OS

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[edit] Operating System

Computers can appear to be intelligent, but only because of the programs written for them. Early computers had to be programmed by experts who knew the computer inside and out. Clearly, there was a need for some sort of master program under which users could use a computer without specialized knowledge of the inner workings of the machine, which tended to vary from one to the other. Such master programs evolved to become the Operating Systems still in use today.

The Operating System stands between the computer (and its connected hardware) and the users' programs or applications.

As multiuser systems became common, the operating system had to take requests from users' programs for memory allocation, printer use and other shared resources. An Operating System handles details of the hardware so the user's application does not need to. This makes programming easier. It is the Operating System that makes it possible to program a game that will run on many machines even though the video adapters might vary considerably. Unfortunately, there is not agreement on which OS is the best. Programs written for one OS will not run on another without modification.

Common examples of Operating Systems include Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Unix, Linux, and SunOS. These last three item are related since they evolved from Bell Labs' Unix OS.

When selecting software, one must check that the software will run on the OS of the target machine. Many programs offered for Unix family Operating Systems are available in a form that can be compiled to suit a variety of Unix family systems.