AIT - What is the purpose of an operating system? What types are there?

operating system = 'hidden' software that interacts between the hardware and the application software, helps a user use the computer

to allow a human to interact with a computer, no operating system = computer will not work
to be the 'bridge' between the computer hardware and the application software
to enable the screen, mouse, keyboard, printer and all other peripherals
starts and shuts down the computer
to enable communication such as the internet
to coordinate all ports and connectors in the computer
provides system utilities like virus protection, disk defragmentation
provides file management
provides network shares with other computers
manages memory
monitors computer performance
provides its own updates so it works with best performance
provides a user interface, command line interface or graphical user interface (GUI)
manages programs
administers security

iPhone or iOS 6, iOS5
iPhone examples, iPhone 5, iPhone 6
Windows Mobile OS, Windows Phone 7
Windows Mobile eg Windows smartphones, PDAs, Pocket PCs
Android OS based on a linux kernel eg Google Android
Embedded Linux
Symbian OS eg in Nokia and Ericsson smartphones
Palm OS eg in Palm Brand PDAs
these operating systems provide similar services to desktop OS, but less complex
these operating systems run from Read Only Memory ROM and load quickly

Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8 and lots more earlier ones
Windows OS is the most widely used
Windows OS - Advantages; most selection of programs, many hardware platforms, vast documentation
Windows OS - Disadvantages; reliability (error messages, unstable) , many security holes (virus, worm attack)
Mac OS 9, Mac OS X 10.1 based on unix-like code, Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Mac OS based on unix
Mac OS - Advantages; easy to use, reliable and secure, very few virus attacks, dual-boot
Mac OS - Disadvantages; limited software than windows (esp games), resource fork (2 files for one)
Unix / Linux - Unix started 1969, Linux based on unix started 1991
Linus Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu
Linux is unique as it is free and is distributed with source code under a GPL which allows it to be given it away, or to sold
Linux - Advantages; secure, reliable, shared over the web
Linux - Disadvantages; not so user friendly, less number of programs available

Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Mac OS X server 10.6, server 10.7, server 10.8, server 10.9, server 10.10
Unix (can handle high volume of transactions) multipurpose because standalone and server
Linux ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE
Linux (multipurpose)
Solaris server designed especially for e-commerce applications
NetWare by Novell
server operating systems are especially needed for networking
they coordinate user accounts and other computers
they share networked resources

Complete the attached worksheet based on the DETAILS above and also statistics from the wikipedia link below.

Learn about operating system statistics at wikipedia HERE.

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