Computer Applications Unit A Operating Systems

There are currently four big Operating systems in traditional computing. We will also look at Operating Systems in mobile computing. The Big Four are Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Chrome OS.

Behold the many iterations of Microsoft windows. There are currently eight versions of MS Windows, all of which are shown above. Support does not currently exist for operating systems past Windows XP.

There are several versions of DOS-based Windows. Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows 2.1x, Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1x This is Windows 1.0. It was released in 1985 and was supported by Microsoft for 16 years.

Windows 2.0 came in 1987. Allowed for overlapping windows, unlike Windows 1.0. Substantial growth in third party applications.

Windows 2.1x 1988, was the first version of Windows requiring a hard drive to instal.

Windows 3.0 was released in 1990. It became the first widely successful version of Windows. Included a redesigned user interface and had better memory management.

Windows 3.1x came in 1992. Became the first desktop publisher. Had backwards compatibility with previous versions of Windows.

Windows 95 came in (surprise) 1995. Many significant improvements in the GUI (graphical user interface). Introduced the Start Menu, plug-n-play features, and changed from a 16bit to 32bit architecture.

Windows 95 was succeeded by Windows 98. Included numerous improvements in support for USB, networking TCP/IP protocols, and performance. A second edition of 98 was released in 1999, that featured minor bug fixes and numerous supports for hardware including audio and modems.

Released in 2000 as the successor to Windows 98. Aimed at the consumer, the product had a short shelf life. Buggy, slow, unstable and rushed: the product did not sell well with customers. It was quickly replaced with Windows XP.

Released in 2001, as the Windows Experience, XP was a vast improvement over its predecessors. Using the NT kernel instead of the 9x, the operating system proved to be the second most popular Windows system. One of the first versions of Windows to use product activation to combat piracy. Featured a redesigned interface and implemented several new features such as Windows Firewall. The operating system would release three major bug and security fixes in the form of security packs. Mainstream support for XP ended in 2009, and extended support will end in 2014.

Released in 2006, Vista came more than five years after XP. Featured a new user interface and visual style known as Aero. Included various new tools such as Windows Search and Windows DVD Maker. In order to counter the criticism of previous versions of Windows and the vulnerability to viruses and malware, Vista used a feature called User Account Control. However this, along with high system requirements, restrictive licensing, and lack of backwards compatibility saw lower satisfaction and adoption rates of Vista.

Released in 2009, Windows 7 was an incremental upgrade from the requirements for Windows Vista. Featured a new feature dubbed the superbar, the redesigned taskbar allowed for pinning and previewing of an open application’s window. The operating system currently has a very positive reception.

Released in 2012, Windows 8 was developed for a wide use of devices: personal computers, laptops, and tablets. Featured major design changes to the user interface in order to improve user experience on tablets. Moved the start screen onto a grid of dynamically updated tiles. Commonly criticized for various features such as the removal of the start button. Windows 8.1 will be released in October 2013 to address many of the criticisms addressed by early adopters.

The classic Mac OS. System 1, the first Mac OS, introduced the Graphical User Interface, eliminated the command line interface that was used in Windows. System 2 introduced AppleTalk, which was an early networking protocol. System 3 and 4 introduced several new hardware features including larger displays. System 5 would add MultiFinder, an extension which allowed the user to run more several applications at the same time.

System 6 was released in 1988. Featuring something known as MacroMaker, this feature allowed the user to create keyboard and mouse recordings known as macros. There was also improvements to multi-tasking and hardware support.

Introduced in 1991, it would remain the main Mac operating system until 1998. It added features such as virtual memory, file sharing, QuickTime, QuickDraw 3D, and an improved UI.

1997 saw the release of Mac OS 8. It featured a vast overhaul of the Mac OS, putting a large emphasis on color. Despite coming at a difficult time in Apple history, piracy groups actually encouraged people to buy the operating system.

The last major release of the “classic” Mac OS’s was released in 1999. It was branded as having “50 New Features”. However, support for development was soon dropped in favor of developing the Mac OS X. In 2002, Steve Jobs gave a keynote address by staging a mock funeral for Mac OS 9.

Designed to run exclusively on Mac computers, it has been pre-loaded on all Macs since 2002. Released in 2001, the operating system has released periodic update named after big cats up until version 10.8. Mac OS X was run on PowerPC based Macs until the switch to Intel Macs began in 2006. The Aqua theme that is prevalent in Macs uses soft edges, translucent colors, and pinstripes to bring color and texture to the interface.

Linux was developed in 1991 as a free operating system for Intel 86x computers. Linux has become the leading operating system on servers and mainframe computers. Linux is unique in that the source code is open source, meaning it may be modified, used and distributed by anyone for profit or not.

Speaking of Linux-Google in 2011, released the Chrome OS. Based on a minimalistic approach, the user interface consists largely of just the Chrome web browswer. There are only three actual applications on the Chromebook: the browser, a file manager, and a media player. All files are stored in the cloud and not locally on the computer.

In mobile technologies there are two big players: Droid and iOS. iOS is a product of Apple, developed from the Mac OS X platform. Android was bought by Google and allows Google to compete with Apple. Windows entered into the mobile market with the Windows Phone and Windows 8 for tablets.