Operating systems

Operating system ABCs

An operating system, or OS, is a software program that enables the computer hardware to communicate and operate with the computer software. Without a computer operating system, a computer would be useless.

Operating system types

As computers have progressed and developed so have the operating systems. Below is a basic list of the different operating systems and a few examples of operating systems that fall into each of the categories. Many computer operating systems will fall into more than one of the below categories.

GUI - Short for Graphical User Interface, a GUI Operating System contains graphics and icons and is commonly navigated by using a computer mouse.  Below are some examples of GUI Operating Systems.

System 7.x
Windows 98
Windows CE

Multi-user - A multi-user operating system allows for multiple users to use the same computer at the same time and different times. See the multi-user definition for a complete definition for a complete definition. Below are some examples of multi-user operating systems.

Linux
Unix
Windows 2000

Multiprocessing - An operating system capable of supporting and utilizing more than one computer processor. Below are some examples of multiprocessing operating systems.

Linux
Unix
Windows 2000

Multitasking - An operating system that is capable of allowing multiple software processes to run at the same time. Below are some examples of multitasking operating systems.

Unix
Windows 2000

Multithreading - Operating systems that allow different parts of a software program to run concurrently. Operating systems that would fall into this category are:

Linux
Unix
Windows 2000

Operating system listing

Below is a listing of many of the different operating systems available today, the dates they were released, the platforms they have been developed for and who developed them.

Operating system	Date first released	Platform	Developer
AIX / AIXL	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	IBM
AmigaOS	Currently no AmigaOS operating system history.	Amiga	Commodore
BSD	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	BSD
Caldera Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	SCO
Corel Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Corel
Debian Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	GNU
DUnix	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Digital
DYNIX/ptx	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	IBM
HP-UX	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Hewlett Packard
IRIX	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	SGI
Kondara Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Kondara
Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Linus Torvalds
MAC OS 8	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
MAC OS 9	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
MAC OS 10	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
MAC OS X	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
Mandrake Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Mandrake
MINIX	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	MINIX
MS-DOS 1.x	MS-DOS history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
MS-DOS 2.x	MS-DOS history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
MS-DOS 3.x	MS-DOS history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
MS-DOS 4.x	MS-DOS history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
MS-DOS 5.x	MS-DOS history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
MS-DOS 6.x	MS-DOS history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
NEXTSTEP	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Various	Apple
OSF/1	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	OSF
QNX	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	QNX
Red Hat Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Red Hat
SCO	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	SCO
Slackware Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Slackware
Sun Solaris	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Sun
SuSE Linux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	SuSE
System 1	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
System 2	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
System 3	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
System 4	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
System 6	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
System 7	Apple operating system history can be found here.	Apple Macintosh	Apple
System V	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	System V
Tru64 Unix	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Digital
Turbolinux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Turbolinux
Ultrix	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Ultrix
Unisys	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Unisys
Unix	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Bell labs
UnixWare	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	UnixWare
VectorLinux	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	VectorLinux
Windows 2000	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows 2003	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows 3.X	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows 7	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows 95	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows 98	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows CE	Windows history can be found here.	PDA	Microsoft
Windows ME	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows NT	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows Vista	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Windows XP	Windows history can be found here.	IBM / PC	Microsoft
Xenix	Unix / Linux history can be found here.	Various	Microsoft