established during the later decades of the 20th century before. Microsoft reported global sales of 350 million copies of its latest OS, Windows 7, within the first 18 months of its release in October 2009. Even rival Apple earned its own global sales of the recent OS X Mountain Lion as 6 million copies sold within 3 months of release from July 2011 to October 2011. These numbers can be further appreciated when considering the recent trend of tablet PCs on the rise, bringing along their own respective operating systems developed similarly for the global environment which commands an almost life or death influence on the modern computer company, let own one that publishes its own OS. These sales numbers are reflections of a successful operating systems developed ability to assimilate into international culture, business, and language. The development of software is an arduous task in itself, comparable to the production of a film (Large and small budgets, experienced team, purpose behind the project); developing an entire operating system is an endeavor analogous to creating the foundations of a Hollywood film studio. Fortunately for familiar and established computer giants such as Microsoft and Apple, two companies which continue to release a new OS every few years, possessing both the

budget and the know-how to accomplish this task is an innate quality. Finding success in America (and to a lesser extent, the UK) for a company seeking a true impact on the world of computers is but a mere stepping stone. Spreading across the pacific and further across the Atlantic requires a dedication to research, company expansion, and developing a concrete understanding of international cultures, languages, and the application of this knowledge to the major aspects of an OS. Included in Microsofts Windows 7 are many tools and services available that provide support in the major fields required for international development. On possibly the smallest level, Unicode is implemented into the OS as a kind of base to manipulate when representing a foreign language in software. Unicode is a 16-bit code structure created with the ability to represent any and all characters possible in modern operating systems. The next step up from this is the support for character sets and fonts, to determine the visual appearance of the written form of a language, and more specifically the style it is written in. Apples OS X Lion and Redhats Linux are two other operating systems that include these core features, in addition to others relating to input as well. The above mentioned operating systems provide the ability for a user to select his/her language and type using a standard keyboard to input in his/her selected language. Basic yet essential features like these allow communication to and from a user and the OS, existing in a foreign market. Another major component of an OS published internationally is usually the next step above language support, usually termed locale support. This process involves implementing several cultural aspects into the OS such as time format, currency information, calendar format, time zone information, and decimal placement. Another detail of user language is used under this category, being less significant than the previous support for the language itself. Depending on the country or even more specifically in some cases, languages are

separated into dialects. It is important that this be included to assure compatibility with the culture of any region included in the global market umbrella of an OS and the company producing it. Differences in something as simple as specific days on the internal calendar of an operating system can vary. An example pertains to the established date of a countrys independence. In the USA the date is July 4th, 1776, whereas in Thailand the day is April 7th, 2519. A more subtle but equally important detail would be the actual format of the dates listed, varying from country to country. Unicode comes into light regarding localization, the currency used in the selected region. Special characters selected from the Unicode character set by the Language pack installed on an OS determine the sign represented money. In general the English language packs share common denominational signs, such as the dollar sign and the pound sign. Others are more specific to the language or location. In various OS settings, the setting for local can be linguistic, cultural, or regional. A more recent invention born from the continual mesh of the internet and the traditional operating system is known as the cloud. This method of data distribution and storage has opened a portal of new opportunities in the international front of computing in general. The main advantage for a company using an OS functioning with cloud technology will be the ability to distribute software ,and perhaps even the operating system itself if the opportunity arises, without costs related to package shipping, or the time lost while waiting in transit. From a microuser based viewpoint, cloud computing allows a user to upload purchased media or software to online servers for backup, retrievable from any point in the World (provided there is internet access). A form of this technology exists in a simple form as tech-support via the OS manufacturers website. Any user has international access to help, with interpreters available defeating any language barrier that might exist. These techniques harvest the accessibility and

widespread use of the internet in a way that has helped the global operating systems market, and will continue to improve it with new creations in the future.

Sources:
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFLocales/Arti cles/CFLocaleConcepts.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20002240-163790 http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piuhbvdlbkvoih10/event/index.html https://developer.apple.com/internationalization/ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd317708(v=vs.85).aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd318661(v=vs.85).aspx http://eyegene.ophthy.med.umich.edu/unicode/ http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57428396-263/cloud-based-storage-options-for-mac-os-x/

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