The operating system is one of the most important components of a computer. The prime functions of a computer is performed by it. Some of the good operating systems are discussed in this article.
The operating system (OS) is a software present in a computer, which is responsible for various vital operations of the system. Some of the fundamental operations of an operating system are controlling the system parts, execution of programs, memory management, handling the interrupts, managing the computer files, scheduling programs etc. There are various operating systems available as free software. Not all of them are efficient and widely used by people.
Most Popular Operating Systems
Windows 7
Windows 7 is the latest release of the Microsoft Windows family. The primary goal of Windows 7 is to increase its compatibility, than the previous versions and to deliver high performance. Some of the advancements in Windows 7 are identity recognitions, providing support for virtual hard disks, file formats, and good performance on multi-core processors, booting and kernel improvements in computing process. The visual style and the user interface (Windows Aero), is retained in this version. The users can choose to change the DPI (Dots Per Inch) settings of their system.
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is developed by Microsoft Corporation. It is also known by its codename Longhorn. It was preceded by Windows XP and succeeded by Windows 7. The primary objective of Windows Vista is to improve the state of security in the system. Some of the criticisms against Windows Vista is that the OS demands high system requirements, restriction to many software, less compatibility and more restrictive licensing terms etc. It has around 400 million users around the globe.
Windows XP
Windows XP is a Microsoft product, which is the first operating system to work with Windows NT kernel. It is programmed in C, C++ and assemble languages, and the Graphical User Interface is redesigned to make it more user-friendly. There are two main editions in Windows XP. One is Windows XP Home Edition, which is designed for home users, and the other one is Windows XP Professional, which is designed for business clients and power-users. There are various newly updated versions such as GDI+, DirectX 8.1, display settings, registration-free COM, fast user switching etc.
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a Unix-based operating system which is developed and sold by Apple Inc. Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7), is the latest version of Mac OS X. Some of its previous versions are Kodiak (Public Beta), Cheetah (10.0), Puma (10.1), Jaguar (10.2), Panther (10.3), Tiger (10.4), Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6). Apple products work using the Mac OS X Operating System.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a free computer operating system software which is a Debian project, which is based on GNU/Linux. It is used by 12 million people around the world. It provides free software packages to its users. Ubuntu supports desktops which have x86 microprocessors installed in them. The instruction-set architecture can be 32-bit or 62-bit. Ubuntu exhibits some restrictions and demands certification to some software such as Microsoft TrueType core fonts, Sun’s Java runtime environment, Adobe’s Flash Player plugin, many common audio/video codecs and files which are compressed in RAR format, MP3/DVD recorders etc.
Unix-based Linux
Linus is a free software OS which uses the system tools from GNU project, which is developed by Richard Stallman. It uses command line interface (CLI), a graphical user interface (GUI), for its functioning. The main system functions in the Linux is operated by Linux kernel. Some of the platforms which supports the Operating System are Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Alpha, Advanced Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) Machine architecture, AVR32 microprocessor, Blackfin etc.
Other Operating Systems for Home Use
- Windows Vista Ultimate
- Mac OS X Leopard
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Haiku
- Debian
- Fedora
Microsoft, Apple, Linux are the top companies that sells different updated versions of its operating system software. Though other companies also try to compete in the market, these top OS producers, always have maintained their standards up till now.