In our most recent humanities unit, we are learning about technology and how it has changed over the past. Technology has gone through some pretty influential changes, like the uprising of the computer, the development of cell phones, touch and face ID, and even things like artificial intelligence have changed drastically over the past decade. With technology, however, there will always be a disruption, and that disruption can alter lives. The driving question of this unit is “How does technology cause disruption”, and our first assignment of the unit is too research a topic mentioned in one of the books we read and see how we can connect it to the book.

My topic was operating systems. Operating systems are softwares that manage computer hardrives and other forms of technology like cell phones and video game consoles. If it has a computer inside the piece of technology, its going to have some sort of operating system. With computers, the most dominant of the bunch is Microsoft Windows computers, with just about 83% of the ditrubuted computers around the world being windows. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, selling computer chips. The company quickly blew up, and Microsoft quickly started to create their own computers and software. The success of Microsoft has got to be contributed to some of their operating systems used in their computers, like PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, and many others that helped the rise of Microsoft. They have bough a numerous amount of big name companies like Skype, LinkedIn, and Mojang, and is one of the top technology brands in the world. Second is Apples Macintosh, with about 13% computer usage. Apple is probably one of the ost well known brands along with Microsoft. Created by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976, their goal was to sell their computer they built together and ditrubute around the world. With many major adjustments and updates, the brand of Macintosh Computers has been one of the most reliable computers in the world. It most well known operating systems are the Mac OS X desktops, which run iMovie, Pages, and even Microsoft apps within their computers. With the Passing of Steve Jobs just under a decade ago, this means one of the most used phones in the world, the iPhone, turned ten years old. The iPhone is one of the most recognizable pieces of technology from across the globe, nad has to be constructed to Apples major success in the technology business. Other brands like Linux are far behind in regards to use around the world, but is still a reliable computer.

Ok, that was a lot of information, now lets get into our book we read and how it connects to my topic. The book our humanities class has just read is called Little Brother, a story about a terrorist attack hitting the city of San Francisco. A group of teenagers, lead by technological genius Marcus Yallow, try to come out alive in this intense, humorous and exciting fictional book. One of the main parts of this book is the use of operating systems the kids and this dystopian future world use to communicate, develop software, and many other uses. One of the first times the book introduces operating systems is in the first chapters, when Marcus is explaining some of the software the schools use.

“I had a copy of Firefox on the USB drive built into my watch, but that wasn’t enough — the SchoolBook ran Windows Vista4Schools, an antique operating system designed to give school administrators the illusion that they controlled the programs their students could run.”

The author, Cory Doctorow, tried to make all the technologies he mentioned somewhat notable from the current time period. He does not mention any technology that is the “dystopian future” people usually come up with too explain technology. Super high-tech gears is never mentioned through the entirety of the book, and is why the school runs a classic version of Windows, just to show how simple it is to use old fashioned computer software. Marcus is a pretty smart kid when it comes to technology, and the fact that he just uses some software from the school is very interesting. This basically means anybody can create code, and his book presents a valid reason why.

Going back to the driving question, “How does technology cause disruption”, operating systems can cause some sort of interference. Users of these software and systems can change the way the softwares interpret certain outcomes, which can breach into your security and privacy. Hackers can crack certain codes, and can cause disruption to anyone they are targeting. Operating systems are continually trying to fix these problems, but for now, anybody can be in danger when using an operating system.

So there it was, a brief history of operating systems and how it relates back to the book we have been reading. I have always been interested in operating systems. Teenagers like me as well as everyone else are fortunate to have some sort of technological piece including an operating system. They are extremely helpful and much easier to use then doing other non-technological methods. That was my post, see you in the next!