Variety of Operating Systems

The most popular Operating System is by Microsoft. Whether it is Windows XP, Vista, or the highly anticipated Windows 7, Microsoft has cornered the market on Operating Systems (OS). With so many people using Microsoft Windows, it leaves us to wonder what other Operating Systems are available. There are many Operating Systems in use today including Linux, MVS, UNIX, Mac, and MS-DOS.

MS-DOS was first created is the core of what every other OS is built from and upon. DOS stands for Disk Operating System. It is a single user interface. This means that IBM created MS-DOS for use with one computer, though it can connect to a network. “On August 12, 1981, IBM introduced its new revolution in a box, the “Personal Computer” complete with a brand new operating system from Microsoft and a 16-bit computer operating system called MS-DOS 1.0 (Mary Bellis, 1996. Para. 1). Microsoft is a program that is easy to use for home users, but it could not work without the underlying OS MS-DOS.

One reason to have MS-DOS is to run a program that has crashed or does not run by itself. You must know the MS-DOS operating commands to run the software. Most of the commands needed to run DOS are in your computer’s manual. A book is also available called DOS the Easy Way by Everett Murdock Ph.D. (2008) which lists the most recent commands used by DOS. DOS is an example of an operating system that is used in addition to, and separate, of Microsoft.

Linux Torvalds, of Finland, created Linux and first released it in 1994. “The current full-featured version is 2.6 (released December 2003) (Linux Online Inc., 2007, para 2).” The unique thing about the Linux OS is that it is a completely free operating system. Linux has some unique properties in that many other operating systems use the basic components of Linux to create their systems. Linux programming is unique in the variety of programs available with the Linux operating system.

An example of a use for a Linux operating system is the set up and monitoring of electrical appliances in one’s home. Linux operating systems can monitor, and turn on/off every electrical appliance from lamps to fireplaces by using one’s home computer. This is only one example of the variety of operating systems available.
UNIX, another operating system, was originally created for programmers. “The UNIX operating system was designed to let a number of programmers access the computer at the same time and share its resources (Lucent Technologies, 2002, para. 1).” This means that a group of computers are hooked up to one central computer that does all commands for the outlying computers. Multiple computers can be used by multiple users, but all are connected to the same core computer that stores all the commands and resources.

The core computer runs all the programs, accesses the files, and prints the documents from every computer connected to the UNIX system. “E-mail is commonplace today, but it has only come into its own in the business community within the last 10 years. Not so with UNIX users, who have been enjoying e-mail for several decades (para. 15).” E-mail on the UNIX was not the same as it is today. Workers could send messages only to other users on that same system. In other words, messages were sent from terminal to terminal. UNIX is another operating system, and is becoming increasingly popular.

Mac is an OS created by the Apple Company. It has been around since 1988 with its first version called “NEXTSTEP.” The most recent version for Apple computer users is Mac OS X. Mac is a unique operating system in the fact that it does not have a problem with hackers. Since Macs are hack proof, you do not have to worry about viruses, which is a concern to most pc users.

There have many versions of Mac OS X including Cheetah (March 2001), Puma (Sept. 2001), Jaguar (Aug. 2002), Panther (Oct. 2003), Tiger (2005), Leopard (2007), and Snow Leopard (2009). Snow Leopard is unique in that it is created to run windows programs alongside it for greater compatibility without the worry of hackers and viruses. Incompatible software is a problem when a user saves a document and then tries to open it on another computer. The compatibility of the new Snow Leopard with windows allows a user to switch easily from one computer to the next without issues created by incompatible software.

MVS, which stands for Multiple Virtual Storage, was created developed in the 1964 by IBM and released to the public in 1974. IBM still uses the core programming in most of its mainframes. The most updated version of MVS is z/OS version 11.0. MVS is an operating system mainly used in for the internet and Java.

Whether you need an operating system for a single user or multiple users, for business or for home, there is an operating systems created to fit your needs. Linux, MVS, UNIX, Mac, and MS-DOS are many, but not all, of the Operating Systems in use today.

References

Linux Online Inc. (2008). What is Linux. Retrieved on October 9, 2009 from http://www.linux.org/info/

Lucent Technologies. (2002). An Overview of the UNIX Operating System. Retrieved on October 9, 2009 from http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/tutorial.html

Mary B. (1996). Inventors of the Modern Computer. Retrieved on October 9, 2009 from http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa033099.html

Murdock, E. (2008). Dos command index: Information about all current DOS commands. DOS the Easy Way. Retrieved October, 15, 2009 from http://www.easydos.com/dosindex.html