Introduction to Information Systems - Mobile Computing and Operating Systems PDF

INFO 0101 Introduction to Information Systems Session 3...

INFO 0101 Introduction to Information Systems Session 3 Mobile Computing Operating Systems and Application Software Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution.  MOBILE COMPUTING Consider: Today’s smartphones have more processing power than all of NASA had available when it landed a man on the moon in 1969 Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Mobile Computers Mobile computers (or sometimes just mobile devices) are portable Mobile computers take many forms: o Laptops o Tablets o Smartphones o Handheld Computers o Stick Computers Mobile devices have quickly become integrated into everyday life o Wearables Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Laptop Computers Sometimes known as notebook computers with the display in the lid and keyboard and system components in the base Ultrathins refer to very thin, very light laptops Ultrabook is a trademarked Intel specification outlining various size, weight and performance requirements based on display size Very small laptops intended for browsing the Internet were called netbooks, but have largely been replaced by tablets Today’s laptops have batteries that can last for many hours and performance comparable to desktop computers Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Tablets Tablets are very thin, slate-like computers with a touchscreen integrated into the system unit o Keyboards are often available as accessories, integrated into a fold-out screen cover to facilitate easier typing as with a traditional laptop Some laptops known as convertibles or 2-in-1 laptops have a touchscreen display that can be detached or rotated and folded back onto the keyboard to act as a tablet Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Smartphones Smartphones are handheld computers combined with the functionality of a mobile telephone, typically with a touchscreen display Smartphones tend to have lower processing power than other devices, but are still able to run a wide variety of applications, including multimedia and games Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Handheld Computers Handheld computers were originally just very small laptop computers Tablets and smartphones can be considered handheld devices There are also various special purpose handheld computers, with such uses as inventory taking and payment processing Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Stick Computers Stick computers are fully functional, very small computers that are often of similar size to a USB flash drive Apart from being highly portable computers such as the Intel Compute Stick, stick computers such as the Chromecast Stick and Amazon Fire TV Stick are often used to add Smart TV functionality to televisions without such functionality built-in Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Wearables Wearable computers such as smart watches and smart glasses are the latest evolution of portable computers Smart glasses have opened the doors to readily available augmented reality (AR), where digital content can be easily overlaid over the real world Smart watches are sometimes synced to smartphones, allowing users to screen calls and messages without interacting with their phone Another major application of smart watches is for monitoring health and physical activity Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Other Mobile and Wearable Devices Other mobile computers include e-book readers and handheld gaming devices, which are variants of the previously discussed devices Automotive mechanics often use a type of tablet that connects to a car’s computer to run diagnostics and change the settings of various embedded computers throughout the car Medical practitioners may use special purpose portable devices to help with patient diagnosis, and can use augmented reality equipment during surgical procedures Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Mobile Ecosystems A mobile ecosystem is a collection of hardware, software and user accounts that work together for a cohesive experience The main advantage is that you get access to the same resources and capabilities no matter what device you are using, because your settings and data follow you between devices Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. The Future of Mobile The future of any technology can be difficult to ascertain: We can predict the technologies that are likely to exist, but how those technologies will be used is more difficult to envision Mobile devices will likely continue to become smaller and more powerful with longer battery life o Battery capacity is one of the major challenges preventing mobile devices from matching desktops in processing power Will mobile completely replace desktop devices? What other devices may come after wearables? What are your views? Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution.  15 Minute Break We will resume shortly… Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution.  Operating Systems and Application Software Advanced hardware devices mean nothing without the ability to interface with those devices and apply them to desired tasks Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Software Software is a set of instructions run on a computer At the most general level, software can be categorized as: o System Software such as operating systems, drivers, and utility programs o Application Software used to provide any kind of functionality to end users such as web browsing, email, word processing, etc. Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Operating Systems An Operating System (OS) is software that manages system resources and provides a means of interacting with the system o This includes memory management, storage management, performance management, installing and uninstalling application software, network connectivity and provision of a user interface o Other forms of system software include:  Device drivers: Allow hardware devices to work correctly with the OS  Utility software: Allow monitoring and maintenance of the system Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Operating Systems Microsoft Windows is the most common desktop OS on the market today Did you know? o Microsoft Windows Server is generally used on server systems, and can share resources or even govern the desktop versions of Both macOS and Windows in an appropriately configured enterprise environment Linux have a o Both versions of Windows contain the same core or kernel, but relationship to an run different feature sets on top of it OS called UNIX, and both Apple macOS is the OS used on Apple laptops and ChromeOS and desktops Android are based on Linux! Linux is an open source OS commonly used in server environments What can you find out about this? o Open source simply means the software and its source code are freely available and can be modified and redistributed with attribution Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Mobile Operating Systems Android is the most common mobile OS on the market today o Android was developed by Google, is based on Linux and can be found on the majority of smartphones and tablets sold today o Android is also found embedded in a variety of other devices including smart TVs, car audio systems and home automation systems Apple iOS is found on Apple’s mobile devices o Variants for TV, watch and tablet devices are now branded as tvOS, watchOS and iPadOS respectively, with iOS being for the iPhone Other points to note: o Windows Phone (formerly Windows Mobile) was a Microsoft mobile OS developed for use in smartphones o Huawei relatively recently developed its own OS known as HarmonyOS in response to US sanctions that affected its use of Android Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. User Interfaces Operating Systems must provide a means of user interaction. These are as follows: o GUI (Graphical User Interface) which allows the use of a mouse to navigate a graphical environment made of windows and menus o CLI (Command Line Interface) which is a text-based environment where commands must be entered via the keyboard for all tasks You may also hear the following terms which have arisen in recent years: o NUI (Natural User Interface) which utilizes existing user skills such as touch, gesture and progressive learning to interact with the device o BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) which detects the electrical signals in the user’s brain to determine what the user wishes to accomplish Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Application Software Application software runs on top of the OS and allows the user to perform actual tasks, such as browse the web, check emails, write letters, watch movies and play games Application software must be compiled from the source code for each different OS, so not all application software is available on all OSs o The abbreviated word App has come into common usage, particularly on mobile devices, where they are sometimes known as mobile apps Native Apps are fully installed and run on a particular device using that device’s resources Web Apps reside on a web server and are accessed via a web browser Cloud Apps are similar to Web Apps but reside on cloud infrastructure such as Amazon’s AWS or Microsoft’s Azure Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Software Distribution Retail or commercial software is commercially sold by a company or individual Shareware can be freely tried and shared for a period of time, but must be purchased for continued use Open Source software is most Freeware is freely available to use without charge commonly Open Source software is where the developers have made distributed using the GNU General the source code available for free modification and Public License distribution with appropriate attribution (GNU GPL), o All open source is freeware, but not all freeware is open source made popular as the license model Closed Source software is software for which the source of the Linux OS code is unavailable to the public Public Domain software has no form of ownership associated with it Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Productivity Software Productivity software is used for office-like applications including: o Word Processing o Spreadsheet o Presentation o Database o Project Management o Calendar and Scheduling o Contact Management o Note Taking o Finance and Accounting o Document Management o Tax Software o Legal Software Large-scale enterprise software is also used for special purposes in various industries Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Graphics and Multimedia Software A variety of software is also used for tasks such as: o Photo and Graphics Editing o Audio Editing o Video Editing o Desktop Publishing (DTP) o 3D Modelling o Computer-Aided Design (CAD) o Website Authoring Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Other Applications Many other examples of application software exist including: o Web Browsers o Instant Messengers o Video Conferencing o Media Players o Video Games Special applications can also be used for tasks such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, various medical and educational uses and for lifestyle monitoring Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Security Applications Security Applications include personal firewalls and anti-malware tools o Malware means malicious software Antivirus programs are used to detect and remove computer viruses found either in storage or running on the computer o Similar programs can be used to remove other forms of malicious software such as spyware that monitor users’ activities, and adware that fill the computer with advertisements Other tools exist to remove spam, filter websites, detect phishing attempts and block pop-up (and pop-under) ads Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. System Utilities and Management Tools File Managers allow users to navigate the computer’s storage o When you open “Computer” on a Windows machine, you are using Windows Explorer, the built-in Windows file manager Installers and Uninstallers add and remove programs and their settings Registry Cleaners search for and remove unused, leftover entries in the Windows Registry (think of it as a catalog) Disk Cleanup software free up storage space by finding and removing old and temporary files Maintenance Software search the system for problems and attempt to fix them Power Management Tools check and modify power settings such as screen timeouts and sleep settings to conserve energy Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Backup and Recovery Utilities Special tools exist to back up system files and recover them in a data loss situation o Data can easily be lost and often is lost. Do not overlook backup procedures, including at home! Backups can be locally stored on the machine or kept on a separate storage medium, such as an external drive or the cloud o You should not rely on just one form of backup Restore points allow the system or specific files to be “rolled back” to a previous point in time Special tools can allow recently deleted data to be un-deleted o This is because the OS only marks items as safe for Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. overwriting rather than truly destroying the data with Disk Defragmenting Utilities Over time, a computer’s hard drive becomes fragmented with usage o This occurs as files are deleted and then other files “fill” the space left behind before using another block of free space. This physically scatters related files across the disk, reducing performance o Disk Defragmenting tools undo this process by relocating related files on the disk (sometimes called defragging) o Modern file systems tend to be better at managing this problem without having to run special utilities, but it can still be useful in certain situations Solid state drives should NOT be defragmented as they store data very differently without the use of moving parts. Attempting the process can create unnecessary wear and tear on the flash media. Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Screensaver Utilities Screensavers replace the contents on the screen with a moving image or pattern after a period of inactivity They were originally used as older displays such as CRT and Plasma displays were susceptible to suffer from image burn or burn-in o That is, a fixed image left too long on the display can become physically and permanently imprinted on it Modern LCD and LED displays do not suffer this problem, but screensavers can still offer advantages in privacy and aesthetics o OLED displays can suffer burn-in but are more likely to suffer from temporary image retention o Screensavers can be a security measure for idle computers, as the user’s password can be required to regain access to the system Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution. Other Utilities Other common utilities include: o Image Viewers for opening and performing basic tasks with photos and other images o File Compression utilities that compress or decompress files and folders into smaller files  This is often known as zipping and unzipping due to the commonly used.zip file format – but not all compressed files are zip files! o System Monitoring utilities that monitor CPU load and heat, memory usage, storage usage, etc.  The Task Manager is a built-in tool in Windows that allows users to not only view resource usage, but forcefully end unresponsive applications Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution.  THANK YOU! QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Lecture slides © 2025 Emir Rahaman. All Rights Reserved: Not for sale, modification or redistribution.