The
most basic and fundamental part of a personal computer is the DOS(Desktop
Operating System) or NOS(Network Operating System) without it all you have is
your power on self-test(POST) and your basic input output(BIOS) system. The
operating system acts as the master controller for all activities that take
place within a computer system. On top of that operating systems also manages
the processors input and output, allocates memory for all the programs and data
that are being used, keeps track storage resources so that files and programs
can be found and changed, communicates to all peripheral devices, and finally
it creates the basic elements of a graphical user interface. To add even more,
with each operating system there two types of user interfaces, there is the
graphical user interface and a command line interface. The graphical user
interface is visually appealing and easy to navigate. The command line user
interface is only a command prompt that doesn’t look visually stimulating and
performs actions from certain commands that the user enters.
There are many different types of operating systems: Windows OS, MAC OS, and
Linux OS that can be installed on a device. Many people choose Windows over all
other operating systems because of its familiarity and its graphical user
interface is easy to navigate. Although there are some people who choose to get
a MAC OS because of its high graphics and if they are an art student, those
artsy fartsy people love MACs so they can edit their “cool” and “hip” photos.
For high end work stations and servers Linux would be the way to go because if
its stability and it is open source. So which operating system you choose make
sure it is the one for you!