History of Operating Systems

History Of Operating Systems

The history of computer operating systems recapitulates to a degree the recent history of computer hardware.

Operating systems (OSes) provide a set of functions needed and used by most application programs on a computer, and the linkages needed to control and synchronize computer hardware. On the first computers, with no operating system, every program needed the full hardware specification to run correctly and perform standard tasks, and its own drivers for peripheral devices like printers and punched paper card readers. The growing complexity of hardware and application programs eventually made operating systems a necessity.

History of computing
Hardware
  • Hardware before 1960
  • Hardware 1960s to present
  • Hardware in Soviet Bloc countries
Computer science
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Compiler construction
  • Computer science
  • Operating systems
  • Programming languages
  • Software engineering
Modern concepts
  • Graphical user interface
  • Internet
  • Personal computers
  • Laptops
  • Video games
  • World Wide Web
Timeline of computing
  • 2400 BC–1949
  • 1950–1979
  • 1980–1989
  • 1990–1999
  • 2000–2009
  • More timelines...
More...

Read more about History Of Operating Systems:  Background, The Mainframe, Minicomputers and The Rise of Unix, The Microcomputer: 8-bit Home Computers and Game Consoles, The Personal Computer Era: Apple, Amiga, PC/MS/DR-DOS and Beyond, The Rise of Virtualization

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