what is the significance of linux open source

IT IS INSTALLED IN A WIDE VARIETY OF COMPUTER HARDWARE , RANGING FROM EMBEDDED DEVVICES AND MOBILE PHONES TO SUPER COMPUTERS.

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE IS BASICALLY CREATIVE PRACTICE OF APPROPRIATION AND FREE SHARING OF FOUND AND CREATED CONTENT. SOFTWARE IN OPERATING SYSTEM.

MAINFRAME AND PC

A MAINFRAME ARE COMPUTERS THAT IS COMMONLY USED BY MANY LARGE ORGANIZATIONS FOR CRITICAL APPLICATIONS. HAVE THE ABILITY TO RUN MULTIPLE OPERATING SYSYTEMS. SINCE THE MID 1960'2 THE MAINFRAME DESIGN HAVE INCLUDED SEVERAL SUBSIDIARY COMPUTERS

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer

A PC IS BASICALLY A PERSONAL COMPUTER THAT CAN BE A LAPTOP, DESKTOP OR JUST A TABLET COMPUTER. EARLY 1970'S HAD THE OPPURTUNITY FOR THE OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM. ONE BILLION COMPUTERS WERE SOLD WORLDWIDE SINCE MID 1970'S TIL THIS TIME.

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer

COMPARING ROM, RAM, VIRTUAL AND CACHING

ROM-( READ ONLY MEMORY)- IS ALSO KNOWN AS A FILMWARE WHICH IS AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PROGRAMMED WITH THE SPECIFIC DATA WHEN IT IS MANUFACTURED. ALSO ROM CHIPS CAN BE USED IN ELECTRONICS AS WELL.
http://http://computer.howstuffworks.com/rom.htm

RAM-(RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY)- BASICAALLY YOU CAN ACCESS ANY MEMORY CELL DIRECTLY BUT ONLY IF YOU KNOW THE ROW AND COLUMN THAT INTERSECT AT THAT CELL.
http://http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram.htm

VIRTUAL- IS A VERY COMMON PART OF THE OPERATING SYSTEMS ON THE DESKTOP COMPUTERS. BY USING VIRTUAL MEMORY THE COMPUTER CAN SEARCH FOR AREAS OF RAM THAT HAS NOT BEEN USED RECENTLY AND COPY THEM ONTO THE HARD DISK. BY DOING THIS IT FREES UP SPACE IN RAM TO LOAD THE NEW APPLICATION.
http://http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question684.htm

CACHE- MODERN COMPUTERS HAVE L1 AND L2 CACHES AND WHICH SOME MAY HAVE L3. THE IDEA BEHIND CACHING IS TO USE A SMALL AMOUNT OF EXPENSIVE MEMORY TO SPEED UP A LARGE OF SLOWER, LESS EXPENSIVE MEMORY
http://http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cache.htm

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OPERATING SYSTEMS AND APPLIED SOFTWARE

OPERATING SYSTEMS- IS THE SOFTWARE COMPONET OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES AND THE SHARING OF THE RESOURCES OF THE COMPUTER
http://http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/o/operating_system.html

APPLIED SOFTWARE- SOFTWARE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO ACCOMPLISH ONE OR MORE, SPECFIC, NON COMPUTER RELATED TASKS
http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_software

TIMELINE FOR COMPUTERS

1936-1ST FREELY PROGRAMABLE COMPUTER CALLED Z1 COMPUTER

1955-THE 1ST BANK INDUSTRY COMPUTER-ALSO MICR(MAGNETIC INCK CHARACTER RECOGNITION) FOR READING CHECKS

1962- THE 1ST COMPUTER GAME WAS INVENTED

1964-DOUGLAS ENGLEBART NICKNAMED THE MOUSE

1969- THE ORIGINAL INTERNET

1982- THE FIRST LUGGABLE COMPUTER IS INTRODUCED

1982- APPLE COMPUTERS IS THE 1ST PERSONAL COMPUTER MANUFACTURER TO HIT $1 BILLION MARK ANNUAL SALES

1984- THE COMPUTER MUSEUM OPENS IN DOWNTOWN BOSTON

1987- MICROSOFT SHARES HITS $100 PER SHARE

1994- YAHOO IS FOUNDED
http://http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1994



http://http://www.computerhope.com/history/198090.htm

a contextual clue

ONE CONTEXTUAL CLUE THAT I FOUND FROM READING THE BOOK "INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING SYSTEMS" THE WORD IS DIR COMMAND. AFTER READING A PARAGRAPH I REALIZED THAT A DIR COMMAND IS TELLS THE FILE SUBSYSTEM OF THE KERNEL TO FIND OUT WHAT FILES ARE AVAILABLE. DIFERENT WORDS SUCH AS FILES, DEVICE AND INFORMATION HELPED ME FIGURE OUT WHAT A DIR COMMAND IS.