operating system

operating system :
An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer and provides programmers with an interface used to access those resources. An operating system processes system data and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks and internal system resources as a service to users and programs of the system. At the foundation of all system software, an operating system performs basic tasks such as controlling and allocating memory, prioritizing system requests, controlling input and output devices, facilitating Computer networking and managing files. Most operating systems come with an application that provides an interface for managing the operating system. The operating system forms a platform for other software.

Common contemporary desktop OSes are Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Solaris. Windows is most popular on desktops, Linux is most popular in servers environments. However many Linux distributions are gaining in popularity on desktop personal computers. Linux, Mac OS X and MS Windows all have server and personal variants. With the exception of Microsoft Windows, each of these operating systems (Mac OS X, Solaris, and Linux) has a lineage to, or was directly inspired by the Unix Operating System. Unix was developed at Bell Labs beginning in the late 1960's, and besides the aforementioned operating systems, spawned the development of numerous free and proprietary operating systems to which is was related. Many of the attributes of operating systems discussed in this article were introduced, or heavily researched, in Unix-based operating systems. Hence, Unix's contribution to the current view of an operating system is a fundamental one.