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 types of operating systems. Below is a basic list of the
different types of 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. See our GUI dictionary definition for a complete definition.
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/or different times. See our multi-user dictionary 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 types of 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 IBM / PC Microsoft

MS-DOS history can be found here.
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 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

Windows XP Overview
Codenamed Whistler, Microsoft Windows XP is short for Windows Experienced and is the convergence of the
two major Microsoft operating systems into one.

Windows XP is available in the below versions:

Home Edition - Full / Upgrade

Professional - Full / Upgrade

Additional listing of Microsoft Windows versions can be found on our Windows version page.

Windows XP is designed more for users who may not be familiar with all of Windows features and has several
new abilities to make the Windows experience more easy for those users.

Windows XP includes various new features not found in previous versions of Microsoft Windows. Below is a
listing of some of these new features.

 New interface - a completely new look and ability to change the look.
 Updates - new feature that automatically obtains updates from the Internet.
 Internet Explorer 6 - Includes Internet explorer 6 and new IM.
 Multilingual support - added support for different languages.

In addition to the above features, Windows XP does increase reliability when compared to previous versions of
Microsoft Windows.