I was shopping for a good mic cum headset at the market when I overheard this question – What is an Operating System (OS)?. While this question caught me offguard, I also realised that not a lot of people are still aware of what an Operating System is or what it is used for. I hope to answer that here.
Simply put, an Operating System or OS as it is popularly called is a software designed to run other softwares or programs on a computer. The Operating System is considered as the backbone of a computer, managing both software and hardware resources. Operating systems are responsible for everything that happens on your computer; right from the control and allocation of memory to recognizing input from external hardware and transmitting output to display devices aka monitors. The Operating System also manages files on your computer’s hard drives and control peripherals such as scanners and printers etc.
Types of Operating Systems or OS:
Broadly put, there are 5 types of Operating systems. They are
- multi-user : Allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some operating systems permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users.
- multiprocessing : Supports running a program on more than one CPU.
- multitasking : Allows more than one program to run concurrently.
- multithreading : Allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently.
- real time: Responds to input instantly. General-purpose operating systems, such as DOS and UNIX, are not real-time.
Most commonly used Operating Systems are Microsoft Windows, OS X which work on Mac and various Linux versions such as Ubuntu, Red Hat etc. While Windows and OS X are paid softwares, Linux is free. Ubuntu is the most user friendly Linux OS and you can order a free CD of the latest version of Ubuntu online.
Read more about Operating Systems on Wikipedia.
Image source: Flickr
