What is an Operating System?

What is an Operating System? The operating system of your computer is the is the MOST important program, and basically the backbone of your computer. We deal with Windows PC's on this blog, and your operating system can be called:

Windows Vista
Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows ME
Windows 98
Windows 95

Those are some of the names that seem to be the most popular for operating systems software for your computer.

If you are reading about operating systems you may see people call them OS or O/S. Those are short abreviations for the word 'operating system'.

The purpose of an operating system is to organize and control hardware and software so that the device it lives in behaves in a flexible but predictable way.

Believe it or not operating systems have started to pop up in smaller computers as well. If you tinker with electronic devices, you're probably thrilled to know that operating systems can now be found on many of the devices we use every day, from cell phones to video games. The computers used in these devices have gotten so powerful that they can now actually run an operating system and applications. The computer in a typical cell phone is now more powerful than a desktop computer from 20 years ago. Hard to believe isn't it?

What is an operating system? You see it as Windows Vista, or one of the others titles I mentioned above. What does an operating system do? It provides basic instructions your computer needs to function.

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