7 Best Windows Alternative Operating systems

Some of the best Windows Alternative OS which are generally under-rated or over-rated. With windows 8 to roll-out in few weeks, you must feel that I’m crazy to write about Windows Alternative OS, at this instinct. Windows is one of the well known operating system from the house of Microsoft that has been dominating the operating system market for a while now, as this operating system has features that many competing operating systems lack but still few people around the world criticize it for few aspects like security, malware attacks, and few more.

The operating system was launched way back in 1985 and it has tasted success ever since with Windows 95 and after every new edition that are launched at regular intervals like Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 7, excluding few other failures like Windows Me, Windows Vista. Currently Microsoft has launched operating systems for SmartPhones and getting ready to occupy the Mobile Market as well. In this post, we are going to check out 7 best Windows Alternative OS that can satisfy your requirements to a certain extent.

The current market share of Windows OS is expected to be holding around 86%, followed by Mac OS which holds over 7.5% market share and balance is shared between Linux, Blackberry and other Operating Systems. So, in this post we are going to focus on few of the best Operating Systems that holds the balance 14% share in the market.

7 Best Windows Alternative Operating Systems:

1. Ubuntu operating system

The Ubuntu operating system is a simple, snazzy and easy to use operating system which is considered as one of the best Windows Alternative OS. It is preferred by many across the globe including businessmen and students. This software is preferred for personal computers but there is a server version that also exists. The software is available for download, free of cost. The software is similar to the UNIX and it is one of the best Linux Operating System that is based on Debian Linux Distribution and this software can be freely distributed and personalize the software for your benefit.

2. Mac OS

This is one of the best operating systems that can replace the Windows OS and it is known to be one of the most advanced operating systems that are presently available. It is a graphical user interface based operating software that is known to be so slick and smooth that the operating system can be easily mastered. It is estimated that, soon the ratio between Windows and Mac OS might be leading to tough competition. Compiled with the Apple hardware components the Mac OS will provide you with the best operating system experience which makes it one of the best Windows Alternative Operating System in the market. It is a proprietary based Operating System like Windows, and it is mostly compatible with Apple’s devices only, of course there are few techniques that allows us to get Mac OS onto our normal PC.

3. JNode

This operating system is a great freeware Windows Alternative operating systems that are available currently. This operating system code has been written in Java and the operating system is in its virgin stage as it is in the 0.2.8 version. The operating system has a simple and easy to use interface. With the time to come there will be other features that will be added in the form of video customization, lower memory consumption etc. 

4. AROS

The AROS closely resembles Amiga, just that it has many more features and it does not have the memory problem that Amiga was infested with. AROS, which is the abbreviated form of the Amiga Research Operating System is extremely fast and the memory protection issues has also been resolved. It is one of the oldest OS existing since 1997 and it is slightly capable OS to be considered as best Windows Alternative OS. The user interface of the AROS is the same as Amiga and it is a great operating system for laptops and desktops. 

5. KolibriOS

This operating system is known to be the fastest graphic user interface that is presently available. This user interface of the operating system is smooth and fast and you will be able to enjoy different games and other utilities with the help of this operating system. The USP of this operating system is that it is extremely compact and the entire operating system just takes 4.9 MB of the memory. 

6. DexOS

In case you are fed up with the way the Windows operating system looks then you need to use the DexOS. The operating system has a user interface that is closer to that of a console’s operating system. The operating system basically has two aspects, that is, one aspects is really swank and resembles the launcher of a video game and the other is the normal operating system that can be used for daily purposes. 

7. Open BSD

This operating system focuses more on the security of the system than its appearance and this is a good thing as the software cannot be easily cracked by hackers as it does not run the programs in case it detects any loopholes in them. The OpenBSD has its main feature as the space layout randomization. It is considered as underdog, but still it manages to be one of the best Windows Alternative OS. 

These are the 5 best Windows alternative operating systems that are available in the market. The operating systems are very different from each other and even though they are relatively new, these operating systems have already created a name for themselves and they are loaded with features and they have been giving stringent competition to the Windows operating system ever since they have been launched. Hope, you’ve enjoyed our article on 7 Best Windows Alternative Operating Systems, do let us know about your favorite OS, if you think we missed it in our list.

Microsoft Office 2013 Preview – First Look

It’s finally official, Microsoft Office 2013 has been announced and will probably release early next year. The last version of the world’s most used productivity was released 3 years ago and is starting to show it’s age. Microsoft’s new minimalism mantra introduced with the Metro interface is clearly visible in the upcoming Office 2013. It’s the biggest change to the Office suite ever. Everything is different yet strangely, familiar. The biggest change is probably the versions it will be available in. There’s the quintessential Office 2013 and there’s the new Office 365. Office 365 is basically the professional version of Office 2013 that will be subscription based instead of the usual single license retail version. Also, it will include a few more online services and will be more cloud based. Read on for more of the Office 2013 preview.

Microsoft Office 2013 Preview – What’s new?

Changes are both cosmetic (check out the new logo!) and internal. Office 2013 is finally making the leap to mobile devices and it will be available on tablets as well. Office 365 is the cloud based service, but even the desktop Office 2013 will be cloud integrated, although limited compared to the former. Now all documents will be linked across any Office 365 installations anywhere by linking your Microsoft Windows Live ID. By default, everything is stored on Microsoft’s SkyDrive. It makes transferring documents via portable storage media a thing of the past. Furthermore, even drafts of unfinished documents are saved periodically, so in case of a power outage or such the document is still safe! So what else is new? The Metro interface inevitably makes it’s way into Office 2013 and the UI is an extension of Microsoft’s new aesthetic. All the unnecessary tabs and buttons are now gone but the ribbon menu started with 2010 remains, although it can be hidden. The buttons are now more spaced out and have larger fonts, presumably for the touchscreen versions. Speaking of touchscreen differences, Microsoft has clearly designed the new Office with tablets and mobile devices in mind. A nice new feature is read mode, where users can turn a document into a book form to be viewed easily on mobile devices. However, documents cannot be edited and the book form is full screen.

Now media integration and document sharing has also been made easier. YouTube videos can be directly embedded without having to actually save the clip and Flickr photos can be attached without any fuss too! Document sharing takes on a whole new meaning through SkyDrive, presentations and documents can be shared and edited with permissions by multiple people which is a great feature for teams and groups. Individual programs also get new features, like PowerPoint now has an option to show the next slide in advance along with the present slide to the presenter while the screen facing the audience displays only the present slide. Excel gets a neat new feature called Flashfill that predicts data and fills cells automatically, for example formula calculations or templates in similar cells are predicted and filled automatically.

Last year, Microsoft bought out Skype and it will be integrated into the Office productivity network. Home Premium editions of Office will reportedly come with 60 Skype call minutes. This bodes well for the actual “productivity” in the namesake since video conferencing and on the fly editing are two extremely useful features. Microsoft also acquired a enterprise oriented social network called Yammer, so future integration with Office is definitely on the cards. Also, this time around, you will be able to view and edit PDF documents in Office itself. Apart from all the new features, Office is not much more….let’s say polished. There’s little visual flourishes, animations and effects even for mundane tasks like creating a table and it feels rather cool. Icons are also now glossy and overall almost everything has been changed to go with the new Metro look. We are pretty excited and really like this new interface. Installation is also now web based, so make sure you’re connected to the internet during installation.

Microsoft Office 2013 Preview – Editions and Requirements :

As of now, no pricing details or release dates have been announced, but we do know the editions Office 365 will be coming out in:

• Office 365 Home Premium: Includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access and Publisher, 20 GB SkyDrive space and can be installed for 5 users.
• Office 365 Small Business Preview: Adds “professional mail, shared documents and HD videoconferencing” to the previous edition and can be installed for 10 users.
• Office 365 ProPlus Preview: Includes all of the above, adds InfoPath and Lync and can be installed for upto 25 users, 5 installations each.
• Office 365 Enterprise Preview: Includes all of the above along with SharePoint online and Lync Online.

The system requirements are as follows:

• 1 GHz Processor
• 1 GB RAM for 32-bit OS and 2 GB RAM for 64-bit OS
• 3.5 GB free space
• Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012

So there you have it, the next generation Microsoft Office 2013 preview. If you’re interested in trying out the consumer preview of Office 365, click here to download it. Tough luck for Windows XP and Windows Vista users though, you can’t use Office 2013. You know what that means, it’s probably time for an upgrade! Please let us know your thoughts and comments below.