Operating system is the basic building block whether computer or a smartphone.
The basic definition is given as an operating system (OS) is system software (a set of instructions or data that tell the device to work) that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Let’s take a look at some of the commonly used operating system nowadays that made the list of “Dive-Into-5”.
#1 Microsoft Windows
| Source model | Closed-source, Source-available (through Shared Source Initiative) |
| Initial release | November 20, 1985; 35 years ago, as version 1.0 (unsupported) |
| Marketing target | Personal computing |
| Available in | 138 languages |
| Update method | Windows Update, Windows Anytime Upgrade, Windows Store, and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) |
| Kernel type | Windows NT family: Hybrid, Windows CE: Hybrid, Windows 9x and earlier: Monolithic (MS-DOS) |
Microsoft Windows, commonly referred to as Windows, is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families, all of which are developed and marketed by Microsoft.
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Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985, as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal computer (PC) market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984.
Windows is still the most popular operating system. However, in 2014, Microsoft admitted losing the majority of the overall operating system market to Android, because of the massive growth in sales of Android smartphones.
In 2014, the number of Windows devices sold was less than 25% that of Android devices sold.
#2 IOS
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
| OS family | Unix-like, based on Darwin (BSD), iOS |
| Initial release | June 29, 2007; 13 years ago |
| Marketing target | Smartphones, tablet computers, portable media players |
| Available in | 40 languages |
| Update method | iTunes (Windows and mac OS prior to Catalina), Finder (from mac OS Catalina onwards) or OTA (iOS 5 or later) |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
| Written in | C, C++, Objective-C, Swift, assembly language |
IOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware.
It is the operating system that presently powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone, and iPod Touch; it also powered the iPad prior to the introduction of iPad OS in 2019.
It is the second most popular mobile operating system globally after Android.
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Originally unveiled in 2007 for the iPhone, iOS has been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch (September 2007) and the iPad (January 2010).
As of March 2018, Apple's App Store contains more than 2.1 million iOS applications, 1 million of which are native for iPads. These mobile apps have collectively been downloaded more than 130 billion times.
#3 Android
| Developer | Various (mostly Google and the Open Handset Alliance) |
| OS family | UNIX-like (Modified Linux kernel) |
| Initial release | September 23, 2008; 12 years ago |
| Marketing target | Smartphones, tablet computers, smart TVs (Android TV), Android Auto and smartwatches (Wear OS) |
| Available in | 100+ languages |
| Update method | Over-the-air |
| Kernel type | Linux kernel |
| Written in | Java (UI), C (core), C++ and others |
| Source model | Open source (most devices include proprietary components, such as Google Play) |
Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance, with the main contributor and commercial marketer being Google.
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Initially developed by Android Inc., which Google bought in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007, with the first commercial Android device launched in September 2008. The current stable version is Android 10, released on September 3, 2019.
The core Android source code is known as Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is primarily licensed under the Apache License.
This has allowed variants of Android to be developed on a range of other electronics, such as game consoles, digital cameras, PCs and others, each with a specialized user interface. Some well-known derivatives include Android TV for televisions and Wear OS for wearables, both developed by Google.
#4 Mac OS
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
| OS family | Macintosh, UNIX |
| Initial release | March 24, 2001; 18 years ago |
| Marketing target | Personal computing |
| Available in | 39 languages |
| Update method | System Preferences (10.14+), Mac App Store (10.8–10.13), and Software Update (10.0–10.7) |
| Kernel type | Hybrid (XNU) |
| Written in | C, C++ Objective-C Swift assembly language |
Mac OS previously Mac OS X and later OS X is a series of proprietary graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001.
It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows.
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Mac OS is the second major series of Macintosh operating systems. The first is colloquially called the classic Mac OS, which was introduced in 1984, and the final release of which was Mac OS 9 in 1999.
The first desktop version, Mac OS X 10.0, was released in March 2001, with its first update, 10.1, arriving later that year. After this, Apple began naming its releases after big cats, which lasted until OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Since OS X 10.9 Mavericks, releases have been named after locations in California.
Apple shortened the name to "OS X" in 2012 and then changed it to "mac OS" in 2016, adopting the nomenclature that they were using for their other operating systems, iOS, watch OS, and TV OS. The latest version is mac OS Catalina, which was publicly released in October 2019.
#5 Linux
| Developer | Community, Linus Torvalds |
| OS family | Unix-like |
| Initial release | September 17, 1991; 28 years ago |
| Marketing target | Cloud computing, embedded devices, mainframe computers, mobile devices,Personal computers, servers, supercomputers |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Kernel type | Monolithic |
| Written in | C, assembler |
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution.
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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software.
Linux was originally developed for personal computers based on the Intel x86 architecture, but has since been ported to more platforms than any other operating system. Linux is the leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as mainframe computers, and the only OS used on TOP500 supercomputers (since November 2017, having gradually eliminated all competitors).
It is used by around 2.3 percent of desktop computers. The Chromebook, which runs the Linux kernel-based Chrome OS, dominates the US K–12 education market and represents nearly 20 percent of sub-$300 notebook sales in the US.
Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-source software collaboration.
The source code may be used, modified and distributed commercially or non-commercially by anyone under the terms of its respective licenses, such as the GNU General Public License.
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