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.Many computer operating system 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 the GUI 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 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
Troubleshooting
Common questions and answers to operating systems in general can be found on the below operating system question and answers. All other questions relating to an operating system in particular can be found through the operating system page.
Linux / Variants
MacOSMS-DOS
IBM OS/2 Warp
Unix / Variants
Windows CE
Windows 3.x
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows 98 SE
Windows ME
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
| 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 |
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