Lesson 5: Five Common Operating Systems

Lesson 5
Five Common Operating Systems

Five Common Operating Systems
• What Operating Systems Do
• Operating systems define how a computer stores files,
switches between different applications, manages memory,
keeps itself secure, and interacts with peripherals like printers
and cameras. Different operating systems take different
approaches to all of these, which is why you normally can't
run a Windows program on a Macintosh computer and why
permissions look different on an Android phone than on an
iPhone.
• Some operating systems are designed by groups of people
around the world, like the open source, freely available
operating system Linux, while others are commercial products
made by one company, such as Microsoft's Windows and
Apple's macOS.
Microsoft Windows
• Microsoft Windows has existed in one form or another since 1985,
and it remains the most popular operating system for home and
office computers. Its latest versions, including Windows 10, are
also used on some tablets, and the OS is used on some web and
number-crunching server computers as well. Computers from a
wide variety of manufacturers can use Windows.
• Initial versions of Windows worked with an earlier Microsoft
operating system called MS-DOS, providing a modern graphical
interface on top of DOS's traditional text-based commands.
Signature features of Microsoft Windows's user interface include
windows themselves – rectangle-shaped, on-panel screens that
represent individual applications. The Windows Start menu has
helped generations of users find programs and files on their
devices.
• Efforts to use versions of the Windows OS for smartphones have
been less successful.
Apple iOS
• Apple's iOS is one of the most popular smartphone
operating systems, second only to Android. It runs on
Apple hardware, including iPhones, iPad tablets and
iPod Touch media players.
• Signature features of iOS include the App Store where
users buy apps and download free software, an
emphasis on security including strong encryption to
limit what unauthorized users can extract from the
phone, and a simple, streamlined interface with
minimal hardware buttons.
Google's Android OS
• Android is the most popular operating system in the world judging
by the number of devices installed. Largely developed by Google,
it's chiefly used on smartphones and tablets. Unlike iOS, it can be
used on devices made by a variety of different manufacturers, and
those makers can tweak parts of its interface to suit their own
needs.
• Users can download custom versions of the operating system
because large portions of it are open source, meaning anyone can
legally modify it and publish their own. However, most people
prefer to stick with the version that comes on their devices.
• Android, like iOS, comes with an application and media store
called the Play Store built by Google. Some phone manufacturers
and other organizations also offer their own stores to install
software and media.
Apple macOS
• Apple's macOS, successor to the popular OS X operating system,

runs on Apple laptops and desktops. Based in part on the historic
family of Unix operating systems dating back to research in the
1960s at AT&T's Bell Labs, macOS shares some features with other
Unix-related operating systems including Linux. While the
graphical interfaces are different, many of the underlying
programming interfaces and command line features are the same.
• Signature elements of macOS include the dock used to find
programs and frequently used files, unique keyboard keys
including the Command key, and the stoplight-colored buttons
used to resize open program windows. MacOS is known for its
user-friendly features, which include Siri, a natural-voice personal
assistant, and FaceTime, Apple's video-calling application.
Linux Operating System
• Unlike many other operating systems, development on Linux isn't

led by any one company. The operating system was created by
Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds in 1991. Nowadays,
programmers from all over the world collaborate on its open
source code and submit tweaks to the central kernel software and
other programs.
• A wide assortment of commercial and open source software is
available for Linux, and various Linux distributions provide custom
user interfaces and tools for installing software onto machines
running the operating system. A favorite of many programmers,
Linux is widely used on corporate and scientific servers, including
cloud computing environments. Linux can be run on a wide variety
of hardware and is available free of charge over the internet.

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Lesson 5

Five Common Operating Systems

• Apple's macOS, successor to the popular OS X operating system,

• Unlike many other operating systems, development on Linux isn't

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